This handbook provides a toolbox of definitions and typologies to develop a theory of multilevel constitutionalism and subnational constitutions. The volume examines systems with subnational entities that have full subnational constituent autonomy and systems where subnational constituent powers, while claimed by subnational governments, are incomplete or non-existent. Understanding why complete subnational constituent power exists or is denied sheds significant light on the status and functioning of subnational constitutions. The book deals with questions of how constitutions at multiple levels of a political system can co-exist and interact. The term ‘multilevel constitutionalism’, recognized as explaining how a supranational European constitution can exist alongside those of the Member States, is now used to capture dynamics between constitutions at the national, subnational and, where applicable, supranational levels. Broad in scope, the book encompasses many different types of multi-tiered systems world-wide to map the possible meanings, uses and challenges of subnational or state constitutions in a variety of political and societal contexts. The book develops the building blocks of an explanatory theory of subnational constitutionalism and as such will be an essential reference for all those interested in comparative constitutional law, federalism and governance.

This handbook provides a toolbox of definitions and typologies to develop a theory of multilevel constitutionalism and subnational constitutions. The volume examines systems with subnational entities that have full subnational constituent autonomy and systems where subnational constituent powers, while claimed by subnational governments, are incomplete or non-existent. Understanding why complete subnational constituent power exists or is denied sheds significant light on the status and functioning of subnational constitutions. The book deals with questions of how constitutions at multiple levels of a political system can co-exist and interact. The term 'multilevel constitutionalism', recognized as explaining how a supranational European constitution can exist alongside those of the Member States, is now used to capture dynamics between constitutions at the national, subnational and, where applicable, supranational levels. Broad in scope, the book encompasses many different types of multi-tiered systems world-wide to map the possible meanings, uses and challenges of subnational or state constitutions in a variety of political and societal contexts. The book develops the building blocks of an explanatory theory of subnational constitutionalism and as such will be an essential reference for all those interested in comparative constitutional law, federalism and governance.

This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to, and enquiry into, the rules of Western Australia’s (WA) system of government. The WA Constitution is not well known or understood ― or even easy to identify ― and this book provides an essential guide. It brings academic expertise and careful scholarship to the exploration of sometimes complex constitutional issues in a way that will be invaluable for those with specialist interest in constitutional law and government while also being engaging and accessible for a wider audience. In doing so, it combines authorial expertise from constitutional law and political science — something essential to a well-rounded understanding of the simultaneously legal and political nature of a Constitution.

This collection presents an analysis of the concept of secession and its constitutional accommodation alongside an assessment of the effects of secession in constitutional and international law. The work proposes a new approach and insights into the existing literature that fill a gap from multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. The book approaches the topics of secession, constitutionalism, and their relationship from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, including the analysis of particular secessionist examples, such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Tigray, the Palestinian minority in Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Mapuche Nation, from a comparative constitutional perspective. Elucidating these issues from different methodological and conceptual perspectives produces novelties in the scientific and constitutional debate. The interplay between constitutions, constitutional law, and secession is indeed explored from philosophical, socio-legal, but also from strict constitutional law outlooks. Written by constitutional and public international law experts, the book will be of interest to students, academics, and researchers working in the areas of constitutional law, legal theory, theory of the state, philosophy of law, and political science.

This Handbook introduces scholars and students to the history, philosophy, and evidence of global constitutionalism. Contributors provide their insights from law, politics, international relations, philosophy, and history, drawing on diverse frameworks and empirical data sets. Across them all, however, is a recognition that the international order cannot be understood without an understanding of constitutional theory. The Handbook will define this field of inquiry for the next generation by bringing together some of the leading contemporary scholars.

This book offers a new theory of federalism. The work critically discusses traditional federal theories and builds on theories that focus on the dynamics of federalism. It offers a definition of federalism and federal organizations that encompasses both new and old types of multi-tiered system. Unlike traditional federal theory, it is well-suited to research both multinational and mononational systems. It also takes into account the complexity of these systems, with bodies of governance at the local, regional, national, and supranational level. The book is divided into three parts: the first part outlines the contours of dynamic federalism, based on a critical overview of traditional federal theory; the second part develops comprehensive indexes to measure autonomy and cohesion of multi-tiered systems; and the third part focuses on the dynamics of federal organizations, with a special focus on institutional hubs for change. Dynamic Federalism will be an essential resource for legal, social, economic, and political scholars interested in federalism, regionalism, and de/centralization.

Comparative constitutionalism has always been an important field of study. Recently it has gained new importance, and practical urgency, with the advent of new, emerging democratic governments. As part of the study of comparative constitutionalism, federal constitutional systems have also recently taken on a renewed interest. Russia and South Africa present fascinating current examples of emerging federal systems in which sub-national constitutions are beginning to play an important role. Within the field of comparative federal constitutional law, though, The study of state or sub-national constitutions is only now becoming a major focal point of worldwide interest. Sub-national constitutions have been, and generally remain, low-visibility constitutions. Studies of constitutional federalism have tended to be almost exclusively top-down looks at the national constitution and its federal features rather than a bottom-up look at the national constitutions themselves. A system of constitutional federalism cannot be fully understood without analyzing the constitutional arrangements within the constituent units. The marketplace For The constitutional ideas generated in the laboratories of states within the federal systems is rapidly expanding worldwide. There are several dozen bona fide federal political systems in the world, As well as unitary political systems that include federal arrangements. There is a range of general questions to be asked about the constitutions of states within any federal system. The contributions to this volume, In addition to their intrinsic interest, should serve as a database for answering those questions and describing the extraordinary diversity within and among sub-national constitutions in federal systems. Moreover, each of the contributions will include the texts of a number of representative sub-national constitutions. This Volume is also an integral part of Constitutional Law in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws series, ISBN 90-6544-944-2.