Los frenos del poder (Una introducción al principio de separación de poderes y al control de las instituciones en los sistemas constitucionales)

Author(s):  
Rafael JIMÉNEZ ASENSIO

LABURPENA: Lan hau laster argitaratuko den izenburu bereko ikerketa baten sarrera da: «Boterearen balaztak (botere-banaketa eta instituzioen kontrola sistema konstituzionaletan). Sarrera honetan, zuzenean, botere-banaketa ulertzeko bi ikuskera handi daudela planteatzen da. Lehenengoa, orekaren ideian oinarritua (edo «checks and balances») anglosaxoia da jatorriz, baina Estatu Batuetan bakarrik errotu zen; Ingalaterra, berriz, pixkanaka urrundu egin zen hasiera batean babestu zuen eredutik. Bigarrenak Frantziako Iraultzan du jatorria, non botere-banaketaren printzipioa aplikatu zen «formalki», nahiz eta benetan botereetako bat besteen gainetik egon zen beti. Botere-banaketaren printzipioaren inteligentzia desberdin horren ondorioak instituzioak kontrolatzeko sistemetan proiektatu ziren, eta bi eredu handi sortu ziren, nahiz eta hiru aldaera izan bakoitzak. Lan honetan, bilakaera horren oinarrizko elementuak marrazten dira, azalduz zein den alderdi politikoen egitekoa boterearen kontrolak diseinatzeko sistema instituzionalean, zein rol jakin hartuko duen jurisdikzio konstituzionalak Europan gabezia horietako batzuk zuzentzeko bitarteko gisa, eta nola ugaritu diren kontrol— eta arau-organoak, boterea kontrolatzeko bitarteko gisa (askotan bitarteko formala eta urria). RESUMEN: El presente trabajo es una Introducción a un Estudio que, titulado igualmente, «Los frenos del poder (separación de poderes y control de las instituciones en los sistemas constitucionales)» verá la luz próximamente. En esta Introducción se plantea directamente la existencia de dos grandes concepciones de entender el principio de separación de poderes. La primera, basada en la idea de equilibrio (o «checks and balances») es de origen anglosajón, pero arraigó solo en Estados Unidos, mientras que Inglaterra se fue distanciando de ese modelo inicial que había auspiciado. La segunda tiene su origen en la Revolución Francesa donde se llevó a cabo una aplicación «formal» del principio de separación de poderes, pero que en la práctica siempre supuso el dominio de uno de los poderes sobre los demás. Las consecuencias de esa distinta inteligencia del principio de separación de poderes se proyectaron sobre los sistemas de control institucional, dando lugar a dos grandes modelos, aunque con tres variantes. En el trabajo se dibujan los elementos básicos de esa evolución, mediante el papel que juegan los partidos políticos en el sistema institucional de diseño de controles del poder, el rol particular que adquirirá la jurisdicción constitucional en Europa como medio de subsanar algunas de esas carencias y la multiplicación de órganos de control y reguladores como medio (muchas veces formal e insuficiente) de controlar el poder. ABSTRACT: This work is and introduction to a study entitled “The brakes to power (separation of powers and control of the institutions in constitutional systems)” which will see the light soon. In this introduction it is directly suggested that two great conceptions of understanding the separation of powers exist. The first one, based on the idea of balance (or “check and balances”) is of anglosaxon origin but it only became ingrained in the United States, whereas England did separate from that original model that it had supported. The second one has its origin in the French Revolution where a formal application of the principle of separation of powers took place, but that in the practice it always meant a control of one power over the others. The consequences of this different comprehension of the principle of separation of powers did project on the systems of institutional control, resulting in two great models, although with three variants. In this work the basic elements of this evolution are drawn by means of the role played by political parties in the design of the institutional system of controlling the power, the particular role that will achieve the constitutional jurisdiction across Europe as a mean of addressing the lacks and the multiplication of bodies of control and regulation as means (many times formal and not sufficient) of controlling the power.

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-188
Author(s):  
Steven Gow Calabresi

This chapter looks at French judicial review. From the French Revolution of 1789 up until the adoption in 1958 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the Republic of France refused to tolerate any kind of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation. The traditional French view was that judicial power is oligarchic, opposed to progressive causes, and should be contained as much as possible. The 1958 French Constitution provides an elaborate system of checks and balances with its bicameral legislature consisting of the National Assembly and the Senate; with its division of the executive power between the president and the prime minister (who can be from opposite political parties); and with its increasing focus on decentralization. As such, just as federalism umpiring helped to give rise to judicial review in the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and India, so too did separation of powers umpiring help to give rise to judicial review in France. Judicial review in France was hugely expanded in 1971, for rights from wrongs reasons; in 1974, for insurance and commitment reasons; and in 2008, for borrowing reasons.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8335
Author(s):  
Jasmina Nedevska

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool as societies steer towards sustainable development. Although the litigation mainly takes place in domestic courts, the implications can be seen as global as specific climate rulings influence courts across national borders. However, while the phenomenon of judicialization is well-known in the social sciences, relatively few have studied issues of legitimacy that arise as climate politics move into courts. A comparatively large part of climate cases have appeared in the United States. This article presents a research plan for a study of judges’ opinions and dissents in the United States, regarding the justiciability of strategic climate cases. The purpose is to empirically study how judges navigate a perceived normative conflict—between the litigation and an overarching ideal of separation of powers—in a system marked by checks and balances.


Author(s):  
Steven Gow Calabresi

This introductory chapter discusses how judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation has usually emerged historically for a combination of four reasons. First, judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation is a response to a nation’s need for an umpire to resolve federalism or separation of powers boundary line disputes. The second main cause of the origins and growth of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation is what can be called the rights from wrongs hypothesis; judicial review very often emerges as a response to an abominable deprivation of human rights. The third major cause is the out-and-out borrowing of the institution of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation from either the United States’ model; the German Civil Law model; and, most recently, from the Canadian Second Look judicial review constitutional model. The fourth major cause is the existence of a system of checks and balances, which gives Supreme Courts and Constitutional Courts political space to grow in. Revolutionary charismatic constitutionalism can also lead to the growth of judicial review as Professor Bruce Ackerman has explained in an important new book, REVOLUTIONARY CONSTITUTIONS: CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP AND THE RULE OF LAW (2019).


Author(s):  
L. Sandy Maisel

‘The context of American elections and political parties’ explains the framework under which elections are run in the United States. This is laid out in the Constitution, which outlines the basic tenets of democracy in America. The most important aspects of that framework are the separation of powers, with a single executive separate from and elected separately from the legislature, and the federal system with residual powers left to the states. The electoral college system, unique to the United States, is a result of the initial decisions made at the time of the framing of the Constitution.


1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Budge ◽  
Richard I. Hofferbert

Political parties in the United States are usually regarded as too weak and decentralized, too much the prey of office-seeking politicians and special interests, to function effectively as programmatic., policy-effecting agents within the separation of powers. This has been taken as a serious flaw in the U.S. version of representative democracy, prompting cycles of proposed reform; criticisms of the existing set-up as a capitalistic sham; or alternative justifications of the system as pluralist rather than strictly party democracy. Our research challenges these assumptions by demonstrating the existence of strong links between postwar (1948–1985) election platforms and governmental outputs. Platforms' sentences, coded into one of 54 subject categories, are used as indicators of programmatic emphases and are related to corresponding federal expenditure shares. Resulting regression models demonstrate the full applicability of party mandate theory to the United States, and they operationalize its U.S. variants concretely.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-305
Author(s):  
Manuela Cárdenas Cifuentes

The figure of impeachment in the United States and that of muerte cruzada in Ecuador are two political figures created with a double purpose. The first, is to demonstrate that there is a clear division of powers in the governmental sphere; and second, to serve as a checks and balances mechanism that controls the actions of the public power, especially those of the president of the nation. As such, these figures have an important role because they seek to maintain democracy and political, social and economic stability of the countries involved. The problem that arises when trying to put these tools into practice is that they clash with the power of the strongest political parties. Thus, its effectiveness is put at risk and the doubt of its true usefulness arises. This article will focus on analyzing how effective these figures have been to remove presidents from office. To achieve that end, research will be conducted, first of all, to define both figures and find a useful meaning in their existence; later, it will analyze if there are cases in which these political figures have been tried to be applied and if they succeeded or failed and, finally, determine if the figures in these countries are truly political tools to control public power, or if they are only rhetorical figures that have no practical use since there are barriers to their real and effective application.


1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1175-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Kraynak

For the ancient philosophers, constitutionalism meant classifying regimes and constructing regimes to form virtuous citizens. In the modern world it generally means checks and balances, institutional mechanisms limiting the power of government and protecting private rights. In Democracy in America Tocqueville attempts to combine both views in his interpretation of the U.S. constitutional system. He employs the regime analysis of ancient constitutionalism to understand the new phenomenon of popular sovereignty and its potential for despotic control over the minds and characters of citizens. At the same time, he shows how the constitutional devices found in the United States—such as federalism, judicial review, and the separation of powers—can be adapted to inculcate a kind of moral virtue by teaching citizens to exercise liberty with moral responsibility and to govern themselves. The result is a constitutional theory that weaves ancient and modern principles into an original and coherent whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Da Ros ◽  
Matthew M. Taylor

Abstract It is often assumed that checks and balances are effective in curbing corruption, in part because checks and balances are so often assumed to be synonymous with the separation of powers. We argue that checks and balances are only one of several potential manifestations of the separation of powers. We suggest that the apparent correlation between checks and balances and control of corruption is driven by a variety of conditions antecedent to both. Using examples from Western democracies, we demonstrate that the concept of checks and balances is by itself an empty vessel, made effective only by “hard” factors such as the balance of political forces and “soft” factors such as the adherence of elites to particular behavioral norms. This does not mean that checks and balances cannot be useful, but rather that our assumptions about their precise utility may be misinformed: the relationship between checks and balances and curbing corruption is at best indirect.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Rebecca Padot

Results from a four state foster care administration field research study in the United States with over 55 key player interviews produced data on what particular networking practices public managers perform that contributes to foster care administration effectiveness.  One of these practices was the concept of inseparable powers, whereby the traditional checks and balances roles of the judicial, executive, and legislative branches are slightly altered in eras of state-level foster care administration effectiveness.  During a period of inseparable powers, effective public managers work across the state branch boundaries in the United States with partners from other branches to produce better foster care outcomes. 


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