Chairs
Emmanuel Cartier emmanuel.cartier@univ-lille.fr
Marthe Fatin Rouge Stefanini marthe.stefanini@univ-amu.fr

In this workshop, the expression ‘constitutional culture’ refers to the set of beliefs and representations relating to the Constitution. Beliefs’ refer to the way in which certain mechanisms are perceived by citizens, academics, practitioners and politicians in particular, in their discourses and actions. The ‘representations’ of the Constitution refer both to its figuration in the form of symbols and to the discourses which speak of it, and which thus contribute to the construction of its image. In this context, the workshop intends to look both at the elements that identify the constitutional culture of a State and at the way in which this constitutional culture is formed (history, political constraints, legal mechanisms, external influences, etc.) and disseminated within the State and beyond. Can certain elements of constitutional culture be said to be found within a continent, for example, or f rom one continent to another? What is the degree of social penetration of this constitutional culture and what are its vectors of penetration? The way in which the Constitution is perceived differs according to who perceives it, who talks about it and through what channels it is disseminated. The papers presented will highlight the specific elements of a constitutional culture, bearing in mind that this is not fixed in time, as well as the mechanisms for appropriating the Constitution by citizens and the various players and the mechanisms for disseminating it. The workshop will also look at the functions of constitutional culture as a framework for interpreting constitutional norms and as a constraint on the legal actors required to apply them.