Borrowing Constitutional Designs (eBook)

Constitutional Law in Weimar Germany and the French Fifth Republic

Cindy Skach (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2011
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-3262-0 (ISBN)

Infos

After the collapse of communism, some thirty countries scrambled to craft democratic constitutions. Surprisingly, the constitutional model they most often chose was neither the pure parliamentary model found in most of Western Europe at the time, nor the presidential model of the Americas. Rather, it was semi-presidentialism--a rare model known more generally as the "e;French type."e; This constitutional model melded elements of pure presidentialism with those of pure parliamentarism. Specifically, semi-presidentialism combined a popularly elected head of state with a head of government responsible to a legislature. Borrowing Constitutional Designs questions the hasty adoption of semi-presidentialism by new democracies. Drawing on rich case studies of two of the most important countries for European politics in the twentieth century--Weimar Germany and the French Fifth Republic--Cindy Skach offers the first theoretically focused, and historically grounded, analysis of semi-presidentialism and democracy. She demonstrates that constitutional choice matters, because under certain conditions, semi-presidentialism structures incentives that make democratic consolidation difficult or that actually contribute to democratic collapse. She offers a new theory of constitutional design, integrating insights from law and the social sciences. In doing so, Skach challenges both democratic theory and democratic practice. This book will be welcomed not only by scholars and practitioners of constitutional law but also by those in fields such as comparative politics, European politics and history, and international and public affairs.

Autor

Cindy Skach is Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University, where she is also Faculty Associate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, the Davis Center for Russian Studies, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 11.2.2011
• Zusatzinfo: 15 line illus. 4 tables.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Politik / Gesellschaft
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Öffentliches Recht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Vergleichende Politikwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: abdication • Adolf Hitler • Alfred Stepan • Algerian war • Archie Brown • Arend Lijphart • Article 48 (Weimar Constitution) • Cabinet (government) • Cambridge University Press • Centre-left politics • Centre-right politics • Civil Society • Coalition Government • Cohabitation (government) • Communist Party of Germany • Constitution • constitutional crisis • Constitutional Dictatorship • constitutional law • Constitution of France • Countersignature • David Blackbourn • Decree • Democracy • democratic consolidation • democratic deficit • Democratization • Dictatorship • Dieter Nohlen • direct election • Election • Franz von Papen • French Fifth Republic • Friedrich Ebert • Gaullism • Georges Pompidou • German Democratic Party • German National People's Party • Giovanni Sartori • Governing (magazine) • Government • Gustav Stresemann • Hans Mommsen • Head of government • head of state • Independent politician • Institution • Jacques Chirac • Jean-Marie Le Pen • Karl Dietrich Bracher • Klaus von Beyme • Konrad Adenauer • left-wing politics • Legislation • Legislature • liberal democracy • Lionel Jospin • Louis Henkin • majority • majority government • Mark von Hagen • marsha • minority government • Motion of no confidence • Nazi Party • Oxford University Press • parliament • parliamentary system • Party System • Paul Pierson • Paul von Hindenburg • Political Campaign • political class • Political Party • Political Science • Politics • Politics of France • Politique • Prerogative • Presidential System • President of France • President of Germany (1919–45) • proportional representation • prussia • Referendum • Regime • Representative Democracy • Roger Myerson • semi-presidential system • Social Democracy • Social Democratic Party of Germany • state of emergency • State (polity) • supermajority • Veto • Voting • voting system • Weimar Coalition • Weimar Constitution • Weimar Republic
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-3262-4 / 1400832624
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-3262-0 / 9781400832620