Introduction

The Political Constitution—A Genealogy This book defends the superior merits of a political constitution of a democratic kind compared to those of a legal constitution of a liberal hue. Political constitutionalism locates the constitution in the character and design of the political system and the modus operandi of its component political processes.1 Though the approach predates democracy, the form defended here emphasizes the role of democratic mechanisms—such as the electoral system, party competition, the interaction of different parliamentary chambers, and the balance between central and local government—and of the political actors empowered and controlled by them, in securing such standard liberal constitutional goals as the upholding of individual rights, the rule of law, legal and political equality, and the constraint of arbitrary rule by the executive and administration. As such, it can be contrasted with a liberal form of legal constitutionalism, which identifies the constitution with a codified and entrenched written document with the status of ‘higher law’, and allots the upholding of the aforementioned constitutional goals to legal institutions and actors, such as the judges on a constitutional or supreme court, who are responsible for its interpretation and application.