Speakers will explore the diverse roles and enduring significance of constitutional preambles, addressing key questions such as: How do courts and scholars interpret their legal status and function? How do historical narratives and temporal framing shape their meaning and impact? How do preambles contribute to identity construction and national legitimacy?  What are the global patterns and influences shaping their evolution? 

Central to our discussions will be the often-overlooked historical evolution of preamble interpretations, including the interplay between competing visions of constitutionalism, and the surprisingly widespread yet diverse adoption of preambles across different legal systems. We will examine how preambles have been both central to and marginalized within constitutional discourse, exploring their capacity to reflect and shape national aspirations, and their role in processes of political mobilization and national identity formation.  By engaging with both historical narratives and contemporary applications, the conference aims to illuminate the profound influence preambles have had, and continue to have, on legal interpretation and the construction of political communities, globally.

The conference will foster interdisciplinary dialogue and comparative analysis across various legal systems and historical periods, providing significant contributions to our understanding of the enduring power and significance of constitutional preambles.

 

For the detailed program of the conference please click here.

 

Keynote speakers:

 

Program

 

Wednesday, 10 December 2025
          Venue: Mathias Corvinus Collegium (1113 Budapest, Tas vezér utca 3-7.) 

10.00-10.15 Welcome speech

10.15-11.45 Panel I: Legal and Political Theory of the Preambles

  • Justin Frosini (Bocconi University / Johns Hopkins University)
    Constitutional Preambles: Mere Aspirations or Hard Law?

  • Nomi Claire Lazar (University of Ottawa)
    Edging the Law: Temporal Framing in Preamble Politics

  • Bogdan Szlachta (Jagiellonian University)
    The “Constitutional Subject” in a Multicultural Society

11.45-12.00 Coffee break

12.00-13.00 Panel II: Comparative Perspectives: Europe and America

  • Balázs Fekete (ELTE Faculty of Law / ELTE Centre for Social Sciences)
    Constitutional Preambles in the EU: Convergence Without a Common Model

  • Márton Sulyok (Mathias Corvinus Collegium)
    The Heart of the Constitution: A Cardio-Vascular Take on the Power of Preambles

13.00-15.00 Lunch

15.00-16.00 Panel III: Comparative Perspectives: Africa and the Islamic World

  • Adeno Addis (Tulane Law School)
    Constructing (Imagining) the Sovereign Through Preambular Narrative

  • Juliane Muller (International IDEA) and Asanga Welikala (Edinburgh Law School)
    The Preambles of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) States.

16.00-16.15 Coffee break

16.15-17.15 Keynote speech I 

  • Jonathan Gienapp (Stanford University)
    The Preamble’s Decline: From Foundational Text to Constitutional Ornament

 

Thursday, 11 December 2025
          Venue: Mathias Corvinus Collegium (1113 Budapest, Tas vezér utca 3-7.) 

9.30-10.30 Keynote speech II

  • Paul Cliteur (University of Leiden)
    The Silence of the Preamble: The Unspoken Conflict Over Legal Sovereignty

10.30-10.45 Coffee break

10.45-11.45 Panel IV: Comparative Perspectives: Latin-America and Asia

11.45-12.00 Coffee break

12.00-13.00 Panel V: Comparative Perspectives: Central and Eastern Europe

  • Iván Halász (Ludovika University / ELTE Centre for Social Sciences)
    The Czech and Slovak Constitutional Preambles: Nation, State, Religion

  • Frane Staničić (University of Zagreb)
    Croatia’s Constitutional Preamble: Identity, History, and Interpretation

  • Balázs Schanda (Pázmány Péter Catholic University) and Kálmán Pócza (Mathias Corvinus Collegium)
    National Avowal: A Functional Compromise of Constitutional Values

 

Lunch 13.00-14.30

Organizers

Asanga Welikala (Edinburgh Law School)

Kálmán Pócza (MCC Center for Constitutional Politics)