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  • 1 - Constitutionalism and Effective Government
  • from Part I - Introduction
  • Edited by Vicki C. Jackson, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, Yasmin Dawood, University of Toronto
  • Book: Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?
  • Published online: 20 October 2022
  • Print publication: 27 October 2022, pp 3-20
  • View extract

    Summary

    In recent years, nations around the world have faced a veritable crisis of ineffective government. Basic governmental functions – preventing private violence, resolving disputes through lawful means, providing an infrastructure to enable people to meet their most elementary needs for shelter, nutrition, transportation, communication, education – go unmet. In some countries, these basic functions are met but longer-term governance issues languish, and government is perceived to be unresponsive in ways that some believe contribute to political backlashes, including those against minority groups. These failures in governance are also perceived to have contributed to a global upsurge in authoritarianism and a concomitant decline in democracy.1

    Moreover, the basic freedoms protected in many democratic constitutions – freedom from state-sanctioned torture and from punishment or coercion without fair process; freedom of expression, of religion, of movement; freedom from invidious discrimination; enjoyment of property without arbitrary government interference; free exercise of the suffrage – cannot exist, in an organized society, without government effective enough to control itself and its agents and otherwise to secure the protection of those rights.

  • 14 - Legislatures and Effective Government: Raising Expectations for Representatives
  • from Part VI - Legislatures, Representation, and Duties of Effective Self-Government
  • Edited by Vicki C. Jackson, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, Yasmin Dawood, University of Toronto
  • Book: Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?
  • Published online: 20 October 2022
  • Print publication: 27 October 2022, pp 181-192
  • View extract

    Summary

    Effective governance is necessary in a successful constitutional democracy. This is not to deny that a central animating force in a democracy must be respect for the human individual. But a government that is not effective and seen as such is not likely to be able to protect individual rights. It is thus a mistake to conceptualize individual rights simply as in conflict with the collective goals of a democratic government: those goals are effective governance and rights preservation, and – in a democracy – these two are connected.

    The framers of the US Constitution well understood that a constitutional state must act for public-regarding purposes – to “establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.” To the extent that it fails to move in these directions, government will lose the confidence of the people. Effective government in constitutional democracies requires effective legislatures to promote all of these purposes.

Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?
  • Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?
  • Edited by Vicki C. Jackson, Yasmin Dawood
  • Published online: 20 October 2022
  • Print publication: 27 October 2022
  • View description
    Nations around the world are facing various crises of ineffective government. Basic governmental functions—protecting rights, preventing violence, and promoting material well-being—are compromised, leading to declines in general welfare, in the enjoyment of rights, and even in democracy itself. This innovative collection, featuring analyses by leaders in the fields of constitutional law and politics, highlights the essential role of effective government in sustaining democratic constitutionalism. The book explores “effective government” as a right, principle, duty, and interest, situating questions of governance in debates about negative and positive constitutionalism. In addition to providing new conceptual approaches to the connections between rights and governance, the volume also provides novel insights into government institutions, including courts, legislatures, executives, and administrative bodies, as well as the media and political parties. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in constitutionalism, comparative law, governance, democracy, the rule of law, and rights.
  • Donald Kommers and Comparative Constitutional Law
  • Vicki C. Jackson
  • Journal: German Law Journal / Volume 20 / Issue 4 / May 2019
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2019, pp. 532-533
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