Political Culture And Constitutionalism

This work is a cross-national examination of the relationship between political culture and constitutionalism. The countries studied include Nigeria, Turkey and Japan. Questions explored include whether constitutions must evolve and whether constitutionalism is only a western concept.

This volume investigates the nature of constitutional democratic government in the United States and elsewhere. It provides comprehensive tools for analyzing and comparing different forms of constitutional democracy. The collection will be of interest to students and readers in political science, law, history and political philosophy.

This volume traces the trends and the developing relationships of constitutionalism and covenant that ultimately led to the transformation of the latter into the former. Elazar explores the paths that emerged out of the constitutionalized covenantal tradition in Europe such as federalism, communitarianism, and the cooperative movement.

Using the events of the Constitution's Bicentennial from 1987 to 1991 as a case study, Representing Popular Sovereignty explores the contradiction between the Constitution's importance as a political document and its weakness as a symbol in American popular culture.

Although it has been claimed that we live in an age of constitutionalism, national and transnational constitutions neither appear as uniform models nor as uncontested means of setting the rules of the game in the political, economic, or religious domain. This book aims to convince readers of a cultural perspective on constitutions. Tying in with the research approach of the Kate Hamburger Center "Law as Culture", the term "constitutional culture" evokes the multidimensional life of a constitution that cannot be restricted to its - though essential - textual normative provisions and authorized interpreters. Grasping the foundational force and societal influence of constitutions by means of cultural theory and analysis also calls for the investigation of narratives, symbols, rituals, materials, and places in which constitutions are framed and reproduced. With this objective in mind, the contributions to this volume, written by lawyers, sociologists, and political scientists, illuminate different dimensions of the cultural manifestation of constitutions as well as contemporary legal, political, and social struggles arising around their shape and range of influence in various regions of the world.

Students of politics frequently confuse politics with current events and the activities of political actors. Lost in this view is a deeper understanding of politics that emphasizes the need for governmental management of many facets of social life. It proceeds first by illustrating the need for civil organization in complex social settings and then by examining the way political culture informs the nature and degree of the political organization appropriate for a polity. Focusing specifically on U.S. political culture, the work explores American political inheritance in order to expose the enduring ideals and fundamental commitments of American political life. This permits a review of American liberalism with its characteristic emphasis upon individual freedom and basic human equality. The nature of constitutionalism and democracy are also explored in order to examine their fit with traditional American liberal ideals. But politics is also about change, and the work concludes with a discussion of the challenges the U.S. must face as the demands of political management generate pressures that might seem to erode or compromise the ideals of American political culture.

Cultural history and themendment : New York Times v. Sullivan and its times / Kermit L. Hall -- New directions in American constitutional history -- Words as hard as cannon-balls : women's rights agitation -- And liberty of speech in nineteenth-century America / Sandra F. VanBurkleo -- Race, state, market, and civil society in constitutional history / Mark Tushnet -- Constitutional history and the "cultural turn" : cross -- Examining the legal-reelist narratives of Henry Fonda / Norman L. Rosenberg -- Contributors