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Revision as of 10:18, 5 February 2006 by Demiurge (talk | contribs) (rv POV-pushing)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Constitutional Autochthony is a term used by politicial scientists to describe the process of asserting nationalism through symbols in law.
Example
One famous case of Constitutional Autochthony occurred in the Irish Free State between 1932 and 1937. Having been elected to govern a state that it had opposed the very existence of, Fianna Fáil under Eamon de Valera stripped the Irish Free State of many of the state symbols that it saw as being overly reminiscent of the ancien régime. Among the changes made were the abolition of the Oath of Allegiance, appeals to the Privy Council, a Senate weighted towards former Unionists and the office of the Governor-General.
In 1937 a whole new constitution was introduced that contained traditional nationalist symbols:
- An assertion that the "national territory" covered the whole of the island of Ireland, including those parts not under the rule of the Irish state;
- A special position for the Roman Catholic Church;
- A directly elected President of Ireland.
- A stress on "traditional"-style family life.
Though impressive on paper, in reality none of the powers were anything more than symbolic. The claim to Northern Ireland in Article 2 was qualified by a declaration in Article 3 that, "pending the re-integration of the national territory" the laws of the Irish state would not extend outside the boundaries of the Irish Free State. The "special position" given to Roman Catholicism had no legal definition or meaning, while the directly elected presidency was created in a way that ensured it didn't need in practice to be filled by direct election. Most of the 'family values' articles, such as the 'special position' of the 'woman in the house' were explicitly described in the constitution as not legally binding.
The articles in effect were merely decorative, intended to give the impression that the new Ireland after 1937 was more truly nationalist and traditionalist than the previous Irish Free State. The process de Valera engaged in has been described by Professor John M. Kelly and others as Constitutional Autochthony.