Democratizing Constitutional Law
by Thomas Bustamante /
2013 / English / PDF
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Editors: Bustamante, Thomas, Gonalves Fernandes, Bernardo (Eds.)
Defines an ideal-type for the equilibrium and the cooperation of powers, with the aim of legitimizing the discourse about rights
Discusses the solutions and strategies adopted by several jurisdictions
Examines the practical implications of institutional designs and decision process for constitutional courts
This volume critically discusses the relationship between democracy and constitutionalism. It does so with a view to respond to objections raised by legal and political philosophers who are sceptical of judicial review based on the assumption that judicial review is an undemocratic institution. The book builds on earlier literature on the moral justification of the authority of constitutional courts, and on the current attempts to develop a system on weak judicial review. Although different in their approach, the chapters all focus on devising institutions, procedures and, in a more abstract way, normative conceptions to democratize constitutional law. These democratizing strategies may vary from a radical objection to the institution of judicial review, to a more modest proposal to justify the authority of constitutional courts in their deliberative performance or to create constitutional juries that may be more aware of a communitys constitutional morality than constitutional courts are. The book connects abstract theoretical discussions about the moral justification of constitutionalism with concrete problems, such as the relation between constitutional adjudication and deliberative democracy, the legitimacy of judicial review in international institutions, the need to create new institutions to democratize constitutionalism, the connections between philosophical conceptions and constitutional practices, the judicial review of constitutional amendments, and the criticism on strong judicial review
Topics
Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History
Political Philosophy
Political Theory
Constitutional Law
Philosophy of Law
Private International Law, International & Foreign Law, Comparative Law
