
Principles of Constitutional Design
Donald S. Lutz(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 29. May 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-0-521-06376-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book is written for anyone, anywhere sitting down to write a constitution. The book is designed to be educative for even those not engaged directly in constitutional design but who would like to come to a better understanding of the nature and problems of constitutionalism and its fundamental building blocks - especially popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. Rather than a 'how-to-do-it' book that explains what to do in the sense of where one should end up, it instead explains where to begin - how to go about thinking about constitutions and constitutional design before sitting down to write anything. Still, it is possible, using the detailed indexes found in the book, to determine the level of popular sovereignty one has designed into a proposed constitution and how to balance it with an approximate, appropriate level of separation of powers to enhance long-term stability.
Reviews / Votes
"What it does with admirable clarity and lucidity is examine the history of constitutional theories and theorists, and the problems that have exercised them." - The Law and Politics Book Review Wade Mansell, University of Kent, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
16 Tables, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
459 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-06376-0 (9780521063760)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Donald S. Lutz
Principles of Constitutional Design
E-Book
11/2006
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€38.49
Available for download
Person
Donald S. Lutz is a professor of political philosophy in the department of political science at the University of Houston, where he has been teaching since 1968. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. He is the author of eleven books, including Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History (1998), A Preface to American Political Theory, (1992), and The Origins of American Constitutionalism (1988), and numerous articles published in American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Publius: The Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, the Annals of Political Science and History, and Western Political Quarterly, among others.
Content
1. Constitutionalism - an initial overview and introduction; 2. Sovereignty; 3. Popular sovereignty; 4. The separation of powers; 5. Analyzing the interaction between popular control and separation of powers in the amendment process; 6. Matching a government to a people; 7. An overview of the constitutional design project; 8. An underlying constitutional logic - rational actors?