The Future of Constitutionalism – Part 4: The March of Constitutionalism in the 20th Century

The March of Constitutionalism in the 20th Century

Constitutionalism defeated the three great totalitarian movements of the twentieth century: Fascism, Soviet Communism, and Nazism. I predict it will also prevail over Jihadism and Chinese Communism in the twenty-first century.

Let us review the record since World War II. In 50 years, the United States has gone from lynchings to a Black president. In the 1950s, if someone had suggested there would be Black quarterbacks in the NFL, they would have been committed to a mental hospital. Today, we have a Black president (and lots of Black quarterbacks). We are not only talking about a formal political development. We are talking about the cultural and sociological progress of the constitutional spirit. We are talking about the democratization of the American soul.

We must also note the subversive quality of international pop culture and consumerism and their contribution to the democratization of constitutionalism and the expansion of constitutional protections across the globe. It wasn’t for nothing that Nazis, Communists,
Fascists, and now Jihadists have pilloried American popular culture. They recognized its subversive nature in regards to authority.

Technology and constitutionalist progress also go hand in hand. The media (movies, radio, TV) driving popular culture and mass sports created Black icons, in effect humanizing Blacks. Could there have been a Martin Luther King without a Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, or
Jackie Robinson? Could there have been a Barack Obama without Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey? How would the civil rights movement of the 1950s have fared without the television images of dogs and fire hoses being used on innocent Black women and children and the instinctive disgust this engendered? Television and satellite dishes also contributed to the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

The list of other constitutionalist victories since World War II
includes:

• The transformation of Japan and German from militarist to constitutionalist
  states.
• The growing rights of women deriving from political action in the West and the education of women elsewhere.
• The European Union first absorbing former fascist Spain and Portugal and then most of the former Soviet Communist satellites.
• The end of Apartheid in South Africa.
• The eclipse of rule by military dictatorships in most of Latin America.
• South Korea and Taiwan evolving into parliamentary democracies from their fascistic origins.
• The growth of institutions of regional and international governance, such as the WTO, OECD, EU, and NAFTA. Joining such organizations requires different elements of internal constitutional reform: If you want to join our club, there are rules.
• The spread of property rights to Communist China. Rights are viral and infectious. It took several centuries in Europe, but property rights for the commercial classes soon evolved into political rights for the bourgeoisie. As the middle classes grew, so
  did the scope of rights. The skilled working men produced by the Industrial Revolution used their indispensability to the system to gain their rights and trigger the labor movement fighting for rights for the working man. Women after the two world wars did the same.
• The growing number of global nomads due to globalization helps spread the infection of constitutionalism. A half a million Chinese students studying at universities in the United States are helping to spread the virus of democracy when they return home. People cannot unlearn what they have learned.
• Cross-border issues such as water and environment have required constitutional frameworks of international governance.
• The increased speed of change and innovation requires the decentralization of authority and a culture of people thinking for themselves. This has constitutional implications.

 

For part five click here

Tsvi Bisk is an American­Israeli futurist. He is the director of the Center for Strategic Futurist Thinking (www.futurist-thinking.co.il/) and contributing editor for strategic thinking for The Futurist magazine. He is also the author of The Optimistic Jew: A Positive Vision for the Jewish People in the 21st Century. Tsvi is available as a lecturer or as a scholar in residence as well as for strategic consulting