ABSTRACT
Not only do the constitutions of the former Eastern bloc countries seek to underwrite social protection through declarations about a ‘social State’, albeit committed to market principles, but references to dignity, freedom and democratic entitlements abound. Nearly all these constitutions have been drafted in close consultation with the Council of Europe, and there now is a body of distinguished opinion emerging that a modern constitution owes deeper obligations to the human condition than those considered at earlier periods in the free world’s history.60 Whilst first generation civil and political rights remain, of course, of the highest importance, and recent UK legislative proposals to enhance these are examined in this book by John Wadham, determining the potential of constitutionally providing of second generation social and political rights to foster participation is, perhaps, the most crucial issue in current debate about participation. It is examined in this book by Mary Seneviratne, and by myself in Chapter 12.
