This book is written for anyone, anywhere sitting down to write a constitution. The book is designed to be educative for even those not engaged directly in constitutional design but who would like to come to a better understanding of the nature and problems of constitutionalism and its fundamental building blocks - especially popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. Rather than a 'how-to-do-it' book that explains what to do in the sense of where one should end up, it instead explains where to begin - how to go about thinking about constitutions and constitutional design before sitting down to write anything. Still, it is possible, using the detailed indexes found in the book, to determine the level of popular sovereignty one has designed into a proposed constitution and how to balance it with an approximate, appropriate level of separation of powers to enhance long-term stability.

This book sets forth a philosophy of constitutional design.

About the Author
Donald S. Lutz is a professor of political philosophy in the department of political science at the University of Houston, where he has been teaching since 1968. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. He is the author of eleven books, including Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History (1998), A Preface to American Political Theory, (1992), and The Origins of American Constitutionalism (1988), and numerous articles published in American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Publius: The Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, the Annals of Political Science and History, and Western Political Quarterly, among others.

Reviews
"What it does with admirable clarity and lucidity is examine the history of constitutional theories and theorists, and the problems that have exercised them." - The Law and Politics Book Review Wade Mansell, University of Kent, UK



Book Information
ISBN 9780521063760
Author Donald S. Lutz
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 438g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 17mm