What Should Constitutions Do?
In this collection, legal scholars, political scientists and philosophers address questions of constitutional purpose, design and law from many viewpoints.
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Complete description
The essays in this volume - written by prominent philosophers, political scientists and legal scholars - address the basic purposes of constitutions and their status as fundamental law. Some deal with specific constitutional provisions: they ask, for example, which branches of government should have the authority to conduct foreign policy, or how the judiciary should be organized, or what role a preamble should play in a nation's founding document. Other essays explore questions of constitutional design: they consider the advantages of a federal system of government, or the challenges of designing a constitution for a pluralistic society - or they ask what form of constitution best promotes personal liberty and economic prosperity.
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General info
Publisher & Imprint:
Cambridge University Press
City:
Cambridge
Pages:
354
More info:
height 228 mm
width 152 mm
weight 470 gr
thickness 19 mm
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Age recommended:
Professional and scholarly
Subject Indexing & Classification
Dewey:(DC22) 320.011
Library of Congress Subject: Political science
Departments:
Political science & theory;
Record updated at:
23 March, 2013
time:
03:34
Summary
What Should Constitutions Do?
1. What are constitutions, and what should (and can) they do? Larry Alexander; 2. Constitution and fundamental law: the lesson of Classical Athens John David Lewis; 3. Contract, covenant, constitution Loren E. Lomasky; 4. Constitutionalism in the age of terror Michael Zuckert and Peter Valenzuela; 5. The liberal constitution and foreign affairs Fernando R. Teson; 6. Do constitutions have a point? Reflections on 'parchment barriers' and preambles Sanford Levinson; 7. The origins of an independent judiciary in New York, 1621-1777 Scott D. Gerber; 8. Foot voting, political ignorance, and constitutional design Ilya Somin; 9. Pluralist constitutionalism William A. Galston; 10. Deliberative democracy and constitutions James S. Fishkin; 11. The constitution of nondomination Guido Pincione; 12. Can we design an optimal constitution? Of structural ambiguity and rights clarity Richard A. Epstein.
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