Constitution

About: Constitution is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37828 publications have been published within this topic receiving 435603 citations.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Abstract: The Constitution of the United Kingdom is no single written document but consists mainly of customary law, statutes with a “constitutional” character and common law, that is case law. There is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and law considered “Constitutional Law”. The United Kingdom is a unitary state which is divided into the four constituent countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Government of Wales Act of 31 July 1998, the Scotland Act of 19 November 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act of 19 November 1998 conferred a certain regional autonomy upon the three countries. Each now has its own Parliament and executive. Gibraltar has the status of a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom. Each is further subdivided for the purposes of local government. The United Kingdom is a Constitutional Monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. Parliament consists of an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. The House of Commons has 646 deputies who are elected by the people on the basis of a majority vote. The House of Lords consists of 731 members with the majority being Life Peers. The Head of State is the Monarch who is to give royal assent to every bill passed by the two houses. The Monarch appoints the Prime Minister who is the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister then chooses a cabinet.

More than a name: state-sponsored homophobia and its consequences in Southern Africa

Abstract: In this report Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) document and analyze the impact of state-sponsored homophobia in Zimbabwe Namibia Zambia and Botswana. The report shows how these attacks attempt to create an atmosphere of intolerance in which governments can erode the basic principles of human rights and individuals can abuse others with impunity. It contrasts these to the different situation in South Africa where the constitution has promised an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation—but where a lack of will as well as foresight has kept these promises short of fulfillment. As this report documents the verbal attacks by political leaders have often led to persecution and violence. In Zimbabwe and Namibia in particular public vilification has set off police harassment of those who break norms for sexual conduct and gender expression. Official crackdowns have frequently followed politicians’ statements. People have been detained and tortured by police or abused by prison guards. (excerpt)

The Constitution of Liberty

Abstract: From the $700 billion bailout of the banking industry to president Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package to the highly controversial passage of federal health-care reform, conservatives and concerned citizens alike have grown increasingly fearful of big government. Enter Nobel Prize–winning economist and political theorist F. A. Hayek, whose passionate warning against empowering states with greater economic control, The Road to Serfdom , became an overnight sensation last summer when it was endorsed by Glenn Beck. The book has since sold over 150,000 copies. The latest entry in the University of Chicago Press’s series of newly edited editions of Hayek’s works, The Constitution of Liberty is, like Serfdom , just as relevant to our present moment. The book is considered Hayek’s classic statement on the ideals of freedom and liberty, ideals that he believes have guided—and must continue to guide—the growth of Western civilization. Here Hayek defends the principles of a free society, casting a skeptical eye on the growth of the welfare state and examining the challenges to freedom posed by an ever expanding government—as well as its corrosive effect on the creation, preservation, and utilization of knowledge. In opposition to those who call for the state to play a greater role in society, Hayek puts forward a nuanced argument for prudence. Guided by this quality, he elegantly demonstrates that a free market system in a democratic polity—under the rule of law and with strong constitutional protections of individual rights—represents the best chance for the continuing existence of liberty. Striking a balance between skepticism and hope, Hayek’s profound insights are timelier and more welcome than ever before. This definitive edition of The Constitution of Liberty will give a new generation the opportunity to learn from his enduring wisdom.

From Democratization to "Guided Democracy"

Abstract: While the questions posed by the Journal of Democracy are concerned mainly with the post-Soviet period, it is important to note at the outset that the most significant and, in many respects, most successful part of Russia’s political transformation—namely, the transition from communism—took place while the Soviet Union was still in existence. Far too often, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the transformation of the communist system are conflated. The transition from communism had essentially occurred by the spring of 1989. Glasnost, a gift from above, had developed into freedom of speech. The Communist Party’s monopoly on power had disappeared de facto with the rise of numerous sociopolitical movements. (It was removed de jure in March 1990, when the Communist Party’s “leading role” was excised from the Soviet Constitution.) Within the party, “democratic centralism” had given way to vigorous and open debate among different opinion groupings and factions. Contested elections in 1989 for a legislature with real powers replaced pseudo-elections for a rubber-stamp assembly. The Soviet economic system was in limbo by that time. A series of laws legalizing individual economic enterprise, devolving power from ministries to factories, and creating cooperatives that became thinly disguised private enterprises produced both intended and unintended consequences. The command economy was ceasing to function but what remained was still far removed from a market economy. Moreover, the Archie Brown, professor of politics at Oxford University and fellow of St. Antony’s College, is the author of The Gorbachev Factor (1996), which won the W. J. M. Mackenzie Prize of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom for best political science book of the year. More recently, he has edited The British Study of Politics in the Twentieth Century (1999, with Brian Barry and Jack Hayward) and Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader (2001).

Judicial review and coordinate construction of the constitution

Abstract: Theory: A Congress-centered model of coordinate construction of the Constitution is proposed to predict when legislation, that would reverse a decision of the Supreme Court, is brought to a vote in Congress. Hypotheses: Decision reversal of Supreme Court cases striking down law as unconstitutional are a function of federal power concerns, presidential position, the type of law struck down, public opinion, and interest group pressure. Methods: A two-stage model suggested by Achen (1987) for modeling two interrelated, dichotomous outcomes is used. Results: We find that Congress often does reverse Supreme Court rulings and that public opinion, the position of the president, federal power concerns, and the type of law struck down have the greatest effect on the likelihood that reversal legislation will come to a vote in Congress and will be passed.