Constitutional Democracy : Creating and Maintaining a Just Political Order

by Murphy, Walter F.

• ISBN13: 9780801891076
• ISBN10: 0801891078
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-05
• 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	p. ix
General Introduction	p. 1
Creating a Constitutional Democracy
Introduction	p. 23
Values, Interests, and Goals	p. 36
Alternative Political Systems	p. 68
Alternative Political Systems: The Debate	p. 108
The Possibility of Constitutional Democracy	p. 147
To Draft or Not to Draft a Constitutional Text	p. 185
Drafting 1: The Shape of the Constitution	p. 206
Drafting 2: The Judiciary	p. 241
Drafting 3: A Bill of Rights	p. 276
Drafting 4: Special Cases	p. 307
Epilogue	p. 324
Maintaining a Constitutional Democracy
Introduction	p. 331
Creating Citizens	p. 342
Military and Security Forces	p. 378
Rebuilding the Machinery of the State: The Bureaucracies	p. 398
Dealing with Deposed Despots	p. 425
Constitutional Interpretation as Constitutional Maintenance	p. 460
Constitutional Change and Its Limits	p. 497
Epilogue	p. 530
Reprise	p. 533
General Index	p. 537
Index of Cases	p. 545
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