Constitutional Culture and Democratic Rule (Murphy Institute Studies in Political Economy)

Jonathan Riley Edited by John Ferejohn
Cambridge University Press, 10/11/2001
EAN 9780521790222, ISBN10: 0521790220

Hardcover, 430 pages, 23.7 x 15.7 x 3.1 cm
Language: English

This volume investigates the nature of constitutional democratic government in the United States and elsewhere. The editors introduce a basic conceptual framework which the contributors clarify and develop in eleven essays organized into three separate sections. The first section deals with constitutional founding and the founders' use of cultural symbols and traditions to facilitate acceptance of a new regime. The second discusses alternative constitutional structures and their effects on political outcomes. The third focuses on processes of constitutional change and on why founders might choose to make formal amendments relatively difficult or easy to achieve. The book is distinctive because it provides comprehensive tools for analyzing and comparing different forms of constitutional democracy. These tools are discussed in ways that will be of interest to students and readers in political science, law, history and political philosophy.

Part I. Constitutional Democracy
Beginnings and Traditions
Editors' introduction
1. Constitutional problematics, circa 1787 Jack N. Rakove
2. Inventing constitutional traditions
the poverty of fatalism James Johnson
3. The birth logic of a democratic constitution Lawrence G. Sager
Part II. Constitutional Structure and Design
4. Constitutional democracy as a two-stage game Jonathan Riley
5. Imagining another Madisonian Republic Jonathan Riley
6. One and three
separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary in the Italian constitution Pasquale Pasquino
7. A political theory of Federalism Jenna Bednar
Part III. Constitutional Change and Stability
8. Designing an amendment process Sanford Levinson
9. Constitutional theory transformed Stephen M. Griffin
10. Constitutional economic transition Russel Hardin
11. Institutionalizing constitutional interpretation Jack Knight.