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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Constitutional law and political law'
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Vitale, David Anthony. "Political trust and the enforcement of constitutional social rights." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3779/.
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This thesis addresses the long-debated question of courts’ proper role in enforcing constitutional social rights; and it does so from a new perspective – that of political trust. Its central argument is that the concept of political trust – as it has been conceptualised and theorised in the relevant social science literature – has normative potential for defining such a role for courts. Specifically, I argue that courts, in enforcing constitutional social rights, can, and should, use political trust as an adjudicative tool, employing it to develop a standard to which government, in its provision of social goods and services to the public, can and will be held. To make out this argument, I draw on both theoretical and empirical social science scholarship on trust and how it functions in contemporary societies. I suggest, based on that scholarship, that we can expect constitutional social rights adjudication by courts to be able to impact (and in the right circumstances, to foster) political trust. And following from this impact, in combination with the well-recognised value of political trust by social scientists as well as a host of other principled reasons, I make the claim that political trust can, and should, lie at the very centre of social rights enforcement by courts.
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Davis, Brigid M. "Liberalism and communitarianism in Puritan political thought /." Connect to online version, 2009. http://ada.mtholyoke.edu/setr/websrc/pdfs/www/2009/378.pdf.
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John, Mathew. "Rethinking the secular state : perspectives on constitutional law in post-colonial India." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2011. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/229/.
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This thesis examines the role of the secular State in the making of modern constitutional government in India and argues that the practice of constitutional secularism is an unrealised pedagogical project whose goal is the transformation of Indian society and its politics. Toleration is the core value defended by the liberal secular State and the Indian State is no exception; however, its institution in the Indian Constitution compels religious groups to reformulate their traditions as doctrinal truths. Through decisions of Indian courts I demonstrate that this is an odd demand made on non-Semitic traditions like Hinduism because even up the contemporary moment it is difficult to cast these traditions in terms of doctrinal truths. Though reformulated religious identities are occluded descriptions of Indian religious traditions, I argue that they have gained considerable force in contemporary India because they were drawn into constitutional government as the problem of accommodating minority interests. Accommodating minority identities was part of an explicitly stated pedagogical project through which the British colonial government was to steward what they supposed to be irreconcilably fragmented 'interests' that comprised Indian society towards a unified polity. Though the Indian Constitution reworked the politics of interests toward the amelioration of social and economic 'backwardness', I argue that the rights granted to the Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, and Minorities continue to mobilise these groups as reformulated religious identities with associated interests. Thus as recognisably occluded accounts of Indian society, I demonstrate that reformed religious identities and indeed the practice of secular constitutionalism functions like a discursive veil that screens off Indian social experience from the task of generating solutions to legal and institutional problems.
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Dlamini, Lomakhosi G. "Socio-economic and political constraints on constitutional reform in Swaziland." University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_4327_1197279930.
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This study looked at socio-economic and political constraints on constitutional reform in Swaziland, an independent state with a fully autonomous government that falls under the Monarch who is Head of State. Swaziland maintains strong economic and trading links with South Africa and also maintains such ties with other states, especially in the Southern African Development Community region. Up untill 1973, the country's constitution was Westminister based. This was evoked and replaced with a system designed to facilitate the practice of both western and traditional styles of government. This system incorporated the system known as Tinkhundla and provides for the people to elect candidates to be their parliamentary representatives for specific constituencies.
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Fuentes, Graciela. "Constitutional guarantees and normative limits to free communication." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26444.
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The purpose of this work is to analyze the principles of human rights theory underlying the protection of freedom of expression and the normative limits imposed on communication. The analysis involves those principles argued in American and Canadian judicial review.The curtailment of sexual expression is at the core of the discussion of the nature of human beings and their relationship with the state power. By analyzing the way in which governments ban sexual messages, one can infer with a great degree of accuracy how they will react toward other forms of expression. This connection can be established because arguments justifying restrictions on pornography may be extended to justify prohibitions on other form of communication.
Inasmuch as freedom of expression meets the basic need for communication inherent to autonomous and morally responsible individuals, any restriction on it must stem from the principle that rights-protection is the highest value as supreme law rather than from a majority assertion of what is good for the individual and society as a whole.
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Williams, Matthew. "The language of legislation and the politicisation of British judges." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:31b03113-216f-4291-8635-aa4aa7e287f0.
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Over the course of the 20th and 21st Centuries the judiciary have increasingly made decisions that have affected the substantive content and the procedural implementation of public policy. The aim of this thesis is to provide an explanation for this political behaviour in judges by introducing the Legislative Politicisation of the Judiciary Theory to the debate. The theory proposes that the key independent causal variable is the language of Parliamentary legislation. The argument is that as legislation has been increasingly used to delegate power from Parliament to its various agents, the language used has become more indeterminate in order to enable discretion. Such indeterminacy creates an institutional problem where the orders of the sovereign Parliament are not clear, and to resolve this uncertainty in the Rule of Law the judges must intervene. The political behaviour of judges is therefore stimulated by a change in the legislative supply-side rather than a change in the behavioural demand-side, and the judges are acting as professional technocrats charged with ensuring the efficacious implementation of Parliamentary legislation. A new discourse analysis methodology has been created for this thesis that provides evidence of change in the language of legislation between 1920 and 2010. A total of 8,328 sections of primary and secondary legislation have been hand-coded, with results showing that 3% of sections in 1920 (21 sections in real terms) were “Henry VIIIth clauses”, where power to make new law was delegated by Parliament; by 2010 this had increased to 16% (400 sections in real terms).
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Peabody, Bruce Garen. "Recovering the political constitution nonjudicial interpretation, judicial supremacy, and the separation of powers /." Digital version:, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p9992886.
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Stephens, Otis H. Jr, John M. II Scheb, and Colin Glennon. "American Constitutional Law, Volume I and II: Civil Rights and Liberties." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. http://amzn.com/1285736923.
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AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, Volumes I and II, combines cases, decisions, and authorial commentary to maximize your learning and understanding in this course. These comprehensive volumes cover the entire range of topics in constitutional law. Volume I examines the institutional aspects of constitutional law; Volume II deals with civil rights and liberties. Each of the chapters includes an introductory essay providing the legal, historical, political, and cultural context of Supreme Court jurisprudence in a particular area of constitutional interpretation. Each chapter also contains several boxed features (labeled "Case in Point" and "Sidebar") to provide additional perspective and context for the set of edited decisions from the United States Supreme Court cases that follow. In selecting, editing, and updating the materials, the authors emphasize recent trends in major areas of constitutional interpretation, as well as many landmark decisions, some of which retain importance as precedents while others illustrate the transient nature of constitutional interpretation. Because the book provides a good balance of decisions and authorial commentary, this text appeals to instructors of law as well as instructors of political science.https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1021/thumbnail.jpg
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ButleRitchie, David T. "Shifting foundations and historical contingencies : a critique of modern constitutionalism /." view abstract or download file of text, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3147815.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves - ). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
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Muller, Melissa. "Reunification and Reconstruction as Constitutional Moments: Constitutional Identity in Germany and the United States." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1859.
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This thesis employs the lens of constitutional identity to engage in a comparative analysis of Germany during reunification and the United States during Reconstruction. I argue that these developments should be considered constitutional moments that fundamentally shifted the ways each country conceptualized citizenship, economic liberties, and federalism. Moreover, the similarities between these shifts highlight an overarching logic to constitutional design by showing why realizing these re-conceptualizations required substantive changes to constitutional mechanisms and delegation of powers. Ultimately my thesis emphasizes the analytical power of constitutional identity and critiques a variety of perspectives on Reconstruction, including those found in the majority opinions in the Slaughterhouse Cases and Civil Rights Cases.
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Datta, Prithviraj. "Overcoming Political Disenchantment: A New Appreciation of Campaign Finance and Political Parties." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11322.
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This dissertation offers a novel argument for the democratic importance of political parties and campaign finance. Taking issue with the United States Supreme Court's campaign finance and political party jurisprudence, which tends to value campaign spending and party activity for the role that they play in expanding voter choice, my account seeks, instead, to emphasize the role that these forms of political participation can play in countering the sense of political disenchantment which characterizes the political attitudes of a large number of American citizens today. I argue in this project that by subjecting their preferences to continuous contestation and challenge, parties and campaign finance can help instill an appreciation for compromise, as well as tolerance for political diversity and disagreement, among the disenchanted. This, in turn, has many beneficial implications for enabling good governance on the part of the American state. In the course of the dissertation, I also specify the many ways in which contemporary parties and campaign finance regimes need to be reformed in order for them to be able to perform this role. Questions of institutional design thus occupy an extremely prominent place in the project.Government
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Weiden, David Lee. "Judicial decision-making in comparative perspective ideology, law and activism in constitutional courts /." [Austin, Tex. : University of Texas Libraries, 2007. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/etd/d/2007/weidend45079/weidend45079.pdf#page=3.
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Golub, Mark Allan. ""In the eye of the law" : racial grammar and the politics of identity in American constitutional law /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC IP addresses, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3244173.
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Simson, Caird Jack Alaric. "Identifying the value of parliamentary constitutional interpretation." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2014. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/9013.
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This thesis examines the practice of parliamentary constitutional interpretation. Parliamentary constitutional interpretation is a form of reasoning used by parliamentarians to articulate the constitutional effect of a Bill, within the legislative process in Parliament. The significance of the practice is explored through a combination of empirical study and theoretical enquiry. The first part of the thesis describes and analyses parliamentary constitutional interpretation in three case studies, each on a different Government Bill from the 2010-2012 parliamentary session. Each study provides a fine-grained account of how parliamentarians interpreted the constitutional effect of each Bill and the role this interpretation played during the passage of the Bill. In order to identify the constitutional effect of a particular clause, parliamentarians interpret a range of constitutional norms including: constitutional principles, constitutional statutes and constitutional conventions. In each case study, parliamentary constitutional interpretation played an important role in shaping the constitutional effect of each Bill and holding the Government to account. The second part of the thesis uses the reality of the practice, as described in the case studies, to identify the value of parliamentary constitutional interpretation and to situate the practice within political constitutionalism. Two principal values of the practice are identified. Firstly, parliamentary constitutional interpretation can enhance the level of justification within the legislative process. Secondly, it can facilitate a distinctively parliamentary contribution to the normative content of the constitution. By expanding the role of legislative politics within the constitution, parliamentary constitutional interpretation can develop and strengthen the political model of constitutionalism. These values also serve as both a template for analysis of parliamentary performance and as a guide to parliamentary reform.
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Fuwongcharoen, Puli. "Constitutions and legitimisation : the cases of Siam's permanent constitution and Japan's postwar constitution." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/283934.
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Fullerton, Hannah S. "Post Citizen United: The Lack of Political Accountability and Rise of Voter Suppression in a Time of Newly Defined Corruption." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/229.
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In 2010, our definition of democracy in America was drastically changed by the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC. The Court ruled that under the First Amendment, corporations have the right to free speech. The decision removed the final ban on corporations, which prohibited corporate money used for direct advocacy. The consequences of this have been tremendous. The decision has allowed for the creation and rise of Super PACs and political active nonprofits. As a result, Super PACs and nonprofits now act as “shadow campaigns”. Outside groups have the ability to engage in voter suppression tactics without politically hurting the candidate. Unlike political candidates, there are no direct ramifications for an outside organization to get caught engaging in voter suppression. They are not held accountable by anyone. The ability to take political action that is independent from the government or campaigns allows for a new form of corruption. Corruption is no longer a coordinated act between corporate money and a candidate, but rather political actions that take place outside the public sphere. Political actions that take place in the private sphere are outside the realm of political accountability. The people stand powerless against private outside organizations.
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Dafel, Michael. "The constitutional rebuilding of the South African private law : a choice between judicial and legislative law-making." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285563.
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A tension arises whenever the South African private law fails to meet constitutional right norms. To remedy a deficiency, two law-making options are available. The first is for the judiciary to develop or change private law principles and rules in order to provide protection for the implicated constitutional norm. The second is for the judiciary to enforce an obligation upon Parliament to enact legislation to amend or replace existing private law rights and obligations so as to safeguard the norm against interference from a private individual or entity. The former is the more conventional option, but, in recent years, the law reports record an increasing reliance on the legislative duty to protect constitutional right norms in private legal relationships. The thesis investigates the extent to which the latter phenomenon - which will be described as a 'pivot towards legislative remedies' - exists, and the circumstances in which the courts pivot towards legislative remedies rather than developing private law of their own accord. The thesis finds that legislative schemes that give effect to constitutional rights are likely to contain an array of benefits that are absent from or reduced in the judicial law-making process. The judicial pivot towards legislative remedies is thus a strategy to enhance the process through which conflicting rights are resolved, as it allows for the constitutional rebuilding of private law in a way that the judiciary is unable to do on its own. Importantly, however, theories of judicial deference do not explain the pivot. On the contrary, the courts have exercised a strict level of control over the legislative law-making pathway. Through either statutory interpretation or the review of legislation, the courts require legislation to contain the essentials of the judicial law-making framework. From this perspective, the judicial law-making process produces the floor of the rebuilding project and the legislative law-making process enhances that framework.
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Paterson, Patrick. "Money Talks: Free Speech and Political Equality in Campaign Finance Reform." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2011. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/263.
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Justifications for campaign finance regulations in the United States have traditionally taken one of two approaches. The first and most common has been to allege that unrestricted campaign contributions and expenditures lend themselves to corruption, or to the appearance of corruption. The second, used far less often than the first, has argued that unchecked spending on an election compromises the principle of political equality--the idea that each individual should have equal say in the democratic process. This paper defends political equality as a value worth preserving, demonstrates that our current campaign finance system is dangerous to political equality, proposes some solutions to that problem, and evaluate the constitutionality of those solutions.
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Joseph, Rosara. "The war prerogative : history, reform and constitutional design." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9b7c6ac7-6c0e-4a84-ac01-bd11732d0ef8.
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This thesis studies the evolution of the war prerogative in England from 1600-2010. It traces the historical theory and practice of the war prerogative and proposes reform of the constitutional arrangements for its exercise. It addresses three key questions. First, what have writers on political and constitutional theory said about the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, and, in particular, what justifications have been advanced for those arrangements? Secondly, in practice, has the executive in fact possessed sole and exclusive powers over war and the deployment of force, or have Parliament and the courts had a role to play in their exercise and scrutiny? Thirdly, are there better ways to organise our constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, to enable a more substantive role for Parliament (particularly the House of Commons) in its exercise and scrutiny? On the first question, I show that orthodox theoretical and political discourses have continuously asserted the executive’s exclusive power over war, but the justifications advanced for that arrangement have changed over time. Those changes reflect the varying influence of different political theories at different times. On the second question, I find that, contrary to orthodox theoretical and political discourses, Parliament has played an active and substantive role in the exercise and scrutiny of the war prerogative. The courts have refused to intervene in the exercise of the war prerogative, but have been more ready to intervene in cases involving the exercise of powers incidental to the war prerogative. On the third question, I argue that reform of the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative is necessary and desirable. I recommend the use of ‘institutional mechanisms’, which are small-scale rules and institutional arrangements, within existing institutions, which aim to promote certain normative goals. In particular, I propose a statute which would impose conditions on the executive’s exercise of its war prerogative. I argue that these proposals show that, through careful institutional design, democratic values, national security and operational efficiency can each be reconciled and promoted.
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Cavaliere, Patrick Anthony. "Crime and punishment in Fascist Italy : a constitutional analysis of political criminal justice from the liberal state to the drafting of the Rocco Code." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.260008.
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Walters, Mark D. "The continuity of Aboriginal customs and government under British imperial constitutional law as applied in colonial Canada, 1760-1860." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1995. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b0c0d802-5a51-44d8-a916-aa4ce08de680.
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This thesis examines the British legal status of aboriginal customary laws and governments in colonial Canada between 1760 and 1860, with a view to contributing to the debate about their modern legal status under the Canadian constitution. By "colonial Canada" is meant the British colonies of Quebec (1763-1791), Upper and Lower Canada (1791-1841) and Canada (1841-1867). The central argument of the thesis is that there existed in colonial Canada two distinct systems of municipal law one system for settlers and one system (or set of systems) for natives both deriving legitimacy from an over-arching British imperial constitution. The settler system was established by imperial statute, while native systems were recognized by non-statutory principles of imperial law, or "imperial common law". It is argued that the common-law principle of continuityâaccording to which British courts presumed that the laws of peoples subjected to British sovereignty remained in force at common law until abrogated by prerogative or Parliamentary legislation formed the doctrinal foundation of aboriginal rights to customary law and government in colonial Canada. The objective of Part One of the thesis is to construct a theory of imperial law applicable to the unique constitutional history of colonial Canada. To this end, the principle of continuity is analysed both as it was developed in relation to England's early imperial experiences and as it was manifested in statutes and judicial opinions relating to native nations in British North American colonies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Part Two of the thesis applies the general principles of imperial law developed in Part One to Canadian constitutional history. The various municipal legal regimes established under imperial statute for settlers are examined in light of the fact that the imperial ministry, which retained direct control over Indian policy in Canada until 1860, recognized the continuity of native customary law and government in both unceded and reserved Indian lands. It will be argued that this imperial recognition confirmed the common-law continuity of native law and government.
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Carrick, Ross Dale. "Court of Justice of the European Union as a democratic forum." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7797.
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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the procedural democratic legitimacy of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Court of Justice has been instrumental in the construction of the European Union. Through its interpretation of the Treaty of Rome since the 1960s, it has constituted a legal system distinctive in kind. In contrast to orthodox instances of the political community – international organisations and the nation-state – the EU exemplifies no general type. Its legal, constitutional, political, economic and social infrastructures are part of a complex and pervasive web of overlapping jurisdictions that goes some way beyond the ordinary international organisation (by virtue of constitutional principles such as direct effect and citizenship), but not quite as far as the nation-state (e.g. sovereignty contestation). This being the case, its interlocutors have long since understood that the EU is in a state of transformation – it is itself a project and a process, the end result of which (finalité) is unknown. As such, many questions have been asked about the legitimacy of this process; and, given the Court of Justice’s (in)famous generative role within this process, the Court also finds itself the subject of such scrutiny. The legitimacy of the Court of Justice has been the focus of attention from both academics and practitioners. Most of that attention has been on the Court’s jurisprudence and jurisdiction – scrutinising the legal reasoning of cases; or questioning the limits of its constitutional functions according to axiomatic conceptions of, for example, the separation of powers doctrine. By contrast, less attention has been paid to the democratic legitimacy of the Court of Justice, and much less in relation to the Court’s institutional design. The subject-matter of the analysis in this thesis is the Court’s structures and processes, such as: the composition and appointments processes for members of the Court; the mechanisms that give access to various kinds of participants (such as locus standi and third-party intervention); and the use of judicial chambers. Procedural democratic legitimacy, moreover, has two dimensions: intrinsic and instrumental. The intrinsic is a measure of the democratic credentials of the Court as a discrete decision-making authority (such as representativeness and democratic participation); whereas the instrumental is concerned with the ways in which the Court contributes to the overall democratic legitimacy of the EU. In this thesis, the structures and processes of the Court of Justice are examined in light of both of those criteria. In contrast to prevailing approaches of constitutional theorists – who tend to treat these criteria as functions that are quite discrete, and their performance as mutually exclusive – an important theoretical contribution of this thesis is to develop an analytical framework that allows for the inherent synergies and tensions that exist between intrinsic and instrumental criteria to be factored into analyses of the democratic legitimacy of constitutional courts.
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James, Matt. "Misrecognized materialists : social movements in Canadian constitutional politics, 1938-1992." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/NQ56567.pdf.
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Swithinbank, Hannah J. "Talking politics : constructing the res publica after Caesar's assassination /." St Andrews, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/910.
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Gelblat, Antonin. "Les doctrines du droit parlementaire à l'épreuve de la notion de constitutionnalisation." Thesis, Paris 10, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018PA100032.
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Cette étude se penche sur les doctrines du droit parlementaire entendues comme les discours à prétention savante relatifs au droit des assemblées parlementaires. Elle s’attache à retracer l’apparition et l’évolution de ces discours en France et distingue trois groupes doctrinaux en fonction de la conception des rapports entre Droit et politique sur laquelle ils se fondent. Les trois parties de la thèse sont ainsi respectivement consacrées à chacun de ces groupes : la doctrine politique des « professeurs-parlementaires », la doctrine technique des « professeurs-administrateurs » et enfin à la doctrine juridique des « professeurs-universitaires ». La pertinence de cette typologie est éprouvée au regard de la notion de constitutionnalisation qui apparait particulièrement polysémique et dont l’application au droit parlementaire contemporain suscite des difficultés conceptuelles. Celles-ci s’expliquent notamment par le fait que chaque groupe doctrinal tend à développer une conception de la constitutionnalisation qui lui est propre en fonction de la théorie du Droit politique qu’elle adopte. La doctrine politique s’attache à une constitutionnalisation de conservation du droit parlementaire, la doctrine technique promeut une constitutionnalisation d’optimisation du droit parlementaire tandis que la doctrine juridique se rallie à une constitutionnalisation de subordination du droit parlementaireThis study examines the doctrines of parliamentary law understood as scholarly speeches relating to the rules of parliamentary assemblies. It attempts to trace the appearance and evolution of these discourses in France and distinguishes three doctrinal groups according to the conception of the relations between Law and politics on which they are based. The three parts of the thesis are respectively devoted to each of these groups: the political doctrine of "parliamentary professors", the technical doctrine of "professors-administrators" and finally the legal doctrine of "university professors". The relevance of this typology is tested with regards to the notion of constitutionalization, which appears to be particularly polysemic and whose application to contemporary parliamentary law raises conceptual difficulties. These are explained in particular by the fact that each doctrinal group tends to develop its own conception of the notion of constitutionalization, according to the theory of the political right it adopts. The political doctrine focuses on a constitutionalization of the conservation of parliamentary law, the technical doctrine promotes a constitutionalization of optimization of parliamentary law while the legal doctrine is associated with a constitutionalization of subordination of parliamentary law
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Al-Moqatei, M. A. A. "A study of the Kuwaiti constitutional experience : 1962 - 1986." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.378624.
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Keith, Linda Camp. "The Law and Human Rights: Is the Law a Mere Parchment Barrier to Human Rights Abuse?" Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2247/.
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This study is the first systematic global analysis of the impact of law on human rights, analyzing the impact of twenty-three constitution provisions and an international covenant on three measures of human rights behavior, over the period of 1976-1996. Three sets of constitutional provisions are analyzed, including 1) ten provisions for individual freedoms and due process rights, 2) nine provisions for elements of judicial independence and 3) four provisions that outline procedures for states of emergency. Additionally, the impact of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on actual human rights behavior is analyzed. Each of these areas of law are evaluated individually, in multiple models in which different elements vary. For example, some models control for democracy with different measures, others divide the data into the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, and some test constitutional indices. Finally, all provisions are simultaneously analyzed in integrated models. Provisions for fair and public trials are consistently shown to decrease the probability of abuse. An index of four freedoms (speech, religion, association, and assembly) decreases the probability of abuse somewhat consistently. Three of the provisions for judicial independence are most consistent in reducing the probability of abuse: the provisions for exclusive judicial authority, for the finality of judges' decisions, and banning exceptional courts. Two of four states of emergency provisions decrease abuse as international lawyers have argued: the provisions for legislative declaration of the emergency and the ban against dissolving the legislature during an emergency. However, two of the provisions are shown to hurt human rights practices: the duration and the derogation provisions. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not demonstrate a statistically significant impact. While the performance of the constitutional provisions is less than legal scholars would hope, their combined impact over time are shown to be quite large, relative to the impacts of other factors shown to affect human rights abuse.
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Wareham, Christopher. "Liberal aristocracy & the limits of democracy." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2004. http://eprints.ru.ac.za/124/.
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Chaplin, M. Ann. "Officers of Parliament: Accountability, virtue and the Constitution." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28452.
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The officers of Parliament now form a group which includes the Auditor General and seven other "ethical regulators"i. Because of its independence and the nature of its members' mandates, this group is thought to be key to restoring the public's faith in government. However, the officers do not clearly fall within one of the three branches of government and are not fully subject to democratic accountability mechanisms, raising questions about the legitimacy of their exercise of authority. This thesis explores alternative theories for supporting the legitimacy of officers of Parliament and draws lessons from that exercise for the future development of this virtues-based institution.
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Tarhan, Celebi Gulce. "The Constitutional Court of Turkey from State-in-Society Perspective." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/23159.
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This dissertation examines the role of the social struggles and alliances in shaping the Constitutional Court rulings that structure core political controversies in Turkey. By adopting Joel Migdal’s State-in-Society approach, the Court is conceived as an organization that exists in an environment of conflict. By following a process oriented approach, this study analyzes the ways in which the relation between the Court and other actors influence the Constitutional Court of Turkey’s motives, capacity and manner of activism mainly during the period under the 1961 Constitution. This study argues that the limits of the Court’s power and its role in structuring the core political controversies that define and divide society can be explained by looking at the alliances formed between the Court and other actors. Alliances extend the jurisdiction of the Court by opening new avenues for political intervention and creating a support network for the reasoning and the justification of its rulings. By comparing the Court’s activism under the 1961 Constitution and under the 1982 Constitution, it is demonstrated that neither the nature nor the influence of these alliances remains static. In fact, this dissertation points out that we need to make a conceptual differentiation between two forms of alliances; strategic alliances and judicial coalitions. Strategic alliances refer to implicit alliances between the Court and other actors formed around an issue, whereas judicial coalitions refer to alliances based on a common normative framework and a shared identity. Whereas the Court’s activism in the first period is best described in terms of a strategic alliance, its activism in the 1990’s and 2000’s is best described with the term judicial coalition.10000-01-01
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Wilson, Laurie Ann. "From the Roman republic to the American revolution : readings of Cicero in the political thought of James Wilson /." St Andrews, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/911.
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Santos, Leo Evandro Figueiredo dos. "As alterações dos anexos do protocolo ao Tratado da antártica sobre proteção ao meio ambiente : a constitucionalidade independente da não submissão ao Congresso Nacional." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UCS, 2017. https://repositorio.ucs.br/handle/11338/3448.
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As condições ambientais e climáticas da Antártica repercutem no Brasil e América do Sul, constituindo-se em foco central de preocupação na medida que seu equilíbrio possa ser afetado. Para o País e a Região a defesa dos instrumentos legais de proteção ambiental tal qual o Protocolo ao Tratado da Antártica sobre Proteção ao Meio Ambiente-PEPAT são fundamentais. Para dinamizar-se a aplicação do PEPAT o seu §3º, artigo 9º e diversos outros dispositivos do seu Apêndice e Anexos possibilitam a aprovação e a entrada em vigor de “Medidas”, que estabeleçam alterações ao seu próprio Apêndice ou Anexos, em um ano ou noventa dias após o encerramento da respectiva ATCM em que tiverem sido adotadas, sem que se tenha que passar pelos respectivos processos internos de aprovação dos tratados internacionais dos países membros do TA, no caso do Brasil, pela aprovação do Congresso Nacional. Nestas condições estes dispositivos poderiam ensejar violação ao disposto no inciso I, artigo 49 e a segunda parte do inciso VIII, artigo 84, da Constituição Federal-CF. Não obstante, a presente dissertação propugna pela constitucionalidade dos dispositivos e das normas deles resultantes. Para fundamentar a assertiva pressupôs-se duas abordagens distintas, a primeira, sustenta a constitucionalidade partir de fundamentos tradicionais de Direito Internacional, de modo que se compreende os dispositivos acima elencados e as normas deles decorrentes no âmbito dos acordos em forma simplificada e segunda a partir de fundamentos de Direito Ambiental e Direito Ambiental Internacional, demonstrando-se a constitucionalidade dos dispositivos e das normas deles decorrentes a partir do que se chamou de fundamentos de base epistêmica, de base principiológica e de base jurídica. Ressalta-se esta construção metodológica combina-se, nos seus aspectos gerais, com o amparo do método dedutivo.Submitted by cmquadros@ucs.br (cmquadros@ucs.br) on 2018-02-07T17:54:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Leo Evandro Figueiredo dos Santos.pdf: 1246516 bytes, checksum: 720a710a1fe60bd26276fcbe6177bd79 (MD5)
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The environmental and climatic conditions of Antarctica have repercussions in Brazil and South America, constituting a central focus of concern to the extent that its equilibrium can be affected. For the Country and the Region the protection of the legal instruments of environmental protection, such as the Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection – PEPAT are fundamental. In order to speed up the application of PEPAT, its §3, Article 9 and several other provisions of its Appendix and Annexes allow the approval and entry into force of "Measures", which establish changes to its own Appendix or Annexes, in a year or ninety days after the closure of the respective ATCM in which they were adopted, without having to go through the respective internal processes of approval of the international treaties of the member countries of the TA, in the case of Brazil, by the approval of the National Congress. Under these conditions, these provisions could lead to violation of the provisions of item I, article 49 and the second part of item VIII, article 84, of the Federal Constitution-CF. Nevertheless, this dissertation advocates for the constitutionality of the devices and norms resulting from them. In order to justify the assertion, two different approaches it was assumed, the first one, supporting the constitutionality from traditional foundations of International Law, so that it includes the above mentioned devices and the norms derived from them under the Executive Agreements and second on the basis of Environmental Law and International Environmental Law, demonstrating the constitutionality of the devices and the norms derived from them, based on what have been termed epistemic fundamentals, based on principles and legal basis. This methodological construction is emphasized, in its general aspects, under the protection of the deductive method.
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McCorkindale, Christopher. "Reclaiming the public : Hannah Arendt and the political constitution of the United Kingdom." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2011. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2625/.
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My thesis seeks to reconcile British public law with an entity strangely alien to it, the people themselves. In other words, this is an attempt to re-discover the ‘public’ element of public law. Hannah Arendt, the primary theoretical focus of my work, challenged the people to recognize themselves as part of the problem of ‘modernity’; the problem, that is to say, of political apathy and thus the emergence of forms of government repugnant to the human condition; to consciously reinvent themselves as politically engaged citizens; and to thus reconstitute traditional structures of authority, sovereignty and law. This is an onerous task, most salient in times of revolution, and so it is to the tumultuous climate of 17th century England that I look for evidence of these ideas (albeit briefly) emerging in the English (and, laterally, British) context, before considering the reasons for their failure to establish a firm foothold on the constitutional terrain, and the lessons this might have for the public, and public lawyers, today. For Arendt law was the means by which we ‘belonged’ to a community, and the means by which we ‘promised’ to maintain a public space within that community in order to participate and confer authority to government. It is this underdeveloped aspect of her work which I will first explore, and then put to work in the context of the British constitution.
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De, Thy Ludovic. "L’écriture des lois constitutionnelles de 1875 : La fondation de l’ordre constitutionnel de la IIIe République." Thesis, Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017UBFCF004/document.
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Cameron, Maxwell A., and Villagarcia Paolo Sosa. "Non-institutionalized political organizations and the Rule of Law in post-Fujimori’s Peru: a research proposal." Politai, 2013. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/92641.
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Political science literature has focused itself mostly on the «pro-democracy» role of political parties, identifying them as essential instruments for representation. We agree, but we believe this is not the only aspect to focus on. Democratic parties do not only achieve power through regular elections, but they also aspire to rule within a democratic regime. In that sense, the functioning of political parties can be analyzed not only in terms of their contribution to electoral competition. In order to fulfill their democratic functions, parties need a strong constitutional order that allows them to provide two goods: the achievement of power through legalways and good governance within the Rule of Law.Por lo general, la literatura sobre los partidos políticos en ciencia política se ha centrado en su rol «pro-democrático», identificándolos como instrumentos esenciales para la representación. Estamos de acuerdo, pero insistimos en matizar el tema dado lo siguiente: Los partidos democráticos no solo conquistan el poder mediante elecciones regulares, sino que también aspiran a gobernar dentro de un régimen democrático. Por tanto, el funcionamiento de los partidos polí- ticos puede ser analizado no solamente en términos de su aporte a la competencia electoral. Para cumplir sus funciones democráticas, los partidos necesitan un orden constitucional fuerte que les permita proveer dos bienes: la conquista legal del poder y el buen gobierno dentro del Estado de derecho. En el presente documento proponemos esta agenda de investigación y revisamos sus componentes a la luz del caso peruano post-Fujimori y las organizaciones políticas dentro de la dinámica de gobierno.
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Gonzales, Mantilla Gorki. "Previous consultation to rethink the constitutional theory in Peru." THĒMIS-Revista de Derecho, 2015. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/108192.
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It’s not possible to forget the indigenous and native communities as a key element in the Peruvian constitutional structure. Previous consultation is a reflection of this. However,this has not always been so. For a long time,the economic and cultural hegemonies that influenced the constitutional conceptions putaside the fundamental diversity and dialogue.In this article, the author alludes to Low- intensity Constitutionalism which marked distance between political events and social conflict. For the author, the emergence of prior consultation is a sign of historical grievance and that in this context, a constitutional theory that does not put aside cultural diversity is necessary, since political representation is legitimized when the State ensures the rightsof all citizens.No es posible olvidar a las comunidades andinas u originarias en la estructura constitucional peruana. La consulta previa es reflejode ello. Sin embargo, esto no siempre ha sidoasí. Durante mucho tiempo, las hegemonías económicas y culturales que influyeron en las concepciones constitucionales dejaron delado la diversidad y el diálogo fundamental.En el presente artículo, el autor hace alusión al Constitucionalismo de Baja Intensidad, que marcó distancia entre los acontecimientos políticos y el conflicto social. Para el autor, la aparición de la consulta previa es un signo de reivindicación histórica y que, en dicho contexto, es necesaria una teoría constitucional que no deje de lado la diversidad cultural, puesto que la representación política se legitima cuando el Estado vela por los derechos detodos los ciudadanos.
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Allsop, Geoffrey Charles. "Does the labour relations act unjustifiably limit the constitutional right of employees to freedom of assembly? Examining the constitutionality of the prohibition on purely political protest action and gatherings by off-duty employees over disputes of mutual interest." Master's thesis, Faculty of Law, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31692.
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This thesis examines whether the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (‘LRA’) justifiably limits the constitutional right to employees to freedom of assembly in accordance with s36(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (‘the Constitution’). This question is considered in two broad parts. The first part demonstrates two limitations. First, the inability of s77 of the LRA to provide legislative protection to employees who wish to embark on socioeconomic protest action over a purely political issue. Second, the LRA’s prohibition on off-duty employees utilising the Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993 (‘RGA’) to demonstrate against their employer over a dispute of mutual interest. While no court has yet considered if the LRA prohibits purely political protest action, the Labour Appeal Court in ADT Security v NASUWU 2015 (36) ILJ 152 (LAC) (‘ADT Security’) held that is unlawful for off-duty employees to demonstrate over a dispute of mutual interest under the RGA. The first part begins by establishing how the LRA’s statutory definition of protest action cannot, in its current form, protect purely political protest and how this limits the constitutional right of employees to free assembly. Similarly, it explains how ADT Security clearly establishes that the LRA limits the constitutional right of employees to freedom of assembly by infringing their constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate in compliance with the RGA. The second part tests both limitations against s36(1) of the Constitution, the limitation clause, to assess if either infringement justifiably limits the constitutional right of employees to freedom of assembly, enshrined in s17 of the Bill of Rights. Considering the factors in s36(1)(a)-(e) of the Constitution, and other relevant factors, it examines if the purpose and reasons for either limitation are sufficiently compelling so as to be reasonable and justifiable. It concludes by arguing both limitations unjustifiably limit the constitutional right of employees to free assembly. Two recommendations are made. First, that the LRA be amended to expressly permit employees to demonstrate over disputes of mutual interest, in compliance with the RGA, in certain circumstances. Second, that the LRA be amended to expressly permit purely political protest action, provided the protest action is limited in scope and duration and subject to oversight by the Labour Court.
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Capelari, Bruna. "Análise das Cortes Constitucionais em o contexto do common e civil law e a influência política em suas deliberações." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2015. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/6864.
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Previous issue date: 2015-09-16This work aims the analysis of eventual political influence exercised in the deliberations of constitutional Courts in common and civil law systems due to the form of investiture of its members and especially the majority share of political bodies in this procedure which is assigned the function of raising to power the members who compose it, justifying such research due to the own e. Supremo Tribunal Federal - STF , the highest Court of the Brazilian Judiciary, be the subject of reflections on the theme, especially given the form of investiture of its members, in addition to treating the subject of relevant theme from an academic point of view. For the development of work towards your outcome readings were performed, research and reflections on the relevant legal provisions inserted in the Brazilian Federal Constitution and the Fundamental Laws of sovereign States here invoked and linked to the common and civil law systems, having being also performed research in the national and foreign doctrine in order to enrich the work and give a personal touch to each of the analyzed States by evocation of scholars that they are linked by bonds of nationality
O presente trabalho tem por objetivo a análise de eventual influência política exercida em as deliberações das Cortes constitucionais em sistemas do common e civil law decorrente da forma de investidura de seus membros e, principalmente, da participação majoritária de órgãos políticos em tal procedimento aos quais é atribuída a função de alçar ao poder os membros que as integram, justificando-se a referida investigação em razão de o próprio Supremo Tribunal Federal STF, a mais alta Corte do Judiciário brasileiro, estar sendo alvo de reflexões em torno do tema especialmente em razão da forma de investidura de seus membros, além de tratar-se de tema relevante do ponto de vista acadêmico. Para o desenvolvimento do trabalho em direção ao seu desfecho, foram realizadas leituras, pesquisas e reflexões em torno das pertinentes disposições normativas inseridas em a Constituição Federal brasileira e em as Leis Fundamentais dos soberanos Estados aqui invocados e vinculados aos sistemas do common e civil law, tendo sido também realizadas pesquisas em a doutrina nacional e estrangeira, a fim de enriquecer o trabalho e dar um toque pessoal a cada um dos analisados Estados mediante evocação de doutrinadores que se lhes encontram ligados por vínculos de nacionalidade
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Gouvea, Heitor B. "An Iridescent Dream: Money, Politics, and the American Republic, 1865-1976." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2218.
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Thesis advisor: R. Shep MelnickThe United States now has an extensive, publicly controlled, and bureaucratic system of election regulation. Until roughly a century ago, however, elections were viewed as private party contests subject to minimal state regulation. We examine how this changed, considering in particular the role played by the courts, given that for much of the nineteenth century they viewed the parties as private, constitutionally protected associations. We consider how and why the libertarian argument concerning free speech came to prominence in the campaign debate, and find that at first neither the reformers nor the courts at any level viewed this as a fundamental obstacle to--or even an issue to be considered in--the regulation of money in politics. This shift from a private to a public electoral system had a significant impact on American democracy that has not often been examined. To understand these changes, we examine the arguments put forth by advocates of cam-paign finance reform from the nineteenth to the latter part of the twentieth centuries. We focus on how the proponents justified these laws and how state and federal courts responded to these arguments, paying particular attention to court rulings on the constitutionality of these unprecedented statutes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and to the evolution of their jurisprudence in this regard during the twentieth century
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science
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Quesada-Alpízar, Tomás. "Informal mandates & judicial power : the constitutional courts of Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay (1990-2016)." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8c42baa4-cdd4-4e05-86a4-4725074244c5.
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Standard explanations of judicial behaviour (i.e. legal, rational-choice, attitudinal, and institutional models) are overly static and exogenous, interested in instances of sudden change in judicial behaviour, as triggered by appointments, legal reforms, or shifts in the political context. While these models are useful in understanding the external incentives affecting judicial behaviour, they are unsuitable for explaining sustained judicial empowerment beyond temporary strategic calculations. In response, recent 'ideational' approaches, especially studying constitutional courts, highlight the importance of judges' ideas about their role - not their ideologies or policy preferences - in instilling a mission, rather than an incentive-oriented view of the judicial function. Yet, despite their more dynamic approaches, those methods have overlooked how ideational change in the 'outside' world translates into change 'inside' this type of courts. Due to those limitations, this study proposes a complementary explanation of judicial empowerment: a theory of informal mandates and endogenous empowerment. Viewed through this lens, change and variation in judicial empowerment within and across cases are explained by the construction, expansion, and endurance - or absence and collapse - of collective internal understandings of the court's role and mission. Such understandings are developed as legal doctrines and articulated under broader informal mandates by 'mission leaders'. Gradually, these informal mandates can expand and gather majority support from strategic partnerships formed between 'mission leaders' and 'supporting leaders' - usually justices with high seniority. The more these informal mandates expand and endure inside the court, the less exogenous factors and strategic incentives over-determine its behaviour in the long-run. Judicial empowerment, thus, is better understood as a process that develops and expands gradually, endogenously, and informally, with a mission-oriented purpose. The theory is applied in the constitutional tribunals of Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay from 1990 to 2016. These countries have similar rule-of-law conditions, but their constitutional tribunals differ considerably in the strength and endurance of their informal mandates and, as a result, have attained different levels of judicial empowerment.
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Diaz, de Valdes Jose Manuel. "The constitutionality of electoral quotas for women." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:724b51c5-8686-4b44-aae9-4f67e05b6628.
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This thesis explores the constitutionality of compulsory electoral quotas for women imposed by law. The central question this thesis attempts to answer is what makes these quotas constitutional or unconstitutional in a given jurisdiction. A double methodology was employed to answer this question: theoretical and comparative. From a theoretical perspective, it is proposed that the constitutionality of electoral quotas for women depends on the approach that domestic legal orders adopt to four issues: political representation, equality, affirmative action and political rights. An additional crosscutting factor that influences the constitutionality of these quotas is gender, mainly through its effects on the understanding of political representation and equality. From the comparative law perspective, three jurisdictions were analysed: France, Spain and Mexico. After exploring these systems' approaches to political representation, equality, affirmative action and political rights, the process of adoption of electoral quotas for women is discussed, particularly the constitutional litigation about quota laws. Finally, the relationship between the theory and the practice of assessing the constitutionality of electoral quotas for women is analysed, concluding that although courts use a theoretical framework formed by political representation, equality, affirmative action and political rights, they adopt a somewhat simplistic approach to these issues, using only one of these theoretical factors as the primary determinant, often side-stepping the most controversial issues connected with these factors, and almost completly ignoring the particularities of the target group (women). Additionally, in each jurisdiction the decisions of the courts are also influenced by domestic political and legal factors.
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Wilson, Laurie Ann. "From the Roman Republic to the American Revolution : readings of Cicero in the political thought of James Wilson." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/911.
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As a classical scholar and prominent founding father, James Wilson was at once statesman, judge, and political thinker, who read Cicero as an example worthy of emulation and as a philosopher whose theory could be applied to his own age. Classical reception studies have focused on questions of liberty, civic virtue, and constitutionalism in the American founding, and historians have also noted Wilson’s importance in American history and thought. Wilson’s direct engagement with Cicero’s works, however, and their significance in the formulation of his own philosophy has been long overlooked. My thesis argues that Wilson’s viewpoint was largely based on his readings of Cicero and can only be properly understood within this context. In the first two chapters of my thesis I demonstrate that Wilson not only possessed a wide-ranging knowledge of the classics in general, but also that he borrowed from Cicero’s writings and directly engaged with the texts themselves. Building upon this foundation, chapters three and four examine Cicero’s perspective on popular sovereignty and civic virtue, situate Wilson’s interpretations within contemporary discussions of Roman politics, and analyse the main ways in which he adapts Cicero’s arguments to his own era. Wilson retains a broader faith in the common people than seen in Cicero’s opinions, and he abstracts from Cicero a doctrine of sovereignty as an indivisible principle that is absent in the text; nevertheless, Cicero’s conception of a legitimate state and his insistence on the role of the people provided the foundation for Wilson’s thought and ultimately for his legitimization of the American Revolution. At the same time, like Cicero, Wilson views the stability of the state as resting in the personal virtue of the individual. While his enlightenment philosophy imparts optimism to his conception of the good citizen, his definition of virtue closely follows that of Cicero. As the final chapter of my thesis concludes, their individual interpretations of these theories of popular consent and virtue were instrumental in forming Cicero’s and Wilson’s justifications of civil disobedience.
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Batal, Mohamad. "Shifting Priorities? Civic Identity in the Jewish State and the Changing Landscape of Israeli Constitutionalism." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1826.
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This thesis begins with an explanation of Israel’s foundational constitutional tension—namely, that its identity as a Jewish State often conflicts with liberal-democratic principles to which it is also committed. From here, I attempt to sketch the evolution of the state’s constitutional principles, pointing to Chief Justice Barak’s “constitutional revolution” as a critical juncture where the aforementioned theoretical tension manifested in practice, resulting in what I call illiberal or undemocratic “moments.” More profoundly, by introducing Israel’s constitutional tension into the public sphere, the Barak Court’s jurisprudence forced all of the Israeli polity to confront it. My next chapter utilizes the framework of a bill currently making its way through the Knesset—Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People—in order to draw out the past and future of Israeli civic identity. From a positivist perspective, much of my thesis points to why and how Israel often falls short of liberal-democratic principles. My final chapters demonstrate that neither the Supreme Court nor any other part of the Israeli polity appears particularly well-suited to stopping what I see as the beginning of a transformational shift in theory and in practice. In my view, this shift is making, and will continue to make, the state’s ethno-religious character the preeminent factor in Israeli Constitutionalism and civic identity.
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Saint, Sernin Jean de. "Système majoritaire et bicamérisme sous la Vème République (depuis 1981)." Thesis, Paris 2, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA020081/document.
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Sous la Ve République, la seconde chambre a été conçue par le constituant comme un soutien prédisposé au Gouvernement et au régime nouvellement établi, eu égard à l’incertitude d’une majorité parlementaire à l’Assemblée nationale. La survenue imprévue de celle-ci aboutit à un rapprochement organique mais aussi fonctionnel de l’Assemblée nationale avec le Gouvernement. La discordance fréquente des majorités parlementaires place alors le Sénat et le bicamérisme dans une position institutionnelle délicate. Devenu un acquis du système politique, le fait majoritaire s’observe incontestablement, depuis l’alternance de 1981, au sein comme entre les deux chambres et influence leur organisation, leur fonctionnement et l’exercice de leurs prérogatives constitutionnelles. Les différentes configurations majoritaires témoignent en revanche d’une certaine spécificité du Sénat du point de vue du fait majoritaire et d’un exercice effectif et non orienté de la fonction parlementaire vis-à-vis du Gouvernement. Le Sénat trouve sa justification dans sa différenciation avec l’autre assemblée et la distanciation qu’il entretient avec le Gouvernement révèle le caractère équilibré du bicamérisme de la Ve République. L’institutionnalisation d’une majorité et ses particularités dans chacune des deux chambres conduisent le droit constitutionnel et le droit parlementaire à ne pas exclure les phénomènes extra-normatifs afin d’appréhender les institutions politiques dans leur fonctionnement effectifAt the time of the Fifth Republic, the second chamber was devised by the framers of the Constitution as a predisposed support to the Government and the newly-established regime, given the uncertainty of a parliamentary majority within the National Assembly. The unexpected arrival of such a majority led to a closer organic and functional relationship between the National Assembly and the Government. The frequent lack of harmony between parliamentary majorities then put the Senate and the bicameral system in a delicate institutional position. Having become an established right of the political system, majority rule has clearly been observed since the 1981 power changeover, both inside either chamber and between them. It also affects their organisation, the way they operate and exercise their constitutional prerogatives. However, the different majority configurations show a certain specificity of the Senate from the majority rule point of view and in the actual and non-oriented exercise of its parliamentary function in relation with the other chamber, and its distancingfrom the Government reveals the well-balanced nature of the Fifth Republic's bicameralism. As that majority became institutionalised, and because of its specificities in ether chamber, constitutional law and parliamentary law were led not to exclude non-normative occurences in order to gain an understanding of the way political institutions actually work
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Teuteberg, Salomé Marjanne. "A framework for constitutional settlements : an analysis of diverging interpretations of the South African Constitution." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96706.
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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa’s transition to democracy has been hailed as exemplary in the field of conflict resolution and constitution-making. The negotiated settlement was expected to serve as a consensual constitutional framework boding well for the newly democratic regime, but by 2014 evidence was accumulating of an emerging dissensus on the South African Constitution. The literature on the South African transition does not anticipate this emerging constitutional dissensus, or address the possibility that the constitution meant different things to different stakeholders. While there was widespread endorsement of the ratification of the constitution, an apparent divergence has emerged about its meaning and what is stands for. Many studies addressed the process of constitutional negotiations and the outcome thereof, but few examine the meaning that the original negotiators invested into this outcome. The study aimed to address whether this dissensus was present during the negotiating process (1990 - 1996), and whether the negotiators’ agreement on the formal text of the constitution obscures fundamentally diverging interpretations. The study is in the form of a qualitative, descriptive case study. This study created a novel conceptual framework within which to classify diverse interpretations. Perceptions of negotiated compromises in deeply divided societies were conceptualised in the form of Constitutional Contracts, Social Contracts and Benchmark Agreements. Original negotiators’ views and opinions were analysed in order to identify dispositions reconcilable with each of the concepts identified. This framework proved significantly helpful in identifying whether the views of the negotiators were divergent – on several levels, differences between negotiators during the negotiating period came to the fore. It became evident from the findings that there were indeed present among the ranks of the negotiators of the South African Constitution diverging interpretations of this outcome. It became clear that certain interpretations were more easily categorised than others: while being able to locate the views of some negotiators within the concepts of Constitutional Contract or Social Contract, identifying those views congruent with the Benchmark Agreement proved more difficult. Also, some negotiators’ views can be located within one, two or all of the categories. It became evident that while negotiators may be categorised within all three concepts of the framework, their opinions are not necessarily specific to the indicators of one single concept. This study brought significant insight into several concepts, including the Social Contract in a changing society. The Social Contract is identifiable within a system that fosters process over institutions, with specific focus on the working of the electoral system. The Social Contract is vested in the political culture as opposed to in the written text, but the written text does facilitate these types of processes by entrenching mechanisms for ongoing negotiation and revision. However, while some of these mechanisms exist within the Constitution, it does not mean that they are effectively used. Characteristics associated with the Social Contract, such as flexibility and an inclusive process, tend to be associated with longer lasting constitutions. The question remains whether South Africans should be actively seeking to build a Social Contract, and whether a Constitutional Contract can evolve into a Social Contract.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika se oorgang na demokrasie word beskou as ‘n uitnemende voorbeeld in die veld van konflikoplossing en die skryf van grondwette. Daar is verwag dat die onderhandelde skikking sal dien as ‘n ooreengekome grondwetlike raamwerk vir die nuwe demokratiese regime, maar teen 2014 het bewyse begin akkumuleer van ‘n opkomende dissensus oor die grondwet. Die literatuur oor die Suid-Afrikaanse oorgang antisipeer nie hierdie ontluikende grondwetlike dissensus nie, en spreek nie die moontlikheid aan dat die grondwet verskillende dinge vir verskillende rolspelers beteken nie. Alhoewel daar wydverspreide onderskrywing van die bekragtiging van die grondwet was, het daar ‘n klaarblyklike verdeeldheid na vore gekom oor wat die grondwet beteken, en waarvoor dit staan. Die proses van onderhandeling, sowel as die uitkoms in die formaat van die grondwet, is deur baie studies aangespreek, maar min ondersoek die betekenis wat die oorspronklike onderhandelaars in die uitkoms belê het. Dié studie is daarop gerig om ondersoek of hierdie onderliggende dissensus reeds tydens die onderhandelingsproses (1990 – 1996) teenwoordig was, en of die onderhandelaars se ooreenkoms oor die formele teks fundamenteel uiteenlopende interpretasies daarvan verberg. Die studie is in die vorm van 'n kwalitatiewe, beskrywende gevallestudie. ‘n Nuwe konseptuele raamwerk is ontwikkel waarbinne die diversiteit van opinie hieroor geklassifiseer kan word. Persepsies van onderhandelde kompromieë in diep verdeelde samelewings is gekonseptualiseer in die vorm van Grondwetlike Kontrakte, Sosiale Kontrakte en Maatstaf Ooreenkomste. Oorpsronklike onderhandelaars se standpunte en opinies is geanaliseer om gesindhede versoenbaar met elk van die konsepte te identifiseer. Hierdie raamwerk was nuttig om te identifiseer of die menings van die onderhandelaars uiteenlopend was. Verskille op verskeie vlakke het tussen die onderhandelaars tydens die onderhandelingstydperk na vore gekom. Dit is duidelik dat daar wel uiteenlopende interpretasies van hierdie uitkoms teenwoordig was binne die geledere van die onderhandelaars. Sekere interpretasies is makliker geklassifiseer as ander: die menings van sommige onderhandelaars kan as kongruent met die Grondwetlike Kontrak of die Sosiale Kontrak geidentifiseer word, maar dit was moeiliker om sienings ooreenstemmend met die Maatstaf Ooreenkoms te identifiseer. Sekere onderhandelaars se standpunte kan ook in een, twee of al drie kategorieë geplaas word. Dit het duidelik geword dat terwyl sekere onderhandelaars se opvattings binne al drie konsepte van die raamwerk geklassifiseer kan word, hul menings nie noodwendig spesifiek binne die aanwysers van 'n enkele konsep val nie. Hierdie studie het beduidende insig in verskeie konsepte gebied, insluitend die Sosiale Kontrak in 'n veranderende samelewing. Die Sosiale Kontrak is identifiseerbaar binne 'n stelsel wat die belangrikheid van proses oor instellings beklemtoon. Die Sosiale Kontrak berus in politieke kultuur, maar die geskrewe gondwetlike reëls fasiliteer hierdie tipe van prosesse deur die vestiging van meganismes vir voortgesette onderhandeling en hersiening. Hierdie verskynsel is tipies meer duidelik sienbaar in die werking van verskillende kiesstelsels. Alhoewel hierdie meganismes kan bestaan binne ‘n grondwet, beteken dit nie dat hulle doeltreffend gebruik word nie. Eienskappe wat verband hou met die Sosiale Kontrak, soos buigsaamheid en 'n inklusiewe proses, is geneig om verband te hou met 'n duursame en standhoudende grondwet. Die vraag bly staan of Suid-Afrikaners aktief op soek moet wees na die bou van ‘n Sosiale Kontrak, en of 'n Konstitusionele Kontrak kan ontwikkel om ‘n Sosiale Kontrak te vorm.
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Millman, Eric. "Substantive Due Process and the Politicization of the Supreme Court." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1905.
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Substantive due process is one of the most cherished and elusive doctrines in American constitutional jurisprudence. The understanding that the Constitution of the United States protects not only specifically enumerated rights, but also broad concepts such as “liberty,” “property,” and “privacy,” forms the foundation for some of the Supreme Court’s most impactful—and controversial—decisions.
This thesis explores the constitutional merits and politicizing history of natural rights jurisprudence from its application in Dred Scott v. Sandford to its recent evocation in Obergefell v. Hodges. Indeed, from slavery to same-same sex marriage, substantive due process has played a pivotal role in shaping our nation’s laws and destiny: But was it ever intended to?
This paper first examines the legal arguments in favor of substantive due process to determine whether the judiciary was designed to be the “bulwark” of natural as well as clearly scribed law. Then, employing a novel framework to measuring judicial politicization, the thesis tracks the doctrine’s application throughout its most prominent case studies. Often arriving at nuanced conclusions, we observe that the truth is more often painted in some gradation of grey than in black or white.
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Dabed, Dabed Eduardo Emilio. "A constitution for a non-state : the false hopes of the Palestinian Constitutional Process 1988-2007." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012AIXM1117.
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La littérature académique sur la Palestine depuis les « Accords d'Oslo » a substantiellement avancé notre compréhension des aspects sociaux, politiques et économiques à leur sujet. Néanmoins, un examen en profondeur des structures juridiques qu'Oslo a créées et de leur rôle, et leur impact social et politique reste encore nécessaire. Cette étude se propose de contribuer à cette fin, en se concentrant sur le processus constitutionnel et de construction institutionnelle en Palestine depuis Oslo. Cette recherche essaie de répondre à certaines questions fondamentales soulevées par ce processus : D'abord, en ce qui concerne la rédaction constitutionnelle palestinienne elle-même : comment les forces politiques palestiniennes ont-elles (ou n'ont-elles pas) négocié et se sont-elles entendues (ou non) sur la rédaction et l'approbation de la Loi Fondamentale de 1997 et sur ses modifications ultérieures ? Qui étaient les principaux acteurs de ce processus, et comment leurs propres positions et objectifs politiques ont-ils influencé le processus constituant ? Quels ont été les principaux déterminants sociaux, politiques et juridiques du processus constitutionnel dans chacune de ses étapes ? Dans un second temps, ce travail s'intéresse à l'impact que les structures juridiques, les pratiques et les discours légaux ont eu sur la société palestinienne : quel rôle a joué le droit dans les transformations sociales et politiques ayant lieu dans les territoires palestiniens occupés après Oslo ?Most studies about the “Oslo process” have done much to advance our understanding of the social, political and economic aspects of the agreements. Nevertheless, a deep consideration of the legal structures that “Oslo” created, their role and socio-political impact has not yet been sufficiently addressed. This work intends to contribute to this end by focusing on the constitutional-institutional developments in Palestine during Oslo. This study intends to suggest answers to some fundamental questions regarding the constitutional process – defined as both legal text and practices – in Palestine: First, regarding the Palestinian constitutional drafting itself, how did (or did not) Palestinian and external political forces negotiate and agree on the drafting and approval of the Basic Law of 1997 and on its subsequent amendments? Who were the main actors in this process and how did their own political positions and objectives influence it? What were the main social, political and juridical determinants of the constitutional process in each of its stages? Second, this study looks at the impact that legal structures, practices and discourse had in the Palestinian social and political space: i.e. did law have a role or influence in the social and political transformations that took place in the occupied Palestinian Territory after Oslo? What were the main social, political and symbolic structures, relations, categories, and representations which were transformed or redefined and the orientations of the new definitions?
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Spence, Colin J. "Who Says What the Law Is: How Barack Obama’s Legal Philosophy is Reflected by His Judicial Appointees." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1205.
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Eastaugh, Érik Labelle. "The rights of official language minority communities in Canada." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7500f091-db99-48ad-b269-3e0b7332705c.
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This thesis explores the meaning and content of s. 41 of the Official Languages Act of Canada, which imposes certain duties on all federal institutions towards French- and English-language minority communities. While vitally important as a component of Canada's language rights archictecture, the nature and content of s. 41 as a legal norm remain woefully unclear. The immediate aim is to determine: (1) whether s. 41 confers a right to specific measures in particular cases; (2) whether such rights are individual or collective; and (3) if collective, what sort of interests are protected. Section 41 presents a number of interpretive challenges. First, it uses terminology which is undefined in the Act and yet has no self-evident meaning. Thus, the nature of the primary legal subject, 'linguistic minority communities' (LMCs), is unclear, as are the nature of the protected interests, 'vitality' and 'development'. Second, the interpretive principles developed by the case-law for official language rights rely on a conceptual framework that is vague and under-theorized. Key components of that framework, like the concept of a necessary link between language and culture, have yet to be fully explored, either in the case-law or in legal scholarship. This presents an acute problem in the case of s. 41, where the content of these concepts will likely prove dispositive. In order to grapple with these challenges, this thesis develops an account of language rights as collective rights. Drawing on the philosophical literature and existing case-law, I argue that LMCs should be conceived of as collectivities rather than mere aggregates of individuals, and that a number of language rights, such as s. 41 of the OLA, and ss. 16.1 and 23 of the Charter, aim to protect the collective interests of these collectivities. I then define some of these interests from both an empirical and a normative perspective. I conclude by arguing that s. 41 of the OLA protects an 'autonomy interest', which both prohibits federal institutions from interfering with existing LMC autonomy, and provides a basis for claiming enhancements to that autonomy, within the confines of the statutory mandate of the institution in question.
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Eiser, David. "Regional economics and constitutional change in the UK." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26053.
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The UK, traditionally one of the more fiscally centralised of OECD countries, is currently in the midst of an extensive programme of tax decentralisation. This is most evident in Scotland. Ten years ago the Scottish Government was almost wholly reliant on a block grant from the UK Government to fund its spending, and debate was focussed on how the determination of this grant should be reformed. Today the Scottish Government has far greater fiscal autonomy. Income tax was almost fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament in April 2017, and around half of VAT revenues will be assigned to Scotland by 2020. As a result, the devolved Scottish budget will in future be linked much more closely to Scotland’s economy, and Scottish politicians will be able to deviate from UK policy on the setting of income tax and various smaller taxes. The objective of this PhD is to examine the economic and political motivations for and implications of greater fiscal decentralisation, with a particular focus on the Scottish case. Its key over-arching questions include: • Which fiscal powers are more and less suitable for decentralisation, and what might constraints might a devolved government face in exercising devolved tax powers? • To what extent are the objectives of fiscal decentralisation compatible with the goal of inter-regional equity in public good provision? • To what extent is fiscal decentralisation likely to enhance the incentives faced by politicians in a devolved parliament to pursue particular types of policy? And to what extent does the answer to this question depend upon the way in which supporting fiscal institutions, notably including the design of block grant arrangements, influence this? • What factors determine regional economic performance, and to what extent can devolved governments be held accountable for (or face the budgetary consequences of) those trends? • To what extent might fiscal decentralisation assuage or accentuate demands for Scottish independence? This PhD consists of four academic papers covering aspects of regional economics and constitutional change in the UK, with a particular focus on Scotland. Each of the four papers is preceded by an abstract. An introductory chapter provides theoretical and policy context within which the four papers are situated. A concluding section to the PhD is provided in Chapter 6. The four papers cover the following topics: • Paper 1 (Chapter 2) was published in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, and considers the issues and constraints involved in devolving further fiscal powers to the Scottish Parliament. • Paper 2 (Chapter 3) considers the scope for replacing the Barnett Formula (used to allocate funding to the Scottish Government) with a form of spending-needs assessment, based on a comparative analysis of formulae used within England and Scotland to allocate health funding to territorial health boards. • Paper 3 (Chapter 4) examines how regional labour markets in the UK responded to the 2008/9 recession and its aftermath, and considers which factors may have influenced regional resilience to the recession. • Paper 4 (Chapter 5) examines the factors that determine differential growth in regional income tax revenues, and considers the extent to which it is reasonable to hold devolved governments wholly to account for differential economic performance. • Chapter 6 concludes.