This issue of Constitutional INSIGHTS deals with the questions presented by constitutional or legal arrangements that treat one region of a state differently from others.

Differential treatment of this kind is sometimes described as ‘asymmetry’. Asymmetry is a feature of constitutional arrangements in all parts of the world. Examples of asymmetry on which this issue of Constitutional INSIGHTS draws include Jammu and Kashmir in India; Aceh in Indonesia; the Bangsamoro region in the Philippines; the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea; Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia; and the Oecusse in Timor-Leste.

The Melbourne Forum on Constitution-Building in Asia and the Pacific is a platform co-organized by the Constitution Transformation Network and International IDEA. It brings together scholars and practitioners of constitution building from across the region, to share their perspectives on critical issues, as a contribution to global understanding of the field.

This series of publications captures insights from the Melbourne Forum in an accessible and practice-oriented format.