scholarly journals Prelude to the Separation of Powers

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.W. Barber

THIS article examines the doctrine of separation of powers, and attempts to defend the validity of a diversity of different conceptions of the doctrine. It also links separation of powers to efficiency, arguing that at the core of every manifestation of the doctrine is the efficient allocation of function to form. The structure of the courts and legislature are examined, and it is argued that that a link can be drawn between these institutions and the legislative and judicial task. The relationship between political theory and constitutional theory is also discussed.

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harrison P Frye

Untangling the relationship of law and liberty is among the core problems of political theory. One prominent position is that there is no freedom without law. This article challenges the argument that, because law is constitutive of freedom, there is no freedom without law. I suggest that, once properly understood, the argument that law is constitutive of freedom does not uniquely apply to law. It also applies to social norms. What law does for freedom, social norms can do too. Thus, I claim the question facing us is not the easy one of either law or social norms. Respecting this draws attention to the unique risks to our freedom introduced by both sets of norms.


Author(s):  
Mathew D. McCubbins ◽  
Daniel B. Rodriguez

This article discusses the judiciary and the role of law. It talks about the implications of the approach for issues in statutory interpretation, and then examines the relationship between the legal and political controls of bureaucracy. The last section in the article focuses on the implications for judicial independence within the larger separation-of-powers system. The emerging literature on Positive Political Theory (PPT) further stresses the political nature of legal decision-making and the dynamic relationship among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 661-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerio Fabbrizi

The renewed interest on political realism can offer a new reading of the traditional dichotomy between normative and realist conception of constitutionalism. The purpose of this article is to analyse this renewed discussion, especially by focusing on the relationship between “political realism” and “political constitutionalism,” in the light of some theorists and authors—such as Richard Bellamy and Jeremy Waldron. After a brief introduction in which political realism will be discussed, especially through Bernard Williams’ reinterpretation, the article proposes a rereading of democratic constitutionalism from the classical dichotomy between normativism and realism in political theory. The focus will be set on three key issues: 1. Richard Bellamy’s constitutional theory in a realist perspective; 2. An insight of legal constitutionalism under a normative banner; 3. A brief conclusion in which the risks of a majoritarian and populist constitutionalism will be discussed.


2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Donald Morrison

The fundamental concepts of Socratic political theory are statesmanship or the art of politics, and the good of the city. Important scholars have denied that, on Socrates’ view, statesmanship as such is possible. But Socratic intellectualism does not commit him to the view that the methods of politics, such as legislation and punishment, are useless. The Socratic tradition in political theory is rich and varied. Among the dimensions of variation are: the relationship between statesmanship and other arts of rule; what are the limits of reasonable human ambition; and the relationship between the well-being of the city and the well-being of its parts. At the core of Socratic moral and political theory is a commitment to choose what is truly good. Varieties of Socratic value theory arise from the different ways in which this commitment is interpreted, and the range of realms to which it is applied.


Author(s):  
Roberto Mancilla

Abstract Many of the basic concepts of political science and law were conceived during the Middle Ages, but were not adapted to the current times. The purpose of this study is to address this incongruity by incorporating ideas of cybernetics and complexity theory with political and constitutional theory in order to reconstitute it. In this process, the author offers a basic model of human sociability and alternative frameworks to the idea of the state, the constitution and the way it is applied in the separation of powers, the public/private distinction and constitutionalism.


2019 ◽  
pp. 246-256
Author(s):  
A. K. Zholkovsky

In his article, A. Zholkovsky discusses the contemporary detective mini-series Otlichnitsa [A Straight-A Student], which mentions O. Mandelstam’s poem for children A Galosh [Kalosha]: more than a fleeting mention, this poem prompts the characters and viewers alike to solve the mystery of its authorship. According to the show’s plot, the fact that Mandelstam penned the poem surfaces when one of the female characters confesses her involvement in his arrest. Examining this episode, Zholkovsky seeks structural parallels with the show in V. Aksyonov’s Overstocked Packaging Barrels [Zatovarennaya bochkotara] and even in B. Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago [Doktor Zhivago]: in each of those, a member of the Soviet intelligentsia who has developed a real fascination with some unique but unattainable object is shocked to realize that the establishment have long enjoyed this exotic object without restrictions. We observe, therefore, a typical solution to the core problem of the Soviet, and more broadly, Russian cultural-political situation: the relationship between the intelligentsia and the state, and the resolution is not a confrontation, but reconciliation.


Author(s):  
А.В. Мацук

В статье исследуются события бескоролевья 1733 г. в Речи Посполитой. Согласно «трактату Левенвольде» компромиссным кандидатом на избрание монархом Речи Посполитой был португальский инфант дон Мануэль, которого предложила Австрия. Россия больше склонялась к кандидатуре «пяста». Россия оказалась не подготовленной к началу бескоролевья. Бывшие российские союзники магнаты ВКЛ рассорились с российским послом Фридрихом Казимиром Левенвольде и перешли на сторону Франции. В конце февраля 1733 г. в ВКЛ направили Юрия Ливена, который от имени российской царицы предложил поддержку в получении короны Михаилу Вишневецкому и Павлу Сангушке. Принятое на конвокационном сейме решение об избрании королем «пяста» и католика показало популярность Станислава Лещинского. В результате вслед за Австрией Россия поддержала кандидатом на корону Фридриха Августа. Магнаты ВКЛ до последнего оставались конкурентами о короне. Оппозиция Лещинскому объединилась под лозунгом защиты «вольного выбора» и поэтому в ней остались кандидаты «пясты», которые не могли уступить друг другу, и согласились на компромисс – кандидатуру Фридриха Августа. Для противодействия возможному избранию Лещинского Россия создала в ВКЛ новоградскую конфедерацию. Ее организатором стал новоградский воевода Николай Фаустин Радзивилл. Эта конфедерация становится основой Генеральной Варшавской конфедерации, которая 5 октября 1733 г. избирает королем саксонского курфюрста. The article examines the events of the «kingless» year of 1733 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. According to the Levenwolde Treaties the compromise candidate for the Commonwealth’s throne was the Portuguese Infante Don Manuel, who’s candidacy was proposed by Austria. Russia, in turn, leaned towards the «pyasta» candidate. The Russian Empire was clearly unprepared for the start of the kingless period. Russia’s former allies – magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – came into conflict with the Russian ambassador Frederick Kazimir Levenwolde and sided with France. In late February of 1733, Empress Anna Ioanovna of Russia sent Yuri Liven to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who offered official support in the struggle for the crown to Mikhail Vishnevetsky and Pavel Sangushka. The electoral decision made at the Sejm proved the popularity of the «pyast» and Catholic candidates, specifically – Stanislaus Leschinsky. In turn, Russia – following Austria – showed its support for the candidacy of Frederick August. The magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained in opposition in the crown issue until the very last. Opposition to Leschinsky was united under the motto of «free choice». For that reason, it was comprised of «pyasta» candidates, who were in a deadlock with one another, and were now ready for the compromise candidacy of Frederick Augustus. In order to counter the possible election of Leschinsky, Russia created the Novograd Confederation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was organized by the Novograd Voevoda Faustin Radzivill. This confederation became the core of the General Warsaw Confederation that – on October 5th 1733 – elected the Saxon King to the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.


Author(s):  
Peter Lake ◽  
Michael Questier

This volume revisits the debates and disputes known collectively in the literature on late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England as the ‘Archpriest Controversy’. We argue that this was an extraordinary instance of the conduct of contemporary public politics and that, in its apparent strangeness, it is in fact a guide to the ways in which contemporaries negotiated the unstable later Reformation settlement in England. The published texts which form the core of the arguments involved in this debate survive, as do several caches of manuscript material generated by the dispute. Together they tell us a good deal about the aspirations of the writers and the networks that they inhabited. They also allow us to retell the progress of the dispute both as a narrative and as an instance of contemporary public argument about topics such as the increasingly imminent royal succession, late Elizabethan puritanism, and the function of episcopacy. Our contention is that, if one takes this material seriously, it is very hard to sustain standard accounts of the accession of James VI in England as part of an almost seamless continuity of royal government, contextualized by a virtually untroubled and consensus-based Protestant account of the relationship between Church and State. Nor is it possible to maintain that by the end of Elizabeth’s reign the fraction of the national Church, separatist and otherwise, which regarded itself or was regarded by others as Catholic had been driven into irrelevance.


Author(s):  
Hannah Woolaver

This chapter explores the interaction between domestic and international law in relation to the state’s engagement with treaties. Treaty engagements are important mechanisms through which states conduct their foreign relations. The domestic allocation of responsibility for the making and unmaking of treaties is therefore a significant question of the constitutional separation of powers in the realm of foreign relations law. Treaties are also international legal instruments, facilitating the development of international law and international institutions. The domestic and international law of treaties therefore both concurrently regulate the state’s power to join and leave treaties. This chapter examines the relationship between these two bodies of law in this regard, setting out developments in domestic jurisdictions establishing constitutional limits on the executive’s power to enter and exit treaties, and addresses the possible impact of these constitutional developments in the international law of treaties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109963622199386
Author(s):  
Tianshu Wang ◽  
Licheng Guo

In this paper, a shear stiffness model for corrugated-core sandwich structures is proposed. The bonding area is discussed independently. The core is thought to be hinged on the skins with torsional stiffness. The analytical model was verified by FEM solution. Compared with the previous studies, the new model can predict the valley point of the shear stiffness at which the relationship between the shear stiffness and the angle of the core changes from negative correlation to positive correlation. The valley point increases when the core becomes stronger. For the structure with a angle of the core smaller than counterpart for the valley point, the existing analytical formulations may significantly underestimate the shear stiffness of the structure with strong skins. The results obtained by some previous models may be only 10 persent of that of the present model, which is supported by the FEM model.


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