What Should Constitutions Do?

Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr, Jeffrey Paul

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780521175531
• eBook ISBN: 9781139180207
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

The essays in this volume - written by prominent philosophers, political scientists and legal scholars - address the basic purposes of constitutions and their status as fundamental law. Some deal with specific constitutional provisions: they ask, for example, which branches of government should have the authority to conduct foreign policy, or how the judiciary should be organized, or what role a preamble should play in a nation's founding document. Other essays explore questions of constitutional design: they consider the advantages of a federal system of government, or the challenges of designing a constitution for a pluralistic society - or they ask what form of constitution best promotes personal liberty and economic prosperity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• WHAT SHOULD CONSTITUTIONS DO?
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• WHAT ARE CONSTITUTIONS, AND WHAT SHOULD (AND CAN) THEY DO?
• CONSTITUTION AND FUNDAMENTAL LAW: THE LESSON OF CLASSICAL ATHENS
• CONTRACT, COVENANT, CONSTITUTION*
• CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE AGE OF TERROR
• THE LIBERAL CONSTITUTION AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS*
• DO CONSTITUTIONS HAVE A POINT? REFLECTIONS ON “PARCHMENT BARRIERS” AND PREAMBLES
• THE ORIGINS OF AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY IN NEW YORK, 1621–1777*
• FOOT VOTING, POLITICAL IGNORANCE, AND CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN*
• PLURALIST CONSTITUTIONALISM
• DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND CONSTITUTIONS
• THE CONSTITUTION OF NONDOMINATION*
• CAN WE DESIGN AN OPTIMAL CONSTITUTION? OF STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY AND RIGHTS CLARITY*
• INDEX