Constitution

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

Legislative Institutions and Ideology in Chile

Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Ideology and valence 2. Accident and force 3. Legislative institutions in the constitution of 1980 4. Roll-call votes and senate committees 5. The Labor committee 6. The Education committee 7. The Constitution committee 8. Legislative politics and Chile's transition toward democracy Conclusion Appendix: estimating preferences from voting records Bibliography Index.

Variations on a Theme

Abstract: The scholarly debate on the advantages and disadvantages of the two dominant democratic regime types—presidentialism and parliamentarism—gained prominence during the “third wave” of democratization. Discussions of the inherent perils of presidentialism and the unequivocally virtuous nature of parliamentarism were especially salient during the 1990s, but they remain important to this day. In the past few years, democratizing countries such as Afghanistan, East Timor, and Iraq have faced or are still facing tough choices as to regime constitution. Moreover, a number of established democracies, including Mexico and Taiwan, are currently debating whether or not to change their basic system of government. Most academic contributions to the regime-type debate have focused on the relative advantages and disadvantages of presidentialism and parliamentarism, and the consensus seems to adhere to Juan Linz’s judgment that, all else being equal, parliamentarism should be chosen above presidentialism. 1 That said, there are powerful counterarguments that properly crafted presidential regimes can be of advantage in certain countries. 2 In the presidentialism-versus-parliamentarism debate, analysis of semipresidential systems—which have both a directly elected president and a prime minister responsible to the legislature—has been notable for its near absence. Semipresidentialism has been and remains a very popular choice of government, especially for countries that democratized during or after the third wave; indeed, in the formerly communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union Robert Elgie, Paddy Moriarty Professor of Government and International Studies at Dublin City University, Ireland, is coeditor of the journal French Politics. He is also editor of Semi-Presidentialism in Europe (1999) and Divided Government in Comparative Perspective (2001) and coeditor of Semi-Presidentialism Outside Europe (forthcoming).

Constitutional odyssey: Can Canadians become a sovereign people?

Abstract: "Constitutional Odyssey" is an account of the politics of making and changing Canada's constitution from Confederation to the present day. Peter H. Russell frames his analysis around two contrasting constitutional philosophies Edmund Burke's conception of the constitution as a set of laws and practices incrementally adapting to changing needs and societal differences, and John Locke's ideal of a Constitution as a single document expressing the will of a sovereign people as to how they are to be governed.The first and second editions of "Constitutional Odyssey," published in 1992 and 1993 respectively, received wide-ranging praise for their ability to inform the public debate. This third edition continues in that tradition. Russell adds a new preface, and a new chapter on constitutional politics since the defeat of the Charlottetown Accord in 1993. He also looks at the 1995 Quebec Referendum and its fallout, the federal Clarity Act, Quebec's Self-Determination Act, the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Social Union Framework Agreement and the Council of the Federation, progress in Aboriginal self-determination such as Nunavut and the Nisga'a Agreement, and the movement to reduce the democratic deficit in parliamentary government.Comprehensive and eminently readable, "Constitutional Odyssey" is as important as ever."