ABSTRACT
The relationship between constitution, the people in the governing system who are enacting it, and national culture determines outcomes. But seeking a solution by persuading these ‘enactors’ to behave better is dismissed. The ‘invisible hands’ of a constitution are everywhere. The method and result of referenda on the contentious issues of abortion in Ireland and Brexit in the UK are compared to illustrate their critical impact, along with the contrasting behaviours of Presidents Obama and Trump. The principles on which today’s constitutions are based are ancient, and at the time of their development, systemic. But the world has moved on a long way since then – with the arrival of the Anthropocene, the power of elites and large companies, the scale and service demands on governments, globalisation, and information and technology complexity. Today’s constitutions are out of their depth. Modern constitutional thinking can learn from how science has developed over the last 500 years. Innovations to incorporate the biosphere in constitutions are described. It is only by changing the rules by which governments and other elements of a governance system operate that the biosphere can be protected and major inequalities in power, wealth and well-being be rebalanced.
