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American constitutionalism remains this country's greatest contribution to human freedom. In American Constitutionalism Abroad, six distinguished historians, political scientists, and international law experts, discuss American constitutionalism in various regions of the world at different times and ...

American constitutionalism remains this country's greatest contribution to human freedom. In American Constitutionalism Abroad, six distinguished historians, political scientists, and international law experts, discuss American constitutionalism in various regions of the world at different times and within different contexts. By tracing the influence of the documents, procedures, and institutions that came into being within the United States during the founding period from 1776 to 1791, and by analyzing how they were received and perceived by constitutionmakers in other countries, it is possible to follow the spread of American constitutionalism through various parts of the world over time.

In Constitutional Revolutions Robert Justin Lipkin radically rethinks modern constitutional jurisprudence, challenging the traditional view of constitutional change as solely an extension or transformation of prior law. He instead argues for the idea of "constitutional revolutions" -- landmark ...

In Constitutional Revolutions Robert Justin Lipkin radically rethinks modern constitutional jurisprudence, challenging the traditional view of constitutional change as solely an extension or transformation of prior law. He instead argues for the idea of "constitutional revolutions" -- landmark decisions that are revolutionary because they are not generated from legal precedent and because they occur when the Constitution fails to provide procedures for accommodating a needed change. According to Lipkin, U.S. constitutional law is driven by these revolutionary judgments that translate political and cultural attitudes into formal judicial decisions.

Drawing on ethical theory, philosophy of science, and constitutional theory, Lipkin provides a progressive, postmodern, and pragmatic theory of constitutional law that justifies the critical role played by the judiciary in American democracy. Judicial review, he claims, operates as a mechanism to allow "second thought" or principled reflection, on thevalues of the wider culture. Without this revolutionary function, American democracy would be left without an institutional means to formulate the community's considered judgments about good government and individual rights. Although judicial review is not the only forum for protecting this dimension of constitutional democracy, Lipkin maintains that we would be wise not to abandon judicial review unless a viable alternative emerges.

Judges, lawyers, law professors, and constitutional scholars will find this book to be a valuable resource.

Despite the outpouring of works on constitutional theory in the past several decades, no general introduction to the field has been available. Stephen Griffin provides here an original contribution to American constitutional theory in the form of a short, lucid introduction to the subject for ...

Despite the outpouring of works on constitutional theory in the past several decades, no general introduction to the field has been available. Stephen Griffin provides here an original contribution to American constitutional theory in the form of a short, lucid introduction to the subject for scholars and an informed lay audience. He surveys in an unpolemical way the theoretical issues raised by judicial practice in the United States over the past three centuries, particularly since the Warren Court, and locates both theory and practices that have inspired dispute among jurists and scholars in historical context. At the same time he advances an argument about the distinctive nature of our American constitutionalism, regarding it as an instance of the interpenetration of law and politics.American Constitutionalism is unique in considering the perspectives of both law and political science in relation to constitutional theory. Constitutional theories produced by legal scholars do not usually discuss state-centered theories of American politics, the importance of institutions, behaviorist research on judicial decision making, or questions of constitutional reform, but this book takes into account the political science literature on these and other topics. The work also devotes substantial attention to judicial review and its relationship to American democracy and theories of constitutional interpretation.