This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Vile, J. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Three Kinds of Constitutional Founding and Change: The Convention Model and Its Alternatives

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY

Constitutional regimes may be divided into three types, the Single Lawgiver Model, the Immemorial Customs and Usages Model, and the Constitutional Convention Model. Each type provides for change differently. The first type of constitution, common in ancient regimes, is typically founded by a single individual, justified by divine authority, and difficult to change. The second model, with less discrete beginnings, claims to be the product of the distilled wisdom of time and experience. While in some such systems, the legislature is technically sovereign and the constitution is therefore quite "flexible," typically change proceeds quite slowly, and major changes may prove difficult to accommodate. In the third model, a constitutional convention writes a constitution superior to ordinary legislation and provides for formal changes in discrete increments. This model, formulated in America, has not been instituted in pure form, and shares characteristics of the other two. The overlap among these models continues to explain and influence modem debates about constitutional change.

Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 4, 881-895 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/106591299304600411


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?