The United Nations Charter opened with “We the peoples,” presenting postwar international order as grounded in peoples—not only states. This language helped popular sovereignty and self-determination arguments travel across borders in the decades of decolonization and constitution-making that followed.
Japan promulgated a new constitution that emphasized popular sovereignty and extensive rights protections after World War II. It became a prominent early example of rebuilding political authority by appealing to the people as the source of legitimate government.
India’s Constituent Assembly adopted the Objectives Resolution, stating that authority would derive from the people and committing the future state to rights and equality. This was a key bridge between anti-colonial politics and a constitutional “social contract” that justified self-rule and set expectations for the new government.
The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a global statement of basic rights and equal dignity. In many postwar and decolonizing settings, these rights claims worked like shared “terms” of legitimate rule—standards governments were expected to honor.
India’s Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution whose Preamble begins “We, the People of India,” framing the constitution as self-given rather than granted by an empire. The text tied independence to a commitment to justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity as core promises of the new republic.
India’s constitution came into effect, completing the transition from colonial governance to a republic under a new constitutional order. The event reinforced the idea that political authority should be rooted in the consent and rights of the people.
Ghana’s 1960 constitution marked a move from dominion status to a republic, reflecting a broader decolonization pattern: replacing imperial legal authority with locally enacted constitutional authority. In social-contract terms, it signaled that the state’s powers should be justified by the people of Ghana rather than an external sovereign.
The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 1514 (XV), declaring that colonialism should end and affirming the principle of self-determination. This strengthened anti-colonial claims that legitimate rule requires the consent of the governed, not foreign control.
Kenya’s independence constitution entered into force on the day of independence from the United Kingdom. Like many late-colonial transitions, this constitutional step attempted to translate independence into a workable agreement about institutions, authority, and rights.
The UN General Assembly adopted the ICCPR and ICESCR, turning broad human-rights principles into treaty obligations for states. These covenants reinforced a core social-contract idea in postcolonial constitutionalism: governments are legitimate when they protect people’s rights and allow political participation.
The ICCPR entered into force, followed soon by the ICESCR, creating binding international rules on civil-political rights and economic-social-cultural rights. This capped the 1945–1975 era by embedding many decolonization-era social-contract claims—self-determination, participation, and rights—into lasting treaty law that new and older states alike could be held to.
Algeria promulgated a constitution following a 1976 referendum, restoring a national assembly and restructuring presidential authority. In the post-independence period, this was part of an effort to re-legitimate state power by formal constitutional rules presented as expressing a collective political project.
Use of Social Contract Arguments in Decolonization and Postwar Constitutionalism (1945–1975)