Addendum to The Papers of A. E. Dick Howard [a] - re Central and Eastern European new constitutions, 1986 - 1999

Professor Howard writes:

“The events leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall led to the collapse of the Soviet empire in Central and Eastern Europe. Communist regimes in the former communist countries were ousted, free elections took place, and the peoples of the region began the slow and arduous task of trying to lay the foundations for constitutional democracies. Events moved with amazing speed. For example, by the end of 1989, Vaclav Havel, a former dissident, became the first president of post-communist Czechoslovakia. The new era brought the making of new constitutions. Drafters looked westward, especially to Western Europe, but also to America.  My first invitation came from Hungary. The team charged with drafting a new constitution came to Charlottesville, and I did a series of seminars for them on constitution-making. I drew on my experience here in Virginia, as well as work I had done in other places, such as Hong Kong and the Philippines. These consultations were followed by my being invited to Budapest, where I was the guest of the Hungarian Parliament. I then had invitations to work with other countries in the region. Sometimes the invitation came from the President's office, as in Czechoslovakia. Sometimes it came from the Parliament, as in Poland. Typically there was American sponsorship, either official (for example, the State Department) or NGO (especially the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative). Usually I was a member of a team (for example, I worked closely with DC attorney Lloyd Cutler and American University professor Herman Schwartz in Prague). Often there were also consultants from European countries, such as Germany's Helmut Steinberger or France's Robert Badinter). I took my role throughout to be a modest one. Sometimes I was directly involved in drafting (as in Prague). Other times the work was by way of offering general advice.  I tried to avoid seeming to be a cultural imperialist; that is, I did not try to force the American model on the people of another country.    I tried to sketch out basic principles, ask a lot of questions, and get drafters thinking about options and choices”.