Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Democratizing Constitutional Law

Perspectives on Legal Theory and the Legitimacy of Constitutionalism

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Editors:
  1. Thomas Bustamante

    1. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerai, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Bernardo Gonçalves Fernandes

    1. Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerai, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Defines an ideal-type for the equilibrium and the cooperation of powers, with the aim of legitimizing the discourse about rights
  • Discusses the solutions and strategies adopted by several jurisdictions
  • Examines the practical implications of institutional designs and decision process for constitutional courts

Part of the book series: Law and Philosophy Library (LAPS, volume 113)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Thomas Bustamante, Bernardo Gonçalves Fernandes
    Pages 1-10

  4. Constitutional Dialogues and Constitutional Deliberation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Decoupling Judicial Review from Judicial Supremacy

      • Stephen Gardbaum
      Pages 93-118

    3. Scope and Limits of Dialogic Constitutionalism

      • Roberto Gargarella
      Pages 119-146

    4. A Defence of a Broader Sense of Constitutional Dialogues Based on Jeremy Waldron’s Criticism on Judicial Review

      • Bernardo Gonçalves Fernandes
      Pages 147-164

  6. Constitutional Promises and Democratic Participation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 231-231
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Is There Such Thing as a Radical Constitution?

      • Vera Karam de Chueiri
      Pages 233-246

    3. Judicial Reference to Community Values – A Pointer Towards Constitutional Juries?

      • Eric Ghosh
      Pages 247-271

  7. Legal Theory and Constitutional Interpretation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 273-273
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Common Law Constitutionalism and the Written Constitution

      • Wil J. Waluchow, Katharina Stevens
      Pages 275-291

    3. On How Law Is Not Like Chess – Dworkin and the Theory of Conceptual Types

      • Ronaldo Porto Macedo Jr.
      Pages 293-324
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This volume critically discusses the relationship between democracy and constitutionalism. It does so with a view to respond to objections raised by legal and political philosophers who are sceptical of judicial review based on the assumption that judicial review is an undemocratic institution. The book builds on earlier literature on the moral justification of the authority of constitutional courts, and on the current attempts to develop a system on “weak judicial review”. Although different in their approach, the chapters all focus on devising institutions, procedures and, in a more abstract way, normative conceptions to democratize constitutional law. These democratizing strategies may vary from a radical objection to the institution of judicial review, to a more modest proposal to justify the authority of constitutional courts in their “deliberative performance” or to create constitutional juries that may be more aware of a community’s constitutional morality than constitutional courts are.  The book connects abstract theoretical discussions about the moral justification of constitutionalism with concrete problems, such as the relation between constitutional adjudication and deliberative democracy, the legitimacy of judicial review in international institutions, the need to create new institutions to democratize constitutionalism, the connections between philosophical conceptions and constitutional practices, the judicial review of constitutional amendments, and the criticism on strong judicial review.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Universidade Federal de Minas Gerai, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Thomas Bustamante

  • Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerai, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Bernardo Gonçalves Fernandes

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation