The U.S. Constitution: A Global Perspective - Essay Example

The Declining Influence of the United s Constitution About two centuries ago, the United s constitution was written. Immediately, it became a model for other nations across the globe to emulate in governance. Even about three decades ago, the United States constitution was still viewed as a model that other nations used as a template to compose or update their constitutions. The influence of the U.S. constitution became more intense in the 1970s. However, this has changed histrionically particularly over the last 25 years.

This can be depicted by the manner in which many nations have altered their constitution to make them differ from the U.S. This paper focuses on the reasons behind the declining influence of the U.S. constitution and why is should be a concern to the United States.This decline can be attributed to the nature of the United States constitution. The U.S. constitution was written more than 200 years ago and only minimal changes have been made since then. This is irrespective of the dynamic way things have been changing over the last several decades.

Additionally, other nations have come up with better constitutions than the U.S. constitution, which are now being emulated by nations that want to write or update their constitution. Furthermore, many nations view the human rights such as the right to privacy as a very important part of the constitution. This is unlike the U.S. constitution where the right to privacy is not explicit. Generally, the U.S. constitution does not address the human right adequately irrespective of the fact that most countries are increasingly becoming concerned on addressing the rights of their citizens adequately.

This has led to great similarity in chapters of constitutions addressing human rights in many countries making many constitutions different from that of the United States (Law and Versteeg 762-770). Another aspect that has made the U.S constitution quite unpopular is the way it has overemphasized on the rights that the government cannot provide to individuals. This is opposed to the aspiration by other nation to include positive rights in their constitutions. Another possible reason for the declined influence is the controversy that frequently arise when the U.S. constitution is being interpreted due to lack of language specificity (Law and Versteeg 762-763).

The fact that the U.S. constitution was written two centuries ago means that it cannot address current challenges. A factor that has made amendment of the United States constitution hard is the fact that the citizens pledge their loyalty to it, which makes it appear like something sacred. Additionally, for an amendment to be made it is required that that two third of each of the congress houses vote in support of the amendment. This is quite hard and more of an obstacle (Billias 125-130).Considering that U.S. is still the world super power, the decline of the influence of its constitution should be a concern.

This is because the decline could be an indicator that U.S form of governance is no longer tolerable in many nations. Additionally, the decline is an indicator that the U.S. constitution is not addressing the rights of their citizen pertinently. This is despite the fact that U.S. has been one of the nations that pressurizes nations to respect the rights of their citizens ("Global Influence of U.S." Web).In conclusion, it is certain that the U.S. constitution is no longer influential like it was about three decades ago.

This is depicted by the fact that other nations no longer view the U.S. constitution as a model to be emulated. The main reason is that the constitution was written two centuries ago and has not been amended to suit the contemporary world. Additionally, it does not adequately address the human rights. The reduce influence should be a concern and the U.S. government should reexamine their constitution. Works Cited"Global Influence of U.S. Constitution on the Decline, Study Reveals." PHYSorg.com.

22 Feb 2012. Billias, George. American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World, 1776-1989: A Global Perspective. New York: NYU Press, 2009. Print.Law, David and Mila Versteeg. "The Declining Influence Of The United States Constitution." New York University Law Review, Vol 87(762) (2012): 762-859.