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Constitutions and how they
operate.
Contemporary constitutions may
reflect
• earlier frameworks adopted to modern
circumstances (e.g Britain)
OR
• Deliberate acts of constituting a country
and a government
Constitutions are found both in
• Liberal democracies
& in
• Many, but not all, authoritarian systems
Impact or effect of constitutions
depends on:
• Willingness of elites and key groups in
society to accept its limits -- e.g.
– Executive
– Political parties
– Organized interests
– The military
• Willingness (and ability) of courts to
ensure that it is followed
Components:
• A preamble or statement of purpose
• Sections defining the powers and
prerogatives of institutions
• Enumeration of citizens’ rights
• An amending formula
Varieties:
• Flexible v. rigid
• Written v. unwritten
• Presidential v. Parliamentary v. Semipresidential
• Unitary v. federal
Differences and similarities among
•
•
•
•
Britain
France
United States
Canada
Britain’s constitution:
• Medieval institutions made modern (or
more or less modern)
• Consists of written and unwritten parts
• Best described as an un-codified rather
than an unwritten constitution
Written parts:
• Basic constitutional settlements:
– Magna Carta (1215)
– Act of Union (1707)
– Acts of Settlement (1689)
• Ordinary laws:
–
–
–
–
–
First Reform Bill (1832)
Second Reform Bill (1867)
Third Reform Bill (1884)
Parliament Act of 1911
Scotland Act (1997)
Unwritten parts of the British
Constitution:
• Conventions defining, among other things,
– powers of the cabinet
– Powers of the prime minister
– relations between cabinet and prime minister
– relations between cabinet and parliament
• Example: must the government resign if it loses a
vote in parliament?
Problems:
• How do we know when a practice is or is
not a convention of the constitution?
• How different is Britain from other liberal
democracies?
The United States
• Constitution from 1787
• A short document –
– 30-35 pages
– 7 main articles
– 27 amendments
• Provides for
– A presidential system with pronounced separation of
powers
– A federal system with all residual powers reserved for
the states
Changes in the American
constitution over time:
• Democratization: from elite to massbased politics
• Growth in the power of the federal
government:
– The 19th c. vs. the 20th century state
• Expansion and contraction of the power of
the presidency
Sources of change:
• Judicial review by the Supreme Court
implied but not specified in the
Constitution -- Established by Chief Justice
John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• Practice and interpretation
• Political parties and the ways in which they
connect or fail to connect Congress and
the Presidency
France:
• Current constitution: Fifth Republic – from 1958
• Semi-presidential regime put in place by
threatened military insurrection
• Presidential powers implied but not directly
granted. Yet:
– Constitution modified through expansion in the
powers of the presidency– via practice and usage
– Constitution amended in 1962 by extra
constitutional means (via an amending formula not
specified in the constitution)
Canada
• Oh Canada
Problem:
• Why are some constitutions strictly
adhered to while others are not?
• Why are some countries able to agree on
their constitutions while others are not able
to do so?
• What functions do constitutions serve in
systems which are fundamentally
authoritarian?