| Description |
280 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Introduction: Tales of Democracy and Law -- 1. Deliberative Trouble -- 2. Constitutional Principles without Constitutional Theories -- 3. Against Tradition -- 4. What Should Constitutions Say? Secession and Beyond -- 5. Impeaching the President -- 6. Democracy and Rights: The Nondelegation Canons -- 7. The Anticaste Principle -- 8. Homosexuality and the Constitution -- 9. Sex Equality vs. Religion -- 10. Social and Economic Rights? Lessons from South Africa -- Conclusion: Democracy's Constitution |
| Summary |
""In modern nations, political disagreement is the source of both the gravest danger and the greatest security," writes Cass Sunstein. All democracies face intense political conflict. But is this conflict necessarily something to fear? Confronting one explosive political issue after another, from presidential impeachment to the limits of religious liberty, from discrimination against women and gays to the role of the judiciary, Sunstein constructs a powerful new perspective from which to show how democracies negotiate their most divisive real-world problems. He focuses on a series of concrete concerns that go to the heart of the relationship between the idea of democracy and the idea of constitutionalism. Illustrating his discussion with examples from constitutional debates and court-cases in South Africa, Eastern Europe, Israel, America, and elsewhere, Sunstein takes readers through a number of highly charged questions: When should government be permitted to control discriminatory behavior by or within religious organizations? Does it make sense to govern on the basis of popular referenda? Can the right to have an abortion be defended? Can we defend Internet regulation? Should the law step in if children are being schooled in discriminatory preferences and beliefs? Should a constitution protect rights to food, shelter, and health care?" |
| Analysis |
Constitutional law |
|
Democracy |
|
Overseas item |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-260) and index |
| Subject |
Constitutional law.
|
|
Democracy.
|
| LC no. |
00069301 |
| ISBN |
0195145429 cloth alkaline paper |
|
0195158407 paperback |
|
