Ebook: The Politics of Constitutional Reform in North America: Coping with New Challenges

In October 1999, some fifteen academic experts and government practitio­ ners from Germany and North America gathered for two days at the Uni ver­ sity of Augsburg to discuss the topic of "Constitutional Reform and Consti­ tutional Jurisprudence in Canada and the United States." The present volume documents the results of that conference, a collaborative effort of the De­ partment of Political Science, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Institute for Canadian Studies, University of Augsburg. In organizing this workshop, we were guided by two basic sets of ideas and assumptions: First, all "established" democracies are regularly confron­ ted with the need to adjust their constitutional order to changes in their envi­ ronment lest democratic stability be transformed into rigidity; in many wes­ tern nations, including Canada and the United States, developments such as the crisis of the Keynesian welfare-state or the emergence of increasingly heterogeneous, postmodern societies have ushered in an era of heightened, yet not always successful constitutional reform activity. Secondly, however, there is no unique path towards, or model of, an "optimal" constitutional order, however defined; rather, constitutional reform processes, their under­ Iying normative principles and their outcomes are strongly path and context­ dependent. Therefore, the participants of the workshop and authors of this volume were asked to examine the specific preconditions, context, nature and impact of recent constitutional reform processes in the Uni ted States and Canada.

---

Inhalt
Thema des englischsprachigen Bandes sind Verfassungspolitik und-reform in den USA und Kanada. Untersucht werden die Institutionen derLegislative und Exekutive, Föderalismus, Haushalts- und Minderheitenpolitikund die Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit. The book examines context,preconditions, nature and impact of recent constitutional reform processes inthe United States and Canada. Contents: Constitutional Reform -Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives Rainer-Olaf Schultze,Constitutional Reform as Process Petra Dobner, Constitutionalismand the Transformation of the State Constitutional Governance -Institutional Structures, Actors and Policy Fields Changes in the Legislative andExecutive Branches R. Kent Weaver, The Politics ofInstitutional Reform in Canada and the United States Steffen Schneider, ParliamentaryGovernment in Canada: Institutional Stability and Constitutional Reform inthe Legislative and Executive Branches Trends in Federalism andIntergovernmental Relations Roland Sturm, Federalism andConstitutional Politics: A Theoretical Perspective Timothy J. Conlan, CourtingDevolution: The U.S. Supreme Court and Contemporary American Federalism Harvey Lazar/John McLean,Non-Constitutional Reform and the Canadian Federation: The Only Game in Town Budgeting and ConstitutionalPolitics Markus M. Müller, Regulation,Taxation or Inaction? Budgetary Politics, Institutional Reform and American¶Judicialism¶ Allan Maslove, Canadian FederalBudgeting: Imaginative Responses and Troublesome Confusions Minorities and ConstitutionalPolitics Michael Dreyer, Race, Gender,Sexual Orientation - Minorities and the Supreme Court Peter H. Russell, Canada - APioneer in the Management of Constitutional Politics in a Multi-nationalSociety Constitutional Jurisprudence -Does it Stimulate or Prevent Reform? Martin Edelman, Change is aSometimes Thing: Constitutional Jurisprudence in the United States Martin Thunert, The CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms: Product and Catalyst of Socio-Politi