Unpacking constitutional literacy

• Main Authors: VISSER, De Maartje, JONES, Brian Christopher
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: civic education; constitutional literacy; legal knowledge; political knowledge; text-centrism; Constitutional Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4310; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/6268/viewcontent/UnpackingConstitutionalLiteracy_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The contemporary crisis in relation to constitutional literacy relates not to the lack of knowledge that citizens possess about fundamental constitutional texts, but to the considerable lack of development in relation to what constitutional literacy itself entails. This article accordingly unpacks the notion of constitutional literacy: its importance, its characteristics, its variable nature, and its potential downsides. Using a comparative lens, the article invites reflection on the role that we expect citizens to play in our democracies, and especially the associated knowledge and skills required for successful state performance. We suggest that constitutional literacy is exceptionally multifaceted and fluid in nature, which serves to make its conceptualisation and measurement challenging endeavours, and certainly more so than the easy invocation of this notion may assume at first blush. In this regard, engaging with the constitutional text, while an integral component of constitutional literacy, is ultimately only one part of the puzzle.