Professor Ron Levy
Areas of expertise
- Constitutional Law 180108
- Human Rights Law 180114
- Comparative Law 180106
- Political Theory And Political Philosophy 160609
Research interests
Public law and political theory, especially constitutional law, constitutional reform, peacemaking, human rights, the law of political systems, and deliberative democracy
Biography
Professor Ron Levy’s work adapts the political theory of deliberative democracy to understand how contentious legal problems might be settled more effectively. He is the winner of several research awards including grants from Australian and overseas funding bodies. His extensive research, media commentary and governmental/NGO advice approaches contentious areas such as armed conflict, deeply-divided societies, Indigenous-settler conflicts, human rights and the environment.
Levy's books include Deliberative Peace Referendums (Oxford University Press, 2021, with Ian O'Flynn and Hoi Kong); The Law of Deliberative Democracy (Routledge, 2016, with Graeme Orr) and The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press, 2018, with Hoi Kong, Graeme Orr and Jeff King eds). He has published works on law and political theory, in five countries, in books and journals including Public Law, McGill Law Journal, UNSW Law Journal, Melbourne University Law Review, Public Law Review, Election Law Journal and The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy.
His current and former roles include:
- Convenor of the International Advisory Panel on Referendums;
- Board Member of International Society of Constitutional Law (I•CON-S) Aus/NZ Branch, and Co-convenor of Constitutional Theory Group;
- Associate at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance; and
- Former Co-Director of the Project on Deliberative Governance and Law.
Levy has been a Visitor at Yale, Cambridge, Stanford, McGill, Hebrew University, Sydney University, King's College London and Oxford.
Current student projects
- Xiangyu Ma, Solidarity Constitutionalism in Contermporary China: Sovereignty, Legal Pluralism, and the Homogenization of a Multi-ethnic Party-State
- Madeleine Egan, Making Space for Mass Democracy in Deliberative Constitutionalism
- Michael Morison, Reimagining Democratisation Through Deliberation
Past student projects
- Dr Justin McCaul, Deliberating Native Title: Deliberative Democracy and Native Title
- Dr Shay Keinan, Deliberative Democracy and Diasporas
Publications
- Appleby, G, Levy, R & Whalan, H 2023, 'Voice Versus Rights: A First Nations Voice and the Australian Constitutional Crisis of Legitimacy', UNSW Law Journal, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 761-790.
- Levy, R 2023, 'Democratizing constituent power', Journal of Legal Philosophy, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 44-53.
- Levy, R 2022, 'Fixed Constitutional Commitments: Evaluating Climate Change Constitutionalism's "New Frontier"', Melbourne University Law Review, vol. 46, no. 1.
- Levy, R 2022, 'Rights and Deliberative Systems', Journal of Deliberative Democracy, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 27-37.
- Levy, R & O'Flynn, I 2022, 'The role of deliberative peace referendums in the constitutional settlement of conflict', in James A. Gardner (ed.), Comparative Election Law, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, United Kingdom, pp. 212-234.
- Levy, R & McAllister, I 2022, 'Public opinion on Indigenous issues and constitutional recognition: three decades of liberalisation', Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 75-92.
- Levy, R, O'Flynn, I & Kong, H 2021, Deliberative Peace Referendums, Oxford University Press, Oxford United Kingdom.
- O'Flynn, I & Levy, R 2019, 'Deliberative Constitutional Referendums in Deeply Divided Societies', University of British Columbia Law Review, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 203-238.
- Levy, R 2019, Informed Referendums.
- Levy, R 2019, 'Democratic innovation in constitutional reform', in Stephen Elstub & Oliver Escobar (ed.), Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance, Edward Elgar Publishing, United Kingdom, pp. 339-353.
- Levy, R 2018, Independent Report on ACT Citizens' Jury Pilot.
- Levy, R 2018, Review Report on Bougainville Referendum Outcome Issues Study.
- Dixon, R, Levy, R & Tushnet, M 2018, 'Theories and practices of federalism in deeply divided societies', Federal Law Review, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 481-490.
- Moses, L, Gore, R, Levy, R et al. 2017, 'No More Excuses: Automated Synthesis of Practical and Verifiable Vote-Counting Programs for Complex Voting Schemes', International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting, ed. R. Krimmer et al., Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 66-83.
- Wood, A & Levy, R 2019, 'A Mini-public of Academics: Experimenting with Deliberative Democracy and Indigenous Cultural Competency in Legal Education', Legal Education Review, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 1-17.
- Levy, R, Simpson, A, O'Flynn, I et al 2018, 'Designing Referendums for Peacemaking: The Case of Bougainville', Australasian Parliamentary Review, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 6-40.
- Kong, H & Levy, R 2018, 'Deliberative Constitutionalism', in André Bächtiger, John Dryzek, Jane J. Mansbridge and Mark Warren (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 625-639.
- Levy, R 2018, 'The 'Elite Problem' in Deliberative Constitutionalism', in Ron Levy, Hoi Kong, Graeme Orr, Jeff King (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 351-369.
- Levy, R & Kong, H 2018, 'Introduction: Fusion and Creation', in Ron Levy, Hoi Kong, Graeme Orr, Jeff King (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 1-14.
- Levy, R, Kong, H, Orr , G et al., eds, 2018, The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
- Levy, R 2018, 'Shotgun Referendums: Popular Deliberation and Constitutional Settlement in Conflict Societies', Melbourne University Law Review, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 1237-1277.
- Levy, R 2017, 'A People's Federation? Populism, Deliberation and Federal Reform', in Mark Bruerton, Tracey Arklay, Robyn Hollander, Ron Levy (ed.), A People's Federation, The Federation Press, Sydney, pp. 258-271pp.
- Levy, R, Silva, N & Saunders, B 2017, 'Deliberation at the Founding: Deliberative Democracy as an Original Constitutional Value', Public Law Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 41-60pp.
- Levy, R 2017, 'The Deliberative Case for Constitutional Referenda', Election Law Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 213-221pp.
- Levy, R, O'Brien, M, Rice, S et al 2017, 'Introduction', in (ed.), New Directions for Law in Australia: Essays in Contemporary Law Reform, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 1-10.
- Orr, G & Levy, R 2016, 'Regulating opinion polling: a deliberative democratic perspective', University of New South Wales Law Journal, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 318-340.
- Levy, R & Orr , G 2016, The Law of Deliberative Democracy, Routledge, London, UK.
- Levy, R 2015, 'Erudite Primer to the Constitutional Practice of Deliberative Democracy', Brazilian Political Science Review, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 133-135.
- Levy, R 2014, Constitutional Codification and Deliberative Voting.
- Levy, R 2013, 'The Law of Deliberative Democracy: Seeding the Field', Election Law Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 355-371.
- Levy, R 2013, '"Deliberative Voting": Realising Constitutional Referendum Democracy', Public Law, vol. 2013, pp. 555-574.
- Levy, R 2012, 'Deliberative Constitutional Change in a Polarised Federation', in Paul Kildea, Andrew Lynch and George Williams (ed.), Tomorrow's Federation: Reforming Australian Government, The Federation Press, Sydney, Australia, pp. 350-370.
- Levy, R 2012, 'Changing constitutions through 'deliberative voting': A new approach', Pandora's Box, vol. 19, pp. 41-45.
- Brown, A & Levy, R 2011, 'A Tale of Two Questions? An Argument for Coordinated Constitutional Reform', Indigenous Law Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 25, pp. 31-36.
- Levy, R 2011, 'Drawing Boundaries: Election Law Fairness and its Democratic Consequences', in Joo-Cheong Tham, Brian Costar and Graeme Orr (ed.), Electoral Democracy: Australian Prospects, Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne Australia, pp. 57-77.
- Levy, R 2010, 'Breaking the Constitutional Deadlock: Lessons from Deliberative Experiments in Constitutional Change', Melbourne University Law Review, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 805-838.
- Orr, G & Levy, R 2009, 'Electoral malapportionment: Partisanship, rhetoric and reform in the shadow of the agrarian strongman', Griffith Law Review, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 638-655.
- Levy, R 2008, 'Regulating impartiality: Electoral-boundary politics in the administrative arena', McGill law journal. Revue de droit de McGill, vol. 53, pp. 1-57.
- Levy, R 2007, 'Judicial Selection Reform in Comparative Context', University of British Columbia Law Review, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 591-628.
- Levy, R 2002, 'Expressive Harms and the Strands of Charter Equality: Drawing Out Parallel Coherent Approaches of Discrimination', Alberta Law Review, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 393-416.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- The Law of Deliberative Democracy: Theory and Reform (Secondary Investigator)