The Nordic Constitutions
This book analyses the Nordic constitutional systems of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in a comparative context. It has two main aims: first to fill a gap in the literature by providing an accessible English language account of the Nordic constitutions, and second to provide a comparative analysis of them, revealing their similarities and differences within their political, historical and cultural contexts. In this respect, the book challenges the assumption that the Nordic countries form a homogeneous constitutional system due to their cultural and historical affinities, a view not necessarily supported by a close comparative examination. A key issue is EU membership –where the Nordic countries have made different choices at different times – and the book will show how this has affected the individual countries and whether a divide between EU member states (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) and non-members (Iceland and Norway) has appeared. Another key issue is how the ECHR has impacted the Nordic constitutional systems and whether the convention draws the Nordic systems closer to each other. The book represents a first of its kind in the English language, and will provide constitutional scholars with a valuable comparative resource on the Nordic region.
Helle Krunke is Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.
August 2018 | 9781509910939 | 272pp | Hardback | RSP: £60
The Constitution of the United Kingdom
A Contextual Analysis
Peter Leyland
This acclaimed book provides a topical and contextual outline of the principles,doctrines and institutions that underpin the United Kingdom constitution. The third edition of The Constitution of the United Kingdom has been comprehensively revised and updated to take account of recent constitutional developments and debates. This includes: the revised framework for devolution following the 2014 referendum in Scotland, the constitutional ramifications of the realignment of UK politics reflected in the result of the 2015 general election and the debate over the possible replacement of the Human Rights Act 1998 with a British Bill of Rights.
The chapters are written in sufficient detail for anyone coming to the subject for the first time to develop a clear and informed view of how the constitution is arranged and how it operates. The main themes include: discussion of the history, sources and conventions of the constitution; later chapters deal with: constitutional principles, the role of the Crown, Parliament and the electoral system, government and the executive, the constitutional role of courts including the protection of human rights, the territorial distribution of power between central, devolved and local government, and the European Union dimension. In addition, the book offers analysis of the evolution of the uncodified UK constitution, its strengths and perceived weaknesses, and of reforms aimed at its modernisation.
Peter Leyland is Professor of Public Law at SOAS, University of London and Emeritus of London Metropolitan University.
June 2016 | 9781849469074 | 352pp | Paperback | RSP: £15.99
Discount Price: £12.79
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The Constitution of Romania
A Contextual Analysis
Bianca Selejan-Gutan
In December 1989, Romania became the last Eastern European communist country to break with its communist dictatorship, the most powerful in the region at the time. It has struggled ever since to overcome the transition to democracy and to become a ‘full-time’ member of the Western democratic community of states. This book provides a contextual analysis of the Romanian constitutional system, with references to the country’s troubled constitutional history and to the way in which legal transplantation has been used. The Constitution’s grey areas, as well as the gap between the written constitution and the living one, will also be explained through the prism of recent events that cast a negative shadow upon the democratic nature of the Romanian constitutional system.
The first chapters present a brief historical overview and an introduction to Romanian constitutional culture, as well as to the principles and general features of the 1991 Constitution. The chapters which follow explain the functioning of the institutions and their interrelations—Parliament, the President, the Government and the courts. The Constitutional Court has a special place in the book, as do local government and the protection of fundamental rights. The last chapter refers to the mechanisms and challenges of constitutional change and development.
Bianca Selejan-Gutan, PhD, is Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law, ‘Lucian Blaga’ University of Sibiu.
April 2016 | 9781849465137 | 296pp | Paperback | RSP: £24.99
Discount Price: £19.99
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The Constitution of Taiwan
A Contextual Analysis
Jiunn-rong Yeh
In addition to the economic miracle, with surprising growth in the 1970s and 1980s, Taiwan has further shown the world two others. One is the democratic miracle which brought about a silent revolution from notorious authoritarian regime to full democracy in Asia. Intertwined with that miracle is the constitutional one, in which political reform was undertaken in a constitutional manner and through constitutional means. Indeed, Taiwan’s transition to democracy was made possible by incremental constitutional revisions, courts responsive to changing dynamics, and a civil society engaged in the project of constitutional transformation. These changes ushered in the unprecedented development of a transitional and transnational constitutionalism.
This volume seeks to explain the drivers and context of these constitutional transformations. Democratisation, indigenisation and globalisation all drove the transformation of an externally imposed constitution into an internally embraced, vibrant constitution. The changes analysed in this volume include institutional shifts from a cabinet system to a semi-presidential one; from three parliaments to one; from manipulated central-local relations to a functional federalism; from a Constitutional Court that merely rubber-stamped to one that is responsive and supports social and political dialogues. More importantly, this volume details how a short list of constitutional rights has been transformed to a burgeoning rights-based discourse engaged by civil society.
Jiunn-rong Yeh is University Chair Professor at College of Law, National Taiwan University.
April 2016 | 9781849465120 | 288pp | Paperback | RSP: £24.99
Discount Price: £19.99
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