Constitutions and how they operate.

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Constitutions and how they operate.
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Contemporary constitutions may reflect

• earlier frameworks adopted to modern
  circumstances (e.g Britain)
• OR
• Deliberate acts of constituting a country and a
  government

3
Constitutions are found both in

• Liberal democracies
• in
• Many, but not all, authoritarian systems

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Impact or effect of constitutions depends on

• Willingness of elites and key groups in society
  to accept its limits -- e.g.
• Executive
• Political parties
• Organized interests
• The military
• Willingness (and ability) of courts to ensure
  that it is followed

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Components

• A preamble or statement of purpose
• Sections defining the powers and prerogatives of
  institutions
• Enumeration of citizens rights
• An amending formula

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Varieties

• Flexible v. rigid
• Written v. unwritten
• Presidential v. Parliamentary v.
  Semi-presidential
• Unitary v. federal

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Differences and similarities among

• Britain
• France
• United States
• Canada

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Britains constitution

• Medieval institutions made modern (or more or
  less modern)
• Consists of written and unwritten parts
• Best described as an un-codified rather than an
  unwritten constitution

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Written parts

• Basic constitutional settlements
• Magna Carta (1215)
• Act of Union (1707)
• Acts of Settlement (1689)
• Ordinary laws
• First Reform Bill (1832)
• Second Reform Bill (1867)
• Third Reform Bill (1884)
• Parliament Act of 1911
• Scotland Act (1997)

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Unwritten parts of the British Constitution

• Conventions defining, among other things,
• powers of the cabinet
• Powers of the prime minister
• relations between cabinet and prime minister
• relations between cabinet and parliament
• Example must the government resign if it loses
  a vote in parliament?

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Problems

• How do we know when a practice is or is not a
  convention of the constitution?
• How different is Britain from other liberal
  democracies?

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The United States

• Constitution from 1787
• A short document
• 30-35 pages
• 7 main articles
• 27 amendments
• Provides for
• A presidential system with pronounced separation
  of powers
• A federal system with all residual powers
  reserved for the states

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Changes in the American constitution over time

• Democratization from elite to mass-based
  politics
• Growth in the power of the federal government
• The 19th c. vs. the 20th century state
• Expansion and contraction of the power of the
  presidency

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Sources of change

• Judicial review by the Supreme Court implied but
  not specified in the Constitution -- Established
  by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v.
  Madison (1803)
• Practice and interpretation
• Political parties and the ways in which they
  connect or fail to connect Congress and the
  Presidency

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France

• Current constitution Fifth Republic from
  1958
• Semi-presidential regime put in place by
  threatened military insurrection
• Presidential powers implied but not directly
  granted. Yet
• Constitution modified through expansion in the
  powers of the presidency via practice and usage
• Constitution amended in 1962 by extra
  constitutional means (via an amending formula not
  specified in the constitution)

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Canada

• Oh Canada

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Problem

• Why are some constitutions strictly adhered to
  while others are not?
• Why are some countries able to agree on their
  constitutions while others are not able to do so?
• What functions do constitutions serve in systems
  which are fundamentally authoritarian?