Reviewed by:

• Constitution-Making Under UN Auspices: Fostering Dependency in Sovereign Lands by Vijayashri Sripati
• Ilana Rothkopf (bio)

The United Nations Secretary General's 2009 Guidance Note on United Nations Assistance to Constitution-making Processes asserts that "UN assistance will need to include options and advice tailored to the specific country context and should recognize constitution-making as a sovereign national process, which, to be legitimate and successful, must be nationally owned and led."¹ The act of writing a new constitution is the ultimate sovereign act—a reflection of the people's will and their vision for the state in which they live. Or is it always? At the heart of Vijayashri Sripati's new book, Constitution-Making Under UN Auspices: Fostering Dependency in Sovereign Lands is a challenge to this assumption.

Sripati's book is an enormous contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on direct international involvement in constitution-making, assistance programs for constitutional design, and constitution-making [End Page 423] as peacebuilding. At the core of the book is the argument that the United Nations, through the institution of UN Constitutional Assistance (UNCA), recommends and promotes a specific type of constitution: the Western Liberal Constitutional model. Sripati argues that through efforts to replace or tutor local actors on liberal constitutional best practices, and through conditionalities for foreign aid, UNCA in fact reflects a form of international trusteeship.

Regarding the framework for internationalized constitution-making, Sripati conceives of UNCA as an institution, that is an "established practice."² In the first part of the book, she traces the history of UNCA from the end of the Second World War to the conclusion of the Cold War. These chapters provide much detailed description of the origins and evolution of constitutional assistance and foreign territorial administration, and provide an essential background to understanding the argument. Importantly, international support of constitution-making is often seen as a post-cold war phenomenon: Sripati demonstrates that the practice has a much longer history. Sripati illustrates—with reference to dozens of UNCA initiatives, that the UN promotes a particular constitutional model. This historical analysis of the UNCA as an institution is invaluable for understanding the development of constitutional assistance—its purpose, goals, and substance—over time. However, the most valuable contribution is arguably the second section of the book, which charts the revival of UNCA and the internationalization of the Western Liberal Constitution after 1989. Indeed, this section of the book provides a novel explanation for empirical findings on the convergence of constitutional substance over time. Although the Western Liberal model is considered by many scholars and policymakers to be universal, she presents historical evidence and a theoretical argument that suggests a key part of how this model came to be "universal": UNCA.

In part two of the book, Sripati provides excellent evidence for the argument that, although the UN emphasizes its provision of value-neutral "technical assistance," it does indeed push for the Western Liberal Constitutional model in both the process and substance of constitution-making. There is also an empirical fact that there are common constitutional provisions in UNCA recipient states. Chapter 6 undertakes the task of establishing UNCA projects as an institution, and describes the activities of all UNCA projects since 1989. As there have been UNCA in forty-one states and three territorial units, this is no small task. This attention to detail and the scope of UNCA sets the stage for Sripati's argument about the association between UNCA and constitutional outcomes. The book demonstrates that there is an association between UNCA and the implementation of liberal constitutional reforms. In other words, the book provides examples of cases where there was both UNCA and aid conditionality and where a liberal constitution (or amendments reflecting additional liberalization) was then adopted. An implication of this argument that is alluded to throughout, is that this external imposition causes the constitutional outcomes in recipient countries.

Chapter 7 is particularly compelling in its focus on the United Nations explanations for UNCA. In this chapter, [End Page 424] Sripati provides readers with evidence of the how...

审核人：

• 联合国主持下的制宪：在主权土地上建立依存关系Vijayashri Sripati
• 伊莲娜·罗斯科夫（Ilana Rothkopf）

联合国秘书长2009年《关于联合国对制宪过程的援助的指导说明》断言：“联合国援助将需要包括针对具体国家情况的选择和建议，并应承认制宪是一个主权的国家进程，为此，合法，成功，必须是国家所有和领导。” ¹撰写新宪法的行为是最终的主权行为，反映了人民的意志和他们对所处国家的愿景。还是总是这样？维杰亚斯里·斯里帕蒂（Vijayashri Sripati）的新书《联合国主持下的制宪：在主权土地上建立依存关系》的核心内容是对这一假设的挑战。

斯里帕蒂的书为新兴的国际直接参与宪法制定，宪法设计援助计划以及宪法缔造和平建设的奖学金（见第423页）做出了巨大贡献。该书的核心论点是，联合国通过联合国宪法援助（UNCA）机构，建议并促进一种特定类型的宪法：西方自由宪法模式。斯里帕蒂（Sripati）认为，通过努力替代或指导自由主义的宪法最佳做法的当地行为者，以及通过外国援助的条件，联合国反恐委员会实际上反映了一种国际托管形式。

关于国际化制宪的框架，斯里帕蒂认为联合国儿童基金会是一个机构，这是“既定做法”。^2个在本书的第一部分中，她追溯了第二次世界大战结束至冷战结束期间联合国反恐委员会的历史。这些章节详细介绍了宪法援助和外国领土管理的起源和演变，并为理解该论点提供了必要的背景。重要的是，国际上对制宪的支持通常被视为冷战后的一种现象：斯里帕蒂（Sripati）表明，这种做法的历史悠久。斯里帕蒂（Sripati）参照联合国行为准则（UNCA）的数十项举措，说明联合国提倡一种特殊的宪法模式。对于UNCA作为一个机构的历史分析，对于了解随着时间的推移宪政援助的发展（其目的，目标和实质）具有不可估量的价值。然而，最有价值的贡献可以说是本书的第二部分，它描绘了1989年之后UNCA的复兴和西方自由宪法的国际化。的确，本书的这一部分为关于宪法实质趋同的经验发现提供了新颖的解释。随着时间的推移。尽管许多学者和决策者都认为西方自由主义模型具有普遍性，但她提出了历史证据和理论论据，提出了该模型如何成为“通用性”的关键部分：UNCA。本书的这一部分为随着时间的推移构成成分趋同的经验发现提供了新颖的解释。尽管许多学者和决策者都认为西方自由主义模型具有普遍性，但她提出了历史证据和理论论据，提出了该模型如何成为“通用性”的关键部分：UNCA。本书的这一部分为随着时间的推移构成成分趋同的经验发现提供了新颖的解释。尽管许多学者和决策者都认为西方自由主义模型具有普遍性，但她提出了历史证据和理论论据，提出了该模型如何成为“通用性”的关键部分：UNCA。

在本书的第二部分中，斯里帕蒂为这一论点提供了极好的证据，尽管联合国强调其提供价值中立的“技术援助”，但确实确实在宪法的过程和实质上推动了西方自由宪政模式的发展。制作。还有一个经验事实，即在联合国儿童基金会受援国中有共同的宪法规定。第六章承担了建立联合国儿童基金会项目作为一个机构的任务，并介绍了自1989年以来所有联合国儿童基金会项目的活动。由于联合国儿童基金会在四十一个州和三个领土单位中都有，所以这不是一项小任务。对细节和UNCA范围的关注为Sripati关于UNCA与宪法结果之间联系的论证奠定了基础。这本书表明，联合国反腐败局与自由宪法改革的实施之间存在联系。换句话说，这本书提供了一些案例的例子，其中既有联合国反腐败局，也有援助条件，然后通过了自由宪法（或反映了进一步自由化的修正案）。贯穿整个这一论点的含义是，这种外部影响导致了受援国的宪法结果。

第七章特别着重于联合国对联合国反恐委员会的解释。在本章中，[结尾页424] Sripati向读者提供了有关如何...的证据。