This book explains how the People of Puerto Rico managed to adopt a constitution whose content and process were both original and colonialist, participatory and undemocratic, as well as progressive and anticlimactic. It looks in detail at the rich contradictions of the Puerto Rican constitutional experience, focusing on the history and content of the 1952 Constitution. This constitution is the only constitutional document written by the Puerto Rican People themselves after more than 500 years of Spanish and US colonialism. By exploring Puerto Rico's unique history and constitutional experience the book shines a spotlight on key emerging themes of comparative constitutional studies in this area: state constitutionalism, the persistence of colonial relationships in the Caribbean, and the continued development of constitutionalism in Latin America. The book delves deep into the particular experience of Puerto Rican constitutionalism which combines elements of colonialism, democratic tensions, and progressive policies. It explains how these features converge in a constitutional project that has endured for 70 years and continues its contradictory development. It considers issues such as the island's colonial history, including its conflicting relationship with democratic values and the constant presence of social movements and their struggles. It also explores the content of the 1952 Constitution, focusing on its progressive substantive policy, particularly its rights provisions, its amendment procedures, and the governmental structure it set up.

The only book of its kind in the English language, this is the first volume of the Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States to explore the constitution of a U.S. territory: Puerto Rico. The first half of the volume unearths the island's constitutional history from the days of Spanish colonization in the 16th century, through to Congress' enactment in 2016 of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Professor Cox Alomar offers a careful analysis of the most recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court implicating Puerto Rico, Sánchez Valle (2016), Franklin Trust (2016), Aurelius (2020) and Vaello Madero (2022). The second half of this volume provides an in-depth analysis of each of the provisions incorporated by the Puerto Rican framers to the 1952 Constitution, still in full force today. Commentary is provided on each of these constitutional provisions in light of the most recent decisions of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. The volume examines the interaction between the Puerto Rico Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the complex relationship between Puerto Rico and the political branches in Washington. This book is a timely companion in one of the more complex, yet transformative periods in Puerto Rico's constitutional life.

Readers of Global Gender Research will learn to compare and contrast feminist concerns globally, gain familiarity with the breadth of gender research, and understand the national contexts that produced it. This volume provides an in-depth comparative picture of the current state of feminist sociological gender and women's studies research in four regions of the world—Africa, Asia, Latin America/the Caribbean, and Europe—as represented by many countries. The introductory essay to each region explains how social science research on women and/or gender issues has been shaped by economics, politics, and culture, and by trends that are simultaneously local, regional, and global. It familiarizes readers with the wide range of salient issues, research methods, writing styles, and leading authors from around the globe. Each regional section includes several chapters on gender research in specific countries that represent the region's diversity and cover the major theoretical and empirical trends that have emerged over time, as well as the relationship of key research questions to feminist activism and women’s or gender studies. Next, the editors illustrate this new wave of gender scholarship with translated/reprinted samples of research articles from additional countries in the region, that cover a wide range of important global topics—such as work, sexuality, masculinities, childcare and family issues, religion, violence, law and gender policies. Finally, this volume provides scholars with extensive bibliographies and a listing of web sites for women’s and gender research centers in 85 countries.

This book presents a developed theory of how national lawyers can approach, understand, and make use of foreign law. Its theme is pursued through a set of detailed essays which look at the courts as well as business practice and, with the help of statistics, demonstrate what type of academic work has any impact on the 'real' world. Engaging with Foreign Law thus aims to carve out a new niche for comparative law in this era of globalisation, and may also be the only book which deals in some depth with both private and public law in countries such as England, Germany, France, South Africa, and the United States.