The Distorting Lens of Convergent Constitutional Theory

Name: The Distorting Lens of Convergent Constitutional Theory
Brand: Bloomsbury Publishing (AUS)
Price: 132.95 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

By: Peter Cane

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Hardcover | 24 July 2025

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Format
Hardcover

Dimensions(cm)
23.4 x 15.6

Hardcover

RRP $160.00

$132.95

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Available: 24th July 2025

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This book challenges the near-universal acceptance of a US-style, Western constitutional paradigm as the best basis for comparative constitutional studies. It does so on three main grounds: anachronism, âotheringâ and cultural specificity.

Main pillars of âconvergent constitutional theoryâ are rooted in the revolutionary, late-eighteenth century â" a lost world; constitutional arrangements that deviate from the paradigm are often branded as âoutliersâ or even as not constitutional at all; and the foundations of the paradigm in liberal democracy give no space for other forms of constitutionalism. Whatever the attractions of convergent theory as a normative ideal of good government, for the purposes of understanding, analysing and explaining constitutional systems it is far from ideal.

This book discusses and questions the convergent theoryâs weddedness:
To writing as the technology of constitution-making; its image of a constitution as fundamental law
Its idea that constitutionalism rests on âsovereignty of the peopleâ
Its use of tripartite separation of powers as the basic principle of institutional design
Its relative neglect of administrative law
Its association of ârightsâ with judicially enforceable bills of rights; and
Its obsession with a rather unspecified concept of âdemocracyâ.

It makes suggestions for alternative, preferable methods of understanding, analysing and explaining constitutions, and governmental and constitutional systems.

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