Budapest this week will become one of the main centres of constitutional debate with the conference organised by the Center for Constitutional Politics at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC). For two days, academics from universities around the world, specialists in comparative law and experts in constitutional history, will study a topic as old as it is underexplored: the role of preambles in shaping constitutions and defining contemporary national projects.
The event, to be held between December 10 and 11, will start from a clear premise: although often considered symbolic or merely declarative texts, preambles have exercised—and will continue to exercise—a significant influence on legal interpretation, political legitimacy, and the construction of collective identities. The conference will seek to illuminate this influence and place it in a comparative and global context.
The organisers —Asanga Welikala and Kálmán Pócza— argue that the growing interest in preambles responds to the current context of geopolitical transformations and identity disputes. At a time when constitutions are regaining political centrality, preambles are emerging as key elements for understanding historical memory, the legitimacy of power, and the collective aspirations of states.
The MCC meeting will offer an exhaustive analysis of the historical evolution, legal function, and political significance of preambles, highlighting their relevance as living components of contemporary constitutional systems. For two days, Budapest will become the forum where experts from four continents will reopen an essential debate for understanding how political communities are built—and will be reinterpreted—in the 21st century.
The keynote speakers of the event are Jonathan Gienapp (Stanford University) and Paul Cliteur (University of Leiden).
For more information on the conference, click here.
