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The CPA Constitution Unit and the CPA-ECCL Programme on Constitutionalism

The CPA Constitution Unit, established in 2026, implements the CPA-ECCL Programme on Constitutionalism, a joint programme of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law (ECCL) of the University of Edinburgh. The CPA-ECCL Partnership was first established in 2015, and was renewed in 2025 for a further period of five years (2026-2030). The Programme is funded by the Open Society Foundations.

The renewed CPA-ECCL Programme on Constitutionalism has two objectives:

  • Serving as an international hub for a network of scholars, practitioners, and students reimagining constitutional governance for the Common Good (Latin: Bonum Commune; Greek: Koinēi Sumpheron; Sinhala: පොදු යහපත; Tamil: பொது நன்மை) in a polycentric world;
  • Nurturing a new generation of Sri Lankan scholars, practitioners, and students educated in the law, politics, and history of the Commonwealth tradition of parliamentary constitutional government.

The Programme consists of three workstreams encompassing research, advocacy, network, and knowledge exchange activities:

  • The Constitutional Governance Network;
  • The Reconstitute Sri Lanka Project; and
  • The Alfred Jeyaratnam Wilson Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism.

The Constitutional Governance Network

The Constitutional Governance Network (CGN) of scholars and practitioners was established in 2023, in the context of the emerging polycentric world order and the impact of that global realignment on the ideas, doctrines, and practices of constitutional governance. It brings together practitioners and academics from diverse contexts to collaboratively discuss and develop theory-informed, practice-based, comparative, and contextualised approaches to constitutional governance. The network focuses on deepening understanding of governance contexts that diverge from prevailing paradigms and addressing the complex, contextual dilemmas faced by states and communities. The CGN aims to foster methods of contextual appraisal and analysis to enable the thoughtful accompaniment of actors and institutions involved in governance reform, including those from legal, policy, civil society, and academic communities.

Within the remit of the CPA-ECCL Programme, CPA will serve as the hub for the hosting of an annual conference of the CGN which will generate a planned body of published new thinking on the theory and practice of comparative constitutionalism ordered to the Common Good in a polycentric world.

The Reconstitute Sri Lanka Project

The CPA-ECCL Partnership in support of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka was first established in 2015. Having been rebranded as ‘Reconstitute Sri Lanka’ in 2023, the project continues to focus on the substantive and procedural issues surrounding the repeal and replacement of the 1978 presidential constitution with a constitution that will establish a parliamentary constitutional democracy ordered to the Common Good. As at present, it has produced a substantial body of scholarly, policy, and public education outputs as well as a draft Constitution Bill and a White Paper concretising its proposals.

The following page hosts all the non-confidential outputs of the project.

The Alfred Jeyaratnam Wilson Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism

The annual Alfred Jeyaratnam Wilson Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism brings together scholars, practitioners, and students for the comparative and interdisciplinary discussion of the law, politics, and history of the Commonwealth tradition of parliamentary government, with a special focus on Ceylon/Sri Lanka’s pioneering role in the development of that constitutional tradition from the mid-19th century onwards.

The Forum is named after one of Ceylon/Sri Lanka’s most distinguished constitutional scholars, the late Professor A.J. Wilson (1928-2000), who was an exemplar of the highest scholarly standards on comparative constitutional analysis and had an academic career spanning the Commonwealth. His substantial corpus of work on the politics and history of Sri Lankan constitutional government and comparative politics from the 1950s to the 2000s informs the Forum.

The central aim of the Forum is to cultivate a Sri Lankan epistemic community competent to successfully operate the future constitutional system advocated by the Reconstitute Sri Lanka Project.

Management Team

  • Senior Research Fellow and Programme Director (CPA and ECCL): Dr Asanga Welikala
  • Senior Researcher and Deputy Programme Director (CPA): Mr Shahane de Silva
  • Research Fellow and Programme Associate Director (ECCL): Mr René Tapia Herrera
  • Research Fellow and Programme Associate Director (ECCL): Mr Jakub Babuska

Honorary Senior Fellows

  • Senior Research Fellow and Co-Convenor of the Wilson Forum: Dr Harshan Kumarasingham
  • Senior Practice Fellow and Co-Convenor of the CGN: Dr George Varughese
  • Senior Practice Fellow and Stakeholder Manager: Mr Iain Payne
  • Senior Practice Fellow and Reconstitute Drafting Consultant: Dr W. Elliot Bulmer