Academy Fellow

Professor Theunis Roux is an internationally recognised scholar of comparative constitutional studies whose research examines the relationship between constitutional law, politics and social change. His central contribution has been to develop a more sophisticated understanding of constitutions and courts as political and social institutions: institutions whose operation cannot be understood through legal doctrine alone, but must also be analysed in their historical, political and institutional contexts.

A defining feature of Professor Roux’s work is its integration of legal scholarship with political science and other social sciences. His book The Politico-Legal Dynamics of Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2018) develops an account of judicial review that combines normative and doctrinal analysis with an explanation of the political conditions under which constitutional courts exercise their powers. His article ‘Comparative Constitutional Studies: Two Fields or One?’ (Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2017) addresses the relationship between comparative constitutional law and comparative judicial politics, helping to clarify the intellectual foundations of an increasingly important interdisciplinary field.

Professor Roux has also made a major contribution to understanding constitutionalism in South Africa and its significance for constitutional democracies elsewhere. His book The Politics of Principle: The First South African Constitutional Court, 1995–2005 (Cambridge University Press, 2013) examines the political and institutional dynamics of South Africa’s first Constitutional Court during the transition from apartheid. His subsequent work has explored both the achievements and limitations of the country’s transformative constitutional project, contributing to international debates about the capacity of constitutional institutions to advance democracy, equality and social justice.

More recently, his comparative research on South Africa and India has examined the challenges facing postcolonial constitutional democracies. These countries adopted ambitious constitutional frameworks in the aftermath of profound historical injustice, yet their constitutional traditions have increasingly attracted criticism for their association with Western intellectual traditions and their failure to fulfil transformative promises. Professor Roux’s work brings historical and comparative perspectives to these debates, examining how constitutional institutions respond to political contestation, democratic backsliding and competing understandings of constitutional legitimacy.

The international reach of this research was demonstrated by his 2024 lead article, ‘Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa’, published in (2024) 56 Verfassung und Recht in Übersee/World Comparative Law 5, which prompted 15 responses from other scholars.

Across these contributions, Professor Roux has helped bridge doctrinal legal scholarship and the empirical and theoretical concerns of the social sciences. His work advances understanding of how constitutional institutions operate in practice, why their trajectories differ across societies, and what they can realistically achieve in conditions of political and social conflict. It has thereby strengthened comparative constitutional studies as an interdisciplinary field and enriched international debates about the relationship between law, democracy and social transformation.

Professor, School of Global and Public Law, UNSW Sydney

Fellow, Centre for Reflexive Globalisation and the Law, Humboldt University of Berlin; Fellow, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies; Member, International Society of Public Law

1.      Roux T and Memela S, ‘The Chief Justice Chosen by God to Save South African Democracy: Explaining Mogoeng Mogoeng’s Unexpectedly Successful Tenure’ (2025) 23 International Journal of Constitutional Law 203-223

2.      Roux, T, ‘Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa’ (2024) 56 Verfassung und Recht in Übersee/World Comparative Law 5

3.      Roux T, ‘Constitutionalism Beyond Compare: Martin Loughlin’s Inadvertent Case for Comparative Constitutional Studies’ (2023) 1 Comparative Constitutional Studies 290-303

4.      Roux T, ‘Comparative Public Law’ in Paul Daly and Joe Tomlinson (eds), Researching Public Law in Common Law Legal Systems (Edward Elgar, 2023) 151-174

5.      Roux T, The Politico-Legal Dynamics of Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis (Cambridge UP, 2018)