Strengthening Constitutional Identity Where There Is None: The Case of the Netherlands

Recently, many European countries have moved towards codification of international human rights law. Aiming for a deeper socio-legal understanding of the rationale behind these processes, this article discusses one country – the Netherlands. It looks at the rationale behind, and the outcomes of the 2009-2010 Constitutional Review Commission, mandated to advise on the relationship between the national and the international legal orders and the inclusion of certain human rights into the Constitution. Both rationale and outcome, it is argued, can be understood by focusing on Rosenfeld’s three asp... Mehr ...