About the International Constitution Center
International Constitution Center
centre international de constitution internationale Konstitutionmitte
centro internazionale di costituzione centro internacional de la constitución
国際的な憲法の中心 国际宪法中心
internationaal grondwetscentrum международный центр конституции
Lugano Switzerland
(A Work in Progress & Under Development )
Overview of the International Constitution Center
Who We Are
The International Constitution Center (ICC) is a prospective private, non-profit, non-partisan education center and museum dedicated to increasing worldwide understanding of the function of a written constitution within democracy and to foster scholarship of and collaboration in the development and updating of constitutions and their relevance in our daily lives. The International Bundesbrief Society is coordinator at this time and their web site is here: www.Bundesbrief.org
Motivation for Formation
The number of countries with a formal written constitution continues to grow and new ones emerge with greater frequency. Each country and their political leadership seek guidance in all areas of constitutional formation and management. A new “international approach” is called for, and a center of excellence is needed.
From 10 constitutional democracies in 1900 to 40 in 1960 the trend moves up rapidly. According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, at the end of 2005 there were 122 electoral democracies. Each is thirsty for knowledge, collaborative insight, and progressive support.
Fulfilling the Need for an International Constitution Center
The International Constitution Center (ICC) initiative was formed to fulfill an affirmed need in this area and in recognition that no international group of similar structure has yet been designed. The International Bundesbrief Society (www.Bundesbrief.org) has taken the lead in the development of this project as an extension of the organizations focus in similar areas and envisions that it will convey management of the ICC entity and this project to the formal institution itself as an early milestone.
Membership Structure
The organization is in formation and is to be served by a board of directors, its team of trustees, the executive management and educational management specialists. Each country participating in the center will define its own affiliate organization within its own country; perhaps its current national constitution center, National Archives center, parliamentary liaison, non-governmental organization (NGO), or university specialist.
How We Achieve Our Mission
The mission of the International Constitution Center (ICC) is fulfilled by two (2) divisions each working in tandem; the museum area which serves the public by a modest yet growing schedule of permanent and travelling exhibitions, and the Education Center which primarily serves the scholars and practitioners of constitutional design, development and modification.
Museum Division
The museum is to be an active display of all content worldwide on the topic of “the constitution” using both a physical space and internet space for conveying information and knowledge using modern “infomatics” management technology.
Education Center
The education center is a physical space that offers a combination of both year round academic study and periodic symposia on the topics selected by the members set in a location offering security, international access, and an educational infrastructure conducive to quiet and genuine research. The perfect setting for symposia, seminars and debates in a forum arrangement.
Location
The ICC focused on the selection of a site which offers closest proximity to the greatest number of countries seeking guidance and education in constitutional liberties which also has a history of educational excellence, secure environments, and climate affording year round comfort and snow-free transportation access and has selected Lugano, Switzerland as it achieves these goals.
Date of Establishment and Date of Opening
The date of establishment or date of founding of an institution is the date on which that institution chooses to claim as its starting point. Often the criteria that define a date of establishment or founding are ill-defined—or more specifically, are ill-defined in general, although each institution tends to adopt a rather rigid definition of its own date of establishment. Likewise, the International Constitution Center may define its date of establishment by: The date at which the papers of its incorporation was approved, the date on which it first opened for the teaching of classes, if the Center is derived from a previously-established institution. The date of opening is the actual date in which business transpired on a virtual web site, or physical location.
A Free Press “In the terrible histories of famine in the world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a free press.”
Amartya Sen- Nobel Prize Winner, Economics
