Principles of Constitutional Design

Principles of Constitutional Design PDF Author: Donald S. Lutz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139460552
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
This book is written for anyone, anywhere sitting down to write a constitution. The book is designed to be educative for even those not engaged directly in constitutional design but who would like to come to a better understanding of the nature and problems of constitutionalism and its fundamental building blocks - especially popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. Rather than a 'how-to-do-it' book that explains what to do in the sense of where one should end up, it instead explains where to begin - how to go about thinking about constitutions and constitutional design before sitting down to write anything. Still, it is possible, using the detailed indexes found in the book, to determine the level of popular sovereignty one has designed into a proposed constitution and how to balance it with an approximate, appropriate level of separation of powers to enhance long-term stability.

Principles of Constitutional Design

Principles of Constitutional Design PDF Author: Donald S. Lutz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139460552
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is written for anyone, anywhere sitting down to write a constitution. The book is designed to be educative for even those not engaged directly in constitutional design but who would like to come to a better understanding of the nature and problems of constitutionalism and its fundamental building blocks - especially popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. Rather than a 'how-to-do-it' book that explains what to do in the sense of where one should end up, it instead explains where to begin - how to go about thinking about constitutions and constitutional design before sitting down to write anything. Still, it is possible, using the detailed indexes found in the book, to determine the level of popular sovereignty one has designed into a proposed constitution and how to balance it with an approximate, appropriate level of separation of powers to enhance long-term stability.

Comparative Constitutional Design

Comparative Constitutional Design PDF Author: Tom Ginsburg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107020565
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Assesses what we know - and do not know - about comparative constitutional design and particular institutional choices concerning executive power and other issues.

The Robust Federation

The Robust Federation PDF Author: Jenna Bednar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139474448
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
The Robust Federation offers a comprehensive approach to the study of federalism. Jenna Bednar demonstrates how complementary institutions maintain and adjust the distribution of authority between national and state governments. These authority boundaries matter - for defense, economic growth, and adequate political representation - and must be defended from opportunistic transgression. From Montesquieu to Madison, the legacy of early institutional analysis focuses attention on the value of competition between institutions, such as the policy moderation produced through separated powers. Bednar offers a reciprocal theory: in an effective constitutional system, institutions complement one another; each makes the others more powerful. Diverse but complementary safeguards - including the courts, political parties, and the people - cover different transgressions, punish to different extents, and fail under different circumstances. The analysis moves beyond equilibrium conceptions and explains how the rules that allocate authority are not fixed but shift gradually. Bednar's rich theoretical characterization of complementary institutions provides the first holistic account of federal robustness.

The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America

The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America PDF Author: Thomas McIntyre Cooley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional law
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description


The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics PDF Author: Jon Pierre
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199665672
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 737

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Book Description
The Handbook provides a broad introduction to Swedish politics, and how Sweden's political system and policies have evolved over the past few decades.

Constitutional Democracy

Constitutional Democracy PDF Author: Walter F. Murphy
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801884702
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
Publisher Description

Keeping Faith with the Constitution

Keeping Faith with the Constitution PDF Author: Goodwin Liu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199752834
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it. In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.

Making Constitutions

Making Constitutions PDF Author: Gabriel L. Negretto
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107026520
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Examines constitutional change in Latin America from 1900 to 2008 and provides the first systematic explanation of the origins of constitutional designs.

Taking Ethno-Cultural Diversity Seriously in Constitutional Design

Taking Ethno-Cultural Diversity Seriously in Constitutional Design PDF Author: Solomon A. Dersso
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
ISBN: 9004235531
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Despite decades of nation-building exercise, ethnic-based claims for substantive equality, justice and equitable political inclusion and socio-economic order continue to result in communal rivalries. These are claims that define and represent the issue of minorities in Africa, of which these conflicts are manifestations. Although ethnic conflicts in Africa have been a subject of a large number of studies, the potential and role of norms on minority rights to address claims that ethno-cultural groups raise has not received the attention it deserves. Based on materials from normative political theory and international human rights law and using an empirical and prescriptive analysis, this book defends a robust system of minority rights built around culture, equality and self-determination. This is employed to elaborate an adequate constitutional design providing policy frameworks (multilingual language policy, recognition and affirmation of cultural diversity,), structures (that ensure just representation and participation of members of all groups) and norms (that guarantee substantive equality and the rights to language, religion and culture). The study then proffers two cases studies (South Africa and Ethiopia) to ascertain how such constitutional design might be translated into actual policy frameworks, institutions and norms.

Freedom's Law

Freedom's Law PDF Author: Ronald Dworkin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0198265573
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
Dworkin's important book is a collection of essays which discuss almost all of the great constitutional issues of the last two decades, including abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, homosexuality, pornography, and free speech. Dworkin offers a consistently liberal view of the Constitution and argues that fidelity to it and to law demands that judges make moral judgments. He proposes that we all interpret the abstract language of the Constitution by reference to moral principles about political decency and justice. His 'moral reading' therefore brings political morality into the heart of constitutional law. The various chapters of this book were first published separately; now drawn together they provide the reader with a rich, full-length treatment of Dworkin's general theory of law.