Since it was enshrined in the modern Swiss constitution of 1848, direct democracy has been the bedrock of what makes the Swiss feel different.

ECONOMIST: Swiss people power

The idea was pioneered by the United States, the first modern democracy with a written constitution.

ECONOMIST: POLITICS BRIEF: The gavel and the robe | The

Secondly, this country has a constitution, which is one of the most modern constitutions ever written in the Middle East.

NPR: Maliki Assures Bush on Iraqi Force's Readiness

More to the point is that the constitution provides few answers to the hard questions thrown up by modern politics.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

Only then will the government be able to proceed with drafting a constitution and eventually hold Libya's first democratic elections in its modern history, our correspondent says.

BBC: Libya's interim PM unveils new government line-up

This in turn could pave the way for Mr Erdogan to launch his long-promised new democratic constitution, which would properly embrace the Kurds for the first time in modern Turkish history.

ECONOMIST: Turkey and the Kurds

This has increased the sense that a constitution that places the British monarch at its centre no longer reflects the realities of modern Australia.

ECONOMIST: The republican rumble down under