Rule of law and constitutionalist ideals are understood by many, if not most, as necessary to create a just political order. Defying the traditional division between normative and positive theoretical approaches, this book explores how political reality on the one hand, and constitutional ideals on the other, mutually inform and influence each other. Seventeen chapters from leading international scholars cover a diverse range of topics and case studies to test the hypothesis that the best normative theories, including those regarding the role of constitutions, constitutionalism and the rule of law, conceive of the ideal and the real as mutually regulating. An exploration of how rule of law and constitutional ideals inform, and are informed by, political realities. Maurice Adams is Professor of General Jurisprudence and Professor of Democratic Governance and Rule of Law at the Law School of Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands. His research has a particular focus on comparative law, and on the relation between constitutional law and political theory. Anne Meuwese is Professor of European and Comparative Public Law at the Law School of Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands. She is co-chair of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance. Her work has been published in a number of renowned law journals. Ernst Hirsch Ballin is Professor of Dutch and European Constitutional Law at Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands and Professor of Human Rights Law at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Prior to returning to academia in 2011 he was Dutch Minister of Justice (1989–94, 2006–10) and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Affairs (2010).