Why Compare? Purposes and Challenges of Comparative Constitutional Law in the 21st Century

Comparative Constitutionalism has emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War as an important tool for democratic transitions and peacebuilding. However, the traditional approaches to comparative law don't provide plausible explanations for new phenomena such as globalization and cross-court dialogue. Despite the resurgence of the field, Comparative Constitutionalism struggles with questions related to case selection and the ambivalence toward social sciences. This article captures the basic debate on the purposes and challenges of modern Comparative Constitutional Law. The principal idea is that the study of constitutionalism ought to embrace social sciences in order to construct a pluralist Comparative Constitutional Law.