This article examines the conceptual and historical relationship between constitutionalism and development. It argues that the communities that represent these two ideas have had little engagement, and yet there is a good deal of overlap between their areas of concern. Given that the Sustainable Development Goals 2015 have strongly embraced good governance, accountability and the rule of law, and we have become adept at defining and articulating the rule of law, the time seems ripe for development to engage with constitutionalism, and for constitutionalism to use “developmental operativity”, as I call it, to advance its objectives in practice.