Principles of Constitutional Design

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
Acknowledgments......Page 15
Principles of Constitutional Design......Page 17
A Recurrence to Fundamentals......Page 19
General Constitutional Developments since World War II......Page 26
The Three General Elements of Constitutionalism......Page 33
Fundamental Principles and the Spirit of the Laws......Page 37
Conclusion......Page 40
The Reality Addressed by Sovereignty......Page 44
The Genesis of “Sovereignty”: Before Bodin......Page 53
Bodin’s Theory of Sovereignty......Page 62
The Hobbesian Gloss on Bodin......Page 74
Bodin and Hobbes: Their Implications and Legacy......Page 79
The Relationship of Popular Sovereignty to Sovereignty......Page 85
Toward a Definition and Typology of Popular Sovereignty......Page 89
The Historical Development of Popular Sovereignty......Page 92
The Constitutional Republic Model......Page 102
The Constitutional Democracy Model......Page 108
Constitutionalism and a Fallible Human Nature......Page 112
Toward an Operational Definition of Popular Sovereignty......Page 115
Why the Term “Separation of Powers” Is Used......Page 127
Four Historical Patterns of Devolution from One-Man Rule......Page 129
Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism?......Page 136
The Pure Parliamentary Model......Page 141
A Separation of Powers Index......Page 144
Popular Control versus Popular Sovereignty: An Empirical Test......Page 147
Some Further Considerations......Page 158
Why the Amendment Process Is Important in Constitutional Design......Page 163
The Original Premises Underlying the Amendment Process......Page 167
Basic Assumptions and Propositions......Page 171
Amendment Patterns in American State Constitutions, 1776–1991......Page 175
Amendment Patterns and the Characteristics of the Amendment Process......Page 182
Cross-National Amendment Patterns......Page 189
Conclusion......Page 197
Some Initial Considerations......Page 201
Plato on Matching a Government and a People......Page 204
Aristotle on Matching a Government and a People......Page 211
Aristotle on What Is to Be Held in Common......Page 218
That Which Is Held in Common by a Given People......Page 221
Things Not Held in Common by a People but of Constitutional Importance......Page 224
Political Philosophy as an Integrated Project......Page 227
Constitutional Design as an Integrated Project......Page 233
General Principles of Constitutional Design......Page 236
Four Interesting Curves......Page 239
The Hyperbolic Curve Describing the Difficulty of Amendment......Page 240
The Cube Root Curve......Page 245
The Curve Linking the Separation of Powers with the Index of Popular Control......Page 255
The Rising Curve of Constitutional Republics (Democracies)......Page 263
Concluding Remarks......Page 264
Index......Page 269