Constitutional Democracy : Creating and Maintaining a Just Political Order

by Murphy, Walter F.

• ISBN13: 9780801884702
• ISBN10: 0801884705
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-02
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Constitutional democracy is a political hybrid, the product of an uneasy union between, on the one hand, the normative theories of constitutionalism and democracy and, on the other, the desire to live under what James Madison called "free government." In this engaging and provocative work, Walter F. Murphy combines a lifetime's study of constitutions and democracy with traditional storytelling to answer fundamental questions about constitutional democracy: How is it created? How is it maintained? How can it be adapted to changing circumstances? Murphy begins with a definitional section on constitutions, constitutional texts, constitutionalism, and democracy. Next, he tells the story of how a democracy is established within the context of a fictional constitutional convention for a fictional country. He follows delegates -- many of whose arguments track those of real-life political, economic, and legal theorists -- as they debate and draft the components of a constitution. Here, the reader comes to understand and appreciate the components of a constitutional text and the contingency and potential of the constitution-making process. Murphy then offers an expository analysis of constitutional maintenance, adaptation, and, essentially, constitutional change.

Author Biography

Walter F. Murphy is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. He is the author of numerous scholarly books, articles, and textbooks, as well as several novels, including Vicar of Christ.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
General Introduction	1	(22)
I. Creating a Constitutional Democracy
Introduction	23	(13)
Values, Interests, and Goals	36	(32)
Alternative Political Systems	68	(40)
Alternative Political Systems: The Debate	108	(39)
The Possibility of Constitutional Democracy	147	(38)
To Draft or Not to Draft a Constitutional Text	185	(21)
Drafting 1: The Shape of the Constitution	206	(35)
Drafting 2: The Judiciary	241	(35)
Drafting 3: A Bill of Rights	276	(31)
Drafting 4: Special Cases	307	(35)
Epilogue	324	(7)
II. Maintaining a Constitutional Democracy
Introduction	331	(11)
Creating Citizens	342	(36)
Military and Security Forces	378	(20)
Rebuilding the Machinery of the State: The Bureaucracies	398	(27)
Dealing with Deposed Despots	425	(35)
Constitutional Interpretation as Constitutional Maintenance	460	(37)
Constitutional Change and Its Limits	497	(36)
Epilogue	530	(3)
Reprise	533	(4)
General Index	537	(8)
Index of Cases	545