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University Press Scholarship Online

You are looking at 1-7 of 7 items for: keywords : constitutional arrangements
Human Rights: Have the Public Benefited? : Thank-Offering to
Britain Lecture
Lord Woolf
in Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 121, 2002 Lectures
Published in print: 2003 Published Online:
February 2012
ISBN: 9780197263037 eISBN: 9780191734007
Item type: chapter
Publisher: British Academy
DOI: 10.5871/bacad/9780197263037.003.0012
This lecture discusses the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR),
which was established due to the atrocities committed by the Nazis
during the Second World War. It looks at the scale of the changes that
occurred in constitutional arrangements, and considers the fact that
these changes have been achieved without damaging the underlying
constitutional arrangements and traditions of the United Kingdom. The
lecture also considers whether these changes would benefit the public,
and studies some of the arguments that are both in favour of and against
the ECHR in becoming a part of the country's law.
Semi-Presidentialism in Europe
Robert Elgie (ed.)
Published in print: 1999 Published Online:
November 2003
ISBN: 9780198293866 eISBN: 9780191599156
Item type: book
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/0198293860.001.0001
Semipresidentialism is an increasingly popular form of constitutional
government. Semipresidential regimes can now be found in Western
Europe, in Austria, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, and Portugal, in
Central and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Slovenia, and Ukraine; in Asia, in places such as
Mongolia, South Korea, and Sri Lanka; and elsewhere in, e.g. Guyana,
Haiti, Angola, and Namibia. By definition, all of these countries share a
similar set of basic constitutional features, namely, a directly elected
fixedterm president and a prime minister who is responsible to
parliament. However, the main observation to be made about them is
that the exercise of political power varies greatly from one to another.
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For example, in some countries (particularly France), the president is
usually the dominant political actor; in other countries (such as Finland),
there is a sometimes uneasy balance of power between the president
and prime minister; in yet others (notably Ukraine), the president and
parliament share powers; and finally, in others still (including Austria,
Iceland, and Ireland), the president is merely a figurehead and the prime
minister dominates the decisionmaking process. Because of the very
varied forms of political leadership that occur across these institutionally
similar countries, some writers have dismissed the concept of semi
presidentialism, but in fact, though, it provides a perfect opportunity to
study the general question of why political systems function in the way
they do and to examine the relationship between particular constitutional
arrangements and different forms of political practice. This book
examines the politics of semipresidentialism in 12 European countries
(all those listed above except for Portugal), and the constitutional powers
of political leaders, the role of political parties, and the importance of
past precedent. Ch. 1 provides a background to the study of the concept
and a framework for the analysis of semipresidential regimes. This
framework is then applied to the politics of individual European countries
in the following chapters. In the conclusion, the lessons of these chapters
are reviewed and the future of semipresidential studies is considered.
Ministerial Responsibility1
Diana Woodhouse
in The British Constitution in the Twentieth Century
Published in print: 2004 Published Online:
February 2012
ISBN: 9780197263198 eISBN: 9780191734755
Item type: chapter
Publisher: British Academy
DOI: 10.5871/bacad/9780197263198.003.0008
This chapter examines the changes in ministerial responsibility in Great
Britain during the twentieth century. It suggests that the twentieth
century saw the decay of imperfect but working conventions, the
divisions between policy and operations and accountability and
responsibility which may suggest a rationalisation of ministerial
responsibility. The chapter explains that, for more than a century,
ministerial responsibility has underpinned Britain's constitutional
arrangements and the Westminster system of government, andhas
provided the rationale for the institutional structure of government and
the basis for political relationships.
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The Political Economy of Federalism in India
Nirvikar Singh and Govinda Rao
Published in print: 2006 Published Online:
October 2012
ISBN: 9780195686937 eISBN: 9780199080571
Item type: book
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/
acprof:oso/9780195686937.001.0001
This book deals with the system, institutions, and outcomes from
the interplay of political and economic forces in Indian federalism.
It significantly broadens the conceptual framework for analysing
Indian federalism by exploring political elements and institutions and
their strategic interaction with fiscal variables. The book is divided
into three parts. The first part deals with the political and economic
theories of federalism, dimensions of federal governance, the historical
background of Indian federalism, and the issues of bargaining, control,
and commitment. The second section examines Centrestate economic
relations and efficiency and equity implications of the constitutional
arrangements and their actual working. The final part explores the
various politicaleconomic issues associated with intergovernmental
reform.
Disagreement and Precommitment
Jeremy Waldron
in Law and Disagreement
Published in print: 1999 Published Online:
March 2012
ISBN: 9780198262138 eISBN: 9780191682308
Item type: chapter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/
acprof:oso/9780198262138.003.0012
This chapter examines the precommitment view of constitutional
constraints and a Bill of Rights with judicial review of legislation. It
explains that the precommitment view considers constitutional
arrangements as a kind of rational and shared precommitment among
free and equal sovereign citizens at the level of constitutional choice.
With this principle, the citizens provide themselves with a means for
protecting their independence and sovereignty by granting a non-
legislative the right to review democratically enacted legislation.
The Institutional Organization of Churches
Norman Doe
in Canon Law in the Anglican Communion: A Worldwide Perspective
Published in print: 1998 Published Online:
March 2012
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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ISBN: 9780198267829 eISBN: 9780191683381
Item type: chapter
DOI: 10.1093/
acprof:oso/9780198267829.003.0003
This chapter examines the institutional organization of churches
in the Anglican Communion. It describes their national assemblies,
diocesan assemblies, and assemblies operating within the various
divisions of the diocese and those administrative bodies accountable
to the representative assemblies. Anglican churches are arranged
on a territorial basis of provinces, dioceses, and local ecclesiastical
units. These constitutional and canonical arrangements indicate a legal
unity in the Anglican Communion in terms of the institutional church
organization.
Constituent Power
MARTIN LOUGHLIN
in The Idea of Public Law
Published in print: 2004 Published Online:
January 2010
ISBN: 9780199274727 eISBN: 9780191708329
Item type: chapter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.1093/
acprof:oso/9780199274727.003.0006
This chapter begins by differentiating constituent power and constituted
power. It then focuses on the assessment of the contribution made by
the concept of constituent power to an understanding of public law.
It notes that this is a complex task because constituent power resists
simple absorption into juristic categories. It explains that the main
reason for it is the fact that constituent power articulates the power
of the multitude: constituent power is the juristic expression of the
democratic impetus. It adds that the concept expresses the tensions
between democracy and law. It clarifies that constituent power is the
generative principle of modern constitutional arrangements. It provides
juristic expression to those forces that constantly irritate the formal
constitution, thus ensuring it is able to perform its political function. It
outlines the emergence of democracy in modern political thought.