Author: G. Alan TarrPublisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791466148
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
The first systematic analysis of the obstacles to state constitutional reform.
Thirty Years of State Constitution-making, 1938-1968
Author: Albert Lee SturmPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 1
Author: G. Alan TarrPublisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791466148
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
The first systematic analysis of the obstacles to state constitutional reform.
State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 3
Author: G. Alan TarrPublisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791467121
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
Nationally recognized experts analyze how states deal with major constitutional issues.
The American State Constitutional Tradition
Author: John J. DinanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
The first comprehensive study of all 114 state constitutional conventions for which there are records--from Connecticut's in 1818 to New Hampshire's in 1984. By integrating state constitution-makers with the federal constitutional tradition, this path-breaking work yields a superior understanding of how American citizens have chosen to govern themselves.
State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 1
Author: Robert F. WilliamsPublisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791482456
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Through illuminating case studies of reform efforts in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, and Virginia, this book—the first of three volumes—provides the first systematic analysis of the political obstacles to state constitutional reform. For those seeking constitutional reform, this useful resource can spell the difference between success and failure, and for those interested in state politics or constitutional politics, it offers rare insight into a distinctive aspect of American constitutionalism. Written by eminent scholars who were, in many cases, also active participants in the reform campaign, the essays provide practical experience, expert analysis, and lessons for future constitutional reformers.
Constitutional Ratification Without Reason
Author: Jeffrey A. LenowitzPublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198852347
Category : Constitutional law
Languages : en
Pages : 401
Book Description
This volume focuses on constitutional ratification, the procedure in which a draft constitution is submitted by its creators to the people or their representatives in an up or down vote determining implementation. Ratification is increasingly common and routinely recommended by experts. Nonetheless, it is neither neutral nor inevitable. Constitutions can be made without it and when it is used it has significant effects. This raises the central question of the book: should ratification be recommended? Put another way: is there a reason for treating the procedure as a default for the constitution-making process? Surprisingly, these questions are rarely asked. The procedure's worth is assumed, not demonstrated, while ratification is generally overlooked in the literature. In fact, this is the first sustained study of ratification. To address these oversights, this book defines ratification and its types, explains the procedure's effects, conceptual origins, and history, and then concentrates on finding reasons for its use. Specifically, it builds up and analyzes the three most likely normative justifications. These urge the implementation of ratification because the procedure: enables the constituent power to make its constitution; fosters representation during constitution-making; or helps create a legitimate constitution. Ultimately, these justifications are found wanting, leading to the conclusion that ratification lacks a convincing, context-independent justification. Thus, until new arguments are developed, experts should not give recommendations for ratification as a matter of course, practitioners should not reach for it uncritically, and-more generally-one should avoid the blanket application of concepts from democratic theory to extraordinary contexts such as constitution-making.
The Growth of American Government
Author: Ballard C. CampbellPublisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253014271
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400
Book Description
How and why has government gotten bigger? “Should be a compulsory assignment for any seminar on modern political culture.” —The Journal of American History American government has evolved over the generations since the mid-nineteenth century. The changing character of these institutions is a critical part of the history of the United States. This engaging survey focuses on the evolution of public policy and its relationship to the constitutional and political structure of government at the federal, state, and local levels. A new chapter in this revised and updated edition also examines the debate about “big government” in recent decades. “A marvelous multidisciplinary synthesis that builds on the findings of historians of national, state, and local government, along with those of economists and political scientists, to provide a coherent account of the rise of modern American governing structures.” —Journal of Interdisciplinary History
State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volumes 1, 2 & 3
Author: G. Alan TarrPublisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 0791480550
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 1 The Politics of State Constitutional Reform State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 2 Drafting State Constitutions, Revisions, and Amendments State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 3 The Agenda of State Constitutional Reform
Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change
Author: Xenophon ContiadesPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135102096X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Book Description
Comparative constitutional change has recently emerged as a distinct field in the study of constitutional law. It is the study of the way constitutions change through formal and informal mechanisms, including amendment, replacement, total and partial revision, adaptation, interpretation, disuse and revolution. The shift of focus from constitution-making to constitutional change makes sense, since amendment power is the means used to refurbish constitutions in established democracies, enhance their adaptation capacity and boost their efficacy. Adversely, constitutional change is also the basic apparatus used to orchestrate constitutional backslide as the erosion of liberal democracies and democratic regression is increasingly affected through legal channels of constitutional change. Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change provides a comprehensive reference tool for all those working in the field and a thorough landscape of all theoretical and practical aspects of the topic. Coherence from this aspect does not suggest a common view, as the chapters address different topics, but reinforces the establishment of comparative constitutional change as a distinct field. The book brings together the most respected scholars working in the field, and presents a genuine contribution to comparative constitutional studies, comparative public law, political science and constitutional history.
Responding to Imperfection
Author: Sanford LevinsonPublisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400821630
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 341
Book Description
An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.