Methodology
Comparativism
The expansion and deepening of Comparative Law in the last two decades have been significant. This movement is due to the breaking down of linguistic barriers, caused mainly by the rapid technological evolution. As a result, both small-N analyses (from the perspective of Latin American constitutionalism) and large-N analyses (from a transnational perspective) are open to further exploration and will be part of the work developed in the project.
Historicism
Also, in part due to the possibility of exploring a wide range of data, verifying past constitutional texts and policies is becoming more feasible. Constitutional stability is directly due to symbolic and normative reappropriations of the past, allowing a constructive dialogue with the present and the future (HABERMAS, 2016; CATTONI, 2021). This is because constitutions are intergenerational projects. The use of rigorous historiography methodologies is central to the Constituições project.
Transdisciplinarity
No legal approach can be said to be self-sufficient today. Perspectives from philosophy, sociology, political science, and anthropology, among others, are essential to allow scientific legal analysis to rely on inputs obtained from other methodologies of knowledge. Thus, the Constituições project will have researchers with legal training, but also from other areas of knowledge.
Innovation
Technological innovation in recent decades has promoted central changes in the field of constitutional comparativism. Entire catalogs of constitutions have been created, as seen in the Constitute project of Constitutionnet. It is also possible to explore artificial intelligence tools in a productive way for comparative research, as can be seen in the formation of relational bibliographic collections allowed by tools such as Consensus or Connected Papers. These tools can play a fundamental role in the cross-referencing of legislative, judicial, and executive data, as well as in the formation of databases useful to researchers.
In addition, the Constituições project takes an essentially critical perspective on the consequences of technological advances for the integrity of institutions, the formation of popular will in citizenship decisions, and the informational field (ZUBOFF, 2022). Researchers from the group will develop investigations on this theme with a view to properly addressing the relationship between constitutions and the digital age.