Dr Asanga Welikala, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Edinburgh, joins Dr Tom Simpson, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, for a conversation as part of the International Perspectives on Conservatism series.

In this session Asanga Welikala will discuss the historical development of constitutional government, focusing on the Global South since 1945. Suggesting that the ideas behind and legal expressions of post-colonial ‘modernist constitutionalism’ have reached a point of political exhaustion, he will examine what a conservative alternative might look like. What does a common good constitutionalism have to offer those writing constitutions, and governing by them, in the Global South?

International Perspectives on Conservatism is a series that aims to deepen our understanding of what the political right does and should stand for, and how it can contribute to stable, free, prosperous and secure democratic societies globally. Speakers will be leading academics and policymakers from around the world. Find out more about the project International Perspectives on Conservatism.