Reason, not emotion - the springboard to effective constitutions

In a world of profligacy and bigotry, reason stands no chance. World systems with its accompanying institutional layout stand ill-fated not of its own making but due to the grand folly of those that handle all of such, who in the midst of discharging their duties, lose sight of the higher purpose or the broader perspective by being shrouded in emotion.

For instance the Nation State concept with its characteristics of territorial integrity and sovereignty, taken on its own merit carry high ideals yet meander due to man's restricted thinking based on an inflammable emotional state.

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan	Clement R. Attlee	Jawaharlal Nehru	John F. Kennedy

Territorial integrity and people's sovereignty are both at stake when restricted constitutional arrangements come into play which arrangements however narrow could be overcome only when morality overtakes what is technical. Yet to find the moral capital that will shed the emotional baggage is hard to come by as the social whole is progressively overcome by this baggage containing race, caste, religion, school, club, family whatever. Profligacy and bigotry runs high in such environs.

Only ultra nationalistic tendencies and ethno-populist views - all part of such emotion remain, whereby people's sovereignty is taken to be the wishes of the majority. People's sovereignty is an all inclusive concept - that which includes all social segments. People's sovereignty is defunct amid ethnic disarray and economic deprivation. In such environs, such sovereignty slides down the precipice.

Again, in such surroundings, the concept of territorial integrity is also lost. Ethno/religio/economic/political marginalisation while undermining people's sovereignty put territorial integrity at jeopardy. Territories are exposed to what is unwholesome when discriminated, disgruntled social segments begin to tear the national fabric and align with external forces. More important then the need for State dispensation of equality and equity among all social groups.

Constitutional arrangements and institutional layouts are thus more into emotional state than what appeals to moral conscience.

Historical fact

The five kingdoms of ancient Sri Lanka including the Jaffna Kingdom was a historical fact - the fiction of today. In the absence of constitutional arrangement there was reasonable acceptance of social/political diversity. Yet that state of reason in later years ran into emotional haywire amid misinterpretation of modern constitutional arrangements. Such mechanisms in its ideal state should facilitate reason yet we see such reason operative, ironically though, only in pre-colonial times, devoid of any prescribed constitutional involvement.

If constitutional misinterpretation is dangerous, far worse is the havoc coming out of a rigid constitution. India's liberal democrat, scholar and thinker Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, "A constitution to be living must be growing, must be adaptable, must be flexible, must be changeable. And if there is one thing which the history of political development has pointed out it is this. The great strength of the British people has resided in their flexible, unwritten constitution. They have known how to adapt themselves to the biggest changes, constitutionally. The extreme of a rigid constitution is a dangerous one, which might lead to the break up of that constitution.

Life - a curve

Life is a curve-it is not a straight line and the life of a nation is even more of a curve in these changing times. Logical and straight lines are tangents which go off the curve and if the tangent is too far away from the curve of life and the curve of a nation's life, then there is conflict and upheaval.Something new emerges because you come back, as you must, to the line of life because you cannot depart too far from it. So if you are flexible in your action and constitutions then you are nearer to the living curve of a nation's life."

A constitution which is unchanging and static - it does not matter how good it is, how perfect it is - is a constitution that has outlived its use."Nehru's reference to changing times comes within the comprehending powers of the Buddhist mind whose religious ideology is based on change itself - the Dhamma chakra or wheel - so symbolic of everything in the world that does not escape this universal truth.

Invariably, constitutional changes then should not perturb nor instill fear in such minds. Constantly living with a fear that power sharing would ultimately lead to separation and continuing to remain in that thought itself is ingredient to and facilitator of a separate State. It was Jawaharlal Nehru in one of his finest expressions who declared "Peace can only come when the causes of war are removed."

Wars don't enrich

British Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee - the liberalist if not for whom the British colonies may have continued as subjugated entities under Winston Churchill speaking at the ILO conference in 1941 said, "The fact is that wars do not enrich but impoverish the world and bold statesmanship will be needed if we were to repair the ravages of war and to ensure to all the highest possible measures of labour standards, economic growth and social security."

India's eminent scholar/statesman Dr. S. Radhakrishnan at a meeting in New Delhi in 1962 said, "If the varied economic, social, cultural and political institutions which affect the whole world are to be saved from collapse, the re-inforcement of multi-cultural understanding and spiritual fellowship among all people is an imperative necessity.

Men have existed side by side for centuries. They must now not merely exist together, but live together, understand one another and love one another."

US President John F. Kennedy in his address to the UN in 1961 even expressed his desire to see a world where the rule of law over took the rule of war.Kennedy even saw the future dangers arising out of a unipolar world. Inequality and inequity he viewed as threatening world peace.

Development can become a co-operative - not a competitive enterprise to enable all nations however diverse in their systems and beliefs, to become in fact as well as law free and equal states.

Yet, all of the above personalities' thirst for enlightened governance cannot come about as long as narrow self-serving interests prevail.