Everything about Constitutionalism totally explained
constitutionalism-
n -s 1: the doctrine or system of government in which the governing power is limited by enforceable rules of law, and concentration of power is limited by various
checks and balances so that the basic rights of individuals and groups are protected 2: adherence to the principals of constitutionalism (Webster's Third New International Dictionary (unabridged))
The term
Constitutionalism refers to the position or practice that
government be limited by a
constitution, usually written. The document may specify its relation to statutes, treaties, executive and judicial actions, and the constitutions or laws of regional jurisdictions. The term may also refer to a movement or effort to enforce such a legal order, usually called constitutional compliance. Constitutionalism is also concerned with the
principles of constitutional design, which includes the principle that the field of public action be partitioned between
delegated powers to the
government and the
rights of individuals, each of which is a restriction of the other, and that no powers be delegated that are beyond the competence of government.
Examples
United States
In the
United States, a constitutionalist is a term referring to someone who advocates strict adherence to the
U.S. Constitution, and the term is often synonymous with
originalism. Constitutionalists are also called constitutional conservatives in the United States.
Poland
The
Constitution of May 3, 1791 is generally recognized as Europe's first and the world's second modern codified national constitution, following the 1787–90 ratification of the
United States Constitution. It was in effect for only a year.
The May 3rd Constitution was designed to redress long-standing political defects of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its traditional system of "Golden Liberty". The Constitution introduced political equality between townspeople and nobility (szlachta) and placed the peasants under the protection of the government,[4] thus mitigating the worst abuses of serfdom.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is perhaps the best instance of constitutionalism in a country that doesn't have a written constitution. A variety of developments in seventeenth-century England, including "the protracted struggle for power between
king and
Parliament was accompanied by an efflourescence of political ideas in which the concept of countervailing powers was clearly defined,"
led to a well-developed polity with multiple governmental and private institutions that counter the power of the state.
Constitutionalist was also a label used by some Independent candidates in
UK general elections in the early
1920s. Most of the candidates were former
Liberal Party members, and many of them joined the
Conservative Party soon after being elected. The best known Constitutionalist candidate was
Winston Churchill in the
1924 UK general election. (See the
Constitution of the United Kingdom.)
Dominican Republic
After the democratically elected government of president
Juan Bosch in the Dominican Republic was deposed, the Constitutionalist movement was born in the country. As opposed to said movement, the Anticonstitutionalist movement was also born. Juan Bosch had to depart to Puerto Rico after he was deposed. His first leader was Colonel Rafael Tomás Fernández Domínguez, and he wanted Bosch to come back to power once again. Colonel Fernández Domínguez was exiled to Puerto Rico where Bosch was. The Constitutionalists had a new leader:
Colonel Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó.
Other countries
In
1820 Constitutionalist
revolutions occurred in
Portugal and the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1906, constitutionalism was introduced in Iran.
External links and references
Further Information
Get more info on 'Constitutionalism'.
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