Protecting the rights of future generations: are constitutional mechanisms an answer

Abstract

In recent decades, concern has been mounting over whether democratic governments have the necessary incentives and capabilities to protect the long-term interests of their citizens, particularly their future citizens. Both the academic literature on governance and everyday political discourse are replete with talk of ‘short-termism’, ‘political myopia’, ‘policy short-sightedness’, a ‘presentist bias’ and weak ‘anticipatory governance. Such concerns have been intensified by the growing capacity of humanity to cause ‘severe, pervasive and irreversible’ damage to critical biophysical systems at a planetary level, for example via anthropogenic climate change3. But flawed environmental stewardship is not the only problem.