Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This Book explores whether constitutionalizing rights improves respect for those rights in practice. Drawing on global statistical analyses, survey experiments in Turkey and the U.S, and case studies in Colombia, Myanmar, Poland, Russia, and Tunisia, the book advances three claims. First, enshrining rights in constitutions does not automatically ensure that those rights will be respected. For rights to matter, rights violations need to be politically costly, which is the case when citizens punish the government for rights violations. Doing so, however, is often difficult to accomplish for unconnected groups of citizens. Second, some rights are easier to enforce than others. Specifically, some rights come with natural constituencies that can mobilize for their enforcement. This is the case for rights that are practiced by and within organizations, or "organizational rights," such as the rights to religious freedom, unionize, and form political parties. Because religious groups, trade unions and parties are highly organized, they are well-equipped to use the constitution to resist rights violations. As a result, these rights are systematically associated with better practices. By contrast, rights that are practiced on an individual basis, such as free speech or the prohibition of torture, often lack natural constituencies to enforce them, which makes it easier for governments to violate these rights. Third, even highly organized groups armed with the constitution may not be able to stop governments dedicated to rights-repression. When constitutional rights are enforced by dedicated organizations, they are thus best understood as speed bumps that slow down attempts at repression.

Civil rights. --- Civil rights --- Constitutional law. --- Interpretation and construction. --- Constitutional law --- Constitutional limitations --- Constitutionalism --- Constitutions --- Limitations, Constitutional --- Public law --- Administrative law --- Basic rights --- Civil liberties --- Constitutional rights --- Fundamental rights --- Rights, Civil --- Human rights --- Political persecution --- Interpretation and construction --- Law and legislation --- Civil rights - Interpretation and construction

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This volume analyses the social and political forces that influence constitutions and the process of constitution making. It combines theoretical perspectives on the social and political foundations of constitutions with a range of detailed case studies from nineteen countries. In the first part leading scholars analyse and develop a range of theoretical perspectives, including constitutions as coordination devices, mission statements, contracts, products of domestic power play, transnational documents, and as reflection of the will of the people. In the second part these theories are examined through in-depth case studies of the social and political foundations of constitutions in countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Israel, Argentina and others. The result is a multidimensional study of constitutions as social phenomena and their interaction with other social phenomena.

Constitutional law --- Constitutions. --- Associations, institutions, etc. --- Law --- Constitutional limitations --- Constitutionalism --- Constitutions --- Limitations, Constitutional --- Public law --- Administrative law --- Social aspects. --- Political aspects. --- Interpretation and construction --- General and Others --- Constitutional law - Social aspects --- Constitutional law - Political aspects

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Political sociology --- Politics