The author weaves a fascinating and intricate causal account ... this is a clearly written and painstakingly researched book. In addition to its substantive findings, it is also of methodological interest ... essential reading for any understanding of contemporary European democracy.

Democratization

This is an informative and impressively wide-ranging and cross-disciplinary analysis that deserves a warm welcome as an important addition to the literature on political and constitutional theory

Political Studies

A bold and provocative study ... a timely and challenging treatment of a topic of great importance in contemporay Europe.

West European Politics

Governing with Judges elaborates a theory of constitutional politics, the process through which the discursive practices and techniques of constitutional adjudication come to structure the work of governments, parliaments, judges, and administrators. Focusing on the cases of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the European Union, the book examines the sources and consequences of the pan-European movement to confer constitutional review authority on a new governmental institution, the constitutional court. Detailed case studies illustrate how and to what extent legislative processes have been placed under the influence of constitutional judges. In a growing number of policy domains, these judges function as powerful, adjunct legislators. As constitutional courts have consolidated their position as authoritative interpreters of the constitutional law, and especially of human rights provisions, the work of the judiciary, too, has gradually been constitutionalised. Today, ordinary judges seek to detect violations of the constitution in their application of the various codes, and to rewrite statutes that they deem unconstitutional. Constitutional politics have not only provoked the demise of traditional notions of parliamentary sovereignty, they have organized profound transformations in the very nature of European governance. Stone Sweet argues that constitutional adjudication constructs complex causal linkages between rule systems and normativity, on the one hand, and the strategic behaviour of individuals, on the other. The theory constitutes a novel synthesis of normative and rational approaches to politics. The book also addresses central questions raised by a wide range of ongoing theory projects, including the 'new institutionalism,'rational choice, principal-agent theories of delegation, and the new constitutionalism in Continental legal theory.
Les mer
A comparative study written by a social scientist on the topic of European constitutional courts, and their role in protecting human rights and defending new democratic institutions. This book traces the enormous impact of these courts on both legislative and judicial processes and outcomes, and explains why this impact continues to expand.
Les mer
1. Governing with Judges ; 2. Constitutional Adjudication and Parliamentary Democracy ; 3. Legislating ; 4. Protecting Rights ; 5. The Politics of Judging ; 6. Constructing a Supranational Constitution ; 7. Theory of Constitutional Politics
Les mer
`A bold and provocative study ... a timely and challenging treatment of a topic of great importance in contemporay Europe.' West European Politics `This is an informative and impressively wide-ranging and cross-disciplinary analysis that deserves a warm welcome as an important addition to the literature on political and constitutional theory' Political Studies `For those of us who study judges, this is a book that is well worth the reading.' Donald W Jackson, The Law and Politics Book Review. Vol.10, No.8.
Les mer
This is the first comparative book on European constitutional courts, and the new constitutionalism, written by a social scientist. The book elaborates a theory that synthesizes key insights of rational choice and normative approaches to politics ... the question of if and how one might do so has been the central problem of the new institutionalism The book examines the impact of constitutional courts on both legislating and judging in five polities, including four national cases plus the EU.
Les mer
Alec Stone Sweet is Official Fellow in Politics, Chair in Comparative Government, Nuffield College, Oxford University.
This is the first comparative book on European constitutional courts, and the new constitutionalism, written by a social scientist. The book elaborates a theory that synthesizes key insights of rational choice and normative approaches to politics ... the question of if and how one might do so has been the central problem of the new institutionalism The book examines the impact of constitutional courts on both legislating and judging in five polities, including four national cases plus the EU.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198297710
Publisert
2000
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
370 gr
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
155 mm
Dybde
14 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
248

Forfatter

Biographical note

Alec Stone Sweet is Official Fellow in Politics, Chair in Comparative Government, Nuffield College, Oxford University.