This book presents the main features of the Israeli constitutional system and offers a topical discussion of Israel's basic laws. It focuses on constitutional history and the peculiar decision to frame a constitution 'by stages.' Following its British heritage and the lack of a formal Constitution, Israel's democracy grew for more than four decades on the principle of parliamentary supremacy. Introducing a constitutional model and the concept of judicial review of laws, the 'constitutional revolution' of the 1990s started a new era in Israel's constitutional history. The book's main themes...

Singapore's Constitution was hastily drafted after secession from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965. In the subsequent 45 years, the Constitution has been amended many times to evolve like no other in the world. Outwardly, Singapore has a Westminster-type constitutional democracy, with an elected legislature, fundamental liberties, and safeguards to ensure the independence of the judiciary. On closer inspection, the Constitution displays many innovative and unusual characteristics. Most notable among them are the various types of Members of Parliament that have been introduced since the...

Romania was the last Eastern European communist country to break with the most powerful dictatorship in the region, in December 1989. It has struggled ever since to overcome the transition to democracy and to become a 'full-time' member of the Western democratic community of states. This book provides a contextual analysis of the Romanian constitutional system, with references to the country's troubled constitutional history and to the way in which legal transplantation has been used. The Constitution's grey areas, as well as the gap between the written constitution and the living one, will...

This is the second edition of Professor Mark Tushnet's excellent short critical introduction to the history and current meaning of the United States' Constitution. It is organized around two themes: first, the US Constitution is old, short, and difficult to amend. These characteristics have made constitutional 'interpretation' - especially by the US Supreme Court - the primary mechanism for adapting the Constitution to ever-changing reality. Second, the Constitution creates a structure of political opportunities that allows political actors, including political parties, to pursue the...

Taiwan is a tale of miracles in the 20th century: the economic miracle in the 1970s-1980s; the democratic miracle that brought about a silent revolution from a notorious authoritarian regime to a full democracy in Asia; and the constitutional miracle in which political reform was achieved through constitutional means. Indeed, Taiwan's transition to democracy was made possible by incremental constitutional revisions, courts responsive to changing dynamics, and a civil society engaged in the project of constitutional transformation. These changes ushered in the unprecedented development of a...

This volume provides a contextual account of Pakistan's constitutional laws and history. It aims to describe the formal structure of government in reference to origins that are traced to the administrative centralization and legal innovations of colonial rule. It also situates the tide of Muslim nationalism that gave rise to the nation of Pakistan within a terrain of nascent constitutionalism and its associated promises of representation. The post-colonial history of the Pakistani state is charted by reference to succeeding constitutions and the distribution of powers between the major...