Topic
Constitution
About: Constitution is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37828 publications have been published within this topic receiving 435603 citations.
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30 Mar 2010
TL;DR: Nelson as discussed by the authors argues that political thought in early-modern Europe became less, not more, secular with time, and it was the Christian encounter with Hebrew sources that provoked this radical transformation.
Abstract: According to a commonplace narrative, the rise of modern political thought in the West resulted from secularization - the exclusion of religious arguments from political discourse. But in this pathbreaking work, Eric Nelson argues that this familiar story is wrong. Instead, he contends, political thought in early-modern Europe became less, not more, secular with time, and it was the Christian encounter with Hebrew sources that provoked this radical transformation. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Christian scholars began to regard the Hebrew Bible as a political constitution designed by God for the children of Israel. Newly available rabbinic materials became authoritative guides to the institutions and practices of the perfect republic. This thinking resulted in a sweeping reorientation of political commitments. In the book's central chapters, Nelson identifies three transformative claims introduced into European political theory by the Hebrew revival: the argument that republics are the only legitimate regimes; the idea that the state should coercively maintain an egalitarian distribution of property; and, the belief that a godly republic would tolerate religious diversity. One major consequence of Nelson's work is that the revolutionary politics of John Milton, James Harrington, and Thomas Hobbes appear in a brand-new light. Nelson demonstrates that central features of modern political thought emerged from an attempt to emulate a constitution designed by God. This paradox, a reminder that while we may live in a secular age, we owe our politics to an age of religious fervor, in turn illuminates fault lines in contemporary political discourse.
154 citations
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TL;DR: The Canadian Charter as mentioned in this paper was adopted in 1982, influenced by the US Bill of Rights and the creation of the UN system to guarantee human rights and freedoms by writing them into a state's constitution.
Abstract: Can human rights and freedoms be guaranteed by writing them into a state's constitution? Adopted in 1982, the Canadian Charter— influenced by the US Bill of Rights and the creation of the UN system—aims to do just this. Judge Maxwell Cohen finds the Charter a quite coherent effort to state new ‘rights’ and restate old principles which gives judges a vital role in moulding public policy.
154 citations
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01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: Locke and the Reformation of Natural Law: Questions Concerning the Law of Nature187Ch. 8Locke as mentioned in this paper, the first Treatises of Government and Natural Rights of Property.
Abstract: PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPrologue3Pt. 1Protestants27Ch. 1Aristotelian Royalism and Reformation Absolutism: Divine Right Theory29Ch. 2Aristotelian Constitutionalism and Reformation Contractarianism: From Ancient Constitution to Original Contract49Ch. 3Contract and Christian Liberty: John Milton77Pt. 2Whigs95Ch. 4Whig Contractarianisms and Rights97Ch. 5The Master of Whig Political Philosophy119Ch. 6A Neo-Harringtonian Moment? Whig Political Science and the Old Republicanism150Pt. 3Natural Rights and the New Republicanism185Ch. 7Locke and the Reformation of Natural Law: Questions Concerning the Law of Nature187Ch. 8Locke and the Reformation of Natural Law: Two Treatises of Government216Ch. 9Locke and the Reformation of Natural Law: Of Property247Ch. 10Locke and the Transformation of Whig Political Philosophy289Notes321Bibliography377Index391
153 citations
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01 Aug 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of the comprador service sector in the formation of the competition state in the Czech Republic and how Czechs ignited competition for FDI.
Abstract: Introduction 1. Understanding convergence towards the competition state: The transnational constitution of domestic politics 2. The rise of the competition state: Towards the Porterian workfare postnational regime 3. Creating national capitalism against the odds: The internally oriented project in the Czech Republic 4. The internally oriented pathways in the early nineties: By default or by design? 5. The time of the comprador service sector: How Czechs ignited competition for FDI 6. Political support of the competition state: The comprador service sector and its allies 7. The investment promotion machines: Everyday politics and the multi-scalar constitution of the competition state. Conclusion. Bibliography
153 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that both of these views are misconceived and that impeachment and presidential immunity slights both the terms of the Constitution and history, and that there is neither a constitutional basis nor a sound footing in policy for any official action against a sitting President other than impeachment.
Abstract: The Lewinsky affair played out under ground rules shaped in the Watergate affair, an earlier episode involving misconduct by a President. A predicate of the impeachment of President Clinton was the President's involvement in a private civil lawsuit. A sitting President's exposure to compulsory judicial process has been accepted almost without demur among academic commentators since the 1974 case of United States v. Nixon. As for impeachment, the academic consensus is that the Constitution defines impeachable offenses as "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," the latter terms describing an imprecisely bounded category of serious offenses. This paper contends that both of these views are misconceived. The prevailing view of impeachment and presidential immunity slights both the terms of the Constitution and history. The scope of impeachment, based on a straightforward reading of the constitutional provisions concerning it, is demonstrably different from the academic consensus. The text of the Constitution and relevant history reveal that 1) impeachable offenses are not defined in the Constitution; 2) "high crimes and misdemeanors" are an historically well-defined category of offenses aimed specifically against the state, for which removal from office is mandatory upon conviction by the Senate; 3) Congress has the power to impeach and remove civil officers for a range of offenses other than high crimes and misdemeanors; and 4) the Senate can impose sanctions less severe than removal from office--censure, for example--on civil officers convicted of such other offenses. The textual and historical support for these propositions is powerful, if not overwhelming. When impeachment is correctly understood, the question of the President's immunity from judicial process takes on a different light. There is neither a constitutional basis nor a sound footing in policy for any official action against a sitting President other than impeachment.
152 citations