Constitutions are extremely important as they define the democratic foundations and institutions of countries. In the Pacific region the constitutions are, largely, a reflection of colonisers' structures and values. The operation of these constitutional foundations have given rise to a number of socio-political challenges, including coups, clashes between human rights and custom, weak political accountability and political instability. Despite the fundamental importance of constitutions to governance of Pacific member countries and the amount of constitutional change being undertaken currently little is being published in the area. There is also no research and policy practice community in the area.

The Pacific Constitutions Research Network (PCN) aims to fill this gap by bringing people together both virtually (using ICT) and face to face to increase discussion on Pacific constitutional issues, develop research collaborations, increase communication between academics and policy makers, and increase publications on current Pacific constitutional issues.

The PCN was established in July 2016. The first event of the PCN is a conference, was held at the University of the South Pacific Emalus Campus, 23 - 25 November 2016. For more information see the archive section on the events and calls for papers page.

NEW:

A call for expressions of interest to participate in the Pacific constitutional cases digest/database has been released.

The PCN is being supported via research grants from the University of the South Pacific and the Australian National University. It supports USP's Strategic Research Theme 6: Government, Public Policy and Social Cohesion and Theme 4: Pacific Cultures and Societies. More information on USP's Strategic Research Themes can be found here.

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