ABSTRACT
The period between 1870 and the First World War is generally regarded as the culmination of European imperial hegemony. At the same time it brought about a remarkable chain of constitutional movements and revolutions in distant parts of the world. This included Europe itself where constitutional order underwent dramatic changes, leading in some cases such as Italy and Germany to the establishment of entirely new national states and constitutional monarchies. Even the Russian Empire became a constitutional state in 1905. At the same time substantial steps towards constitutional and representative government were taken in countries as different as Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Iran, British India, and also Japan and China.1 Despite an abundance of publications about each country and, even more about the philosophical and legal aspects of constitutionalism, the comparative study of the European and non-European constitutional movements and doctrines of this time does not seem to have found much attention until now.
