Constitutionalism in Transformation: European and Theoretical Perspectives (Political Studies Special Issues) - Tapa blanda

The manifest shortcomings of totalitarian regimes of left and right has meant that constitutional democracy is now seen as the sole legitimate political system. However, a number of its fundamental principles, such as the sovereignty of the people and the universality of its supporting rights, are now being called into question by the combined effects of international globalization and multi-culturalism. This volume explores a number of aspects of the resulting transformation of constitutions. Particular attention is paid to the impact of recent constitutional debates in West and East Europe, the constitutional implications of the European Union, the continued viability of the American model of political constitution, and the importance of understanding constitutions in institutional, not simply legal normative, terms.

Richard Bellamy has taught at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and East Anglia and currently holds the established Chair of Politics at the University of Reading. His publications include Modern Italien Social Theory (1987), Liberalism and Modern Society (1992) and (with Darrow Schecter) Gramsci and Italien State 91993). He has edited numerous collections of essays, most recently (with V. Bufacchi and D. Castiglione) Democracy and Constitutional Culture in the Union Europe (1995) and Constitutionalism, Democracy and Sovereignty: American and European Perspectives (1996). Dario Castiglione is Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Exeter; and has been Visiting Research Fellow at the RSSS (ANU) and visiting Scholar at ZERP (Bremen). His research interests lie in the history of political philosophy and theories of civil association, on which he has published in both English and Italien. Recent edited works include (with Lesley Sharpe) Shifting the Boundaries, The Transformation of Languages of Public and Private in the Eighteenth Century (1995) and (with R. Bellamy and V. Bufacchi) Democracy and Constitutional Culture in the Union of Europe (1995).