Constitutions and how they operate.

1. Constitutions and how they operate.

2. Contemporary constitutions may reflect • earlier frameworks adopted to modern circumstances (e.g Britain) OR • Deliberate acts of constituting a country and a government

3. Constitutions are found both in • Liberal democracies & in • Many, but not all, authoritarian systems

4. Impact or effect of constitutions depends on: • Willingness of elites and key groups in society to accept its limits -- e.g. • Executive • Political parties • Organized interests • The military • Willingness (and ability) of courts to ensure that it is followed

5. Components: • A preamble or statement of purpose • Sections defining the powers and prerogatives of institutions • Enumeration of citizens’ rights • An amending formula

6. Varieties: • Flexible v. rigid • Written v. unwritten • Presidential v. Parliamentary v. Semi-presidential • Unitary v. federal

7. Differences and similarities among • Britain • France • United States • Canada

8. Britain’s constitution: • Medieval institutions made modern (or more or less modern) • Consists of written and unwritten parts • Best described as an un-codified rather than an unwritten constitution

9. Written parts: • Basic constitutional settlements: • Magna Carta (1215) • Act of Union (1707) • Acts of Settlement (1689) • Ordinary laws: • First Reform Bill (1832) • Second Reform Bill (1867) • Third Reform Bill (1884) • Parliament Act of 1911 • Scotland Act (1997)

10. Unwritten parts of the British Constitution: • Conventions defining, among other things, • powers of the cabinet • Powers of the prime minister • relations between cabinet and prime minister • relations between cabinet and parliament • Example: must the government resign if it loses a vote in parliament?

11. Problems: • How do we know when a practice is or is not a convention of the constitution? • How different is Britain from other liberal democracies?

12. The United States • Constitution from 1787 • A short document – • 30-35 pages • 7 main articles • 27 amendments • Provides for • A presidential system with pronounced separation of powers • A federal system with all residual powers reserved for the states

13. Changes in the American constitution over time: • Democratization: from elite to mass-based politics • Growth in the power of the federal government: • The 19th c. vs. the 20th century state • Expansion and contraction of the power of the presidency

14. Sources of change: • Judicial review by the Supreme Court implied but not specified in the Constitution -- Established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803) • Practice and interpretation • Political parties and the ways in which they connect or fail to connect Congress and the Presidency

15. France: • Current constitution: Fifth Republic – from 1958 • Semi-presidential regime put in place by threatened military insurrection • Presidential powers implied but not directly granted. Yet: • Constitution modified through expansion in the powers of the presidency– via practice and usage • Constitution amended in 1962 by extra constitutional means (via an amending formula not specified in the constitution)

16. Canada • Oh Canada

17. Problem: • Why are some constitutions strictly adhered to while others are not? • Why are some countries able to agree on their constitutions while others are not able to do so? • What functions do constitutions serve in systems which are fundamentally authoritarian?