The LPE Project hosted a lunch talk with Professor Aziz Rana, the J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor of Law and Government at Boston College Law School, on Wednesday, September 18th, to discuss his latest book, The Constitutional Bind (The University of Chicago Press, 2024).
The Constitutional Bind investigates the history of the American Constitution and argues that the current reverence for the Constitution is a relatively recent phenomenon, connected to the rise of U.S. global dominance in the twentieth century. While offering a common language of reform, this veneration has also fueled an interventionist national security state and stifled deeper changes at home.
In an eye-opening account, the book also highlights the voices of movement activists—spanning Black, Indigenous, feminist, labor, and immigrant communities—who historically challenged the prevailing constitutional order and imagined alternative futures. Though many of these voices have been erased from mainstream memory, they provide crucial insights for today.
Professor Rana is an editorial board member of Dissent, The Law and Political Economy Blog, and Just Security. He is also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Professor Rana will be in conversation with Professor Amy Kapczynski, Faculty Co-Director of the Law and Political Economy Project, co-founder of the Law and Political Economy blog, and Faculty Co-Director of the Global Health Justice Partnership.