Overview

This volume focuses on constitutional ratification, the procedure in which a draft constitution is submitted by its creators to the people or their representatives in an up or down vote determining implementation. Ratification is increasingly common and routinely recommended by experts. Nonetheless, it is neither neutral nor inevitable. Constitutions can be made without it and when it is used it has significant effects. This raises the central question of the book: should ratification be recommended? Put another way: is there a reason for treating the procedure as a default for the constitution-making process? Surprisingly, these questions are rarely asked. The procedure's worth is assumed, not demonstrated, while ratification is generally overlooked in the literature. In fact, this is the first sustained study of ratification. To address these oversights, this book defines ratification and its types, explains the procedure's effects, conceptual origins, and history, and then concentrates on finding reasons for its use. Specifically, it builds up and analyzes the three most likely normative justifications. These urge the implementation of ratification because the procedure: enables the constituent power to make its constitution; fosters representation during constitution-making; or helps create a legitimate constitution. Ultimately, these justifications are found wanting, leading to the conclusion that ratification lacks a convincing, context-independent justification. Thus, until new arguments are developed, experts should not give recommendations for ratification as a matter of course, practitioners should not reach for it uncritically, and-more generally-one should avoid the blanket application of concepts from democratic theory to extraordinary contexts such as constitution-making.

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9780198852346

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In his new book, Constitutional Ratification Without Reason, Jeffrey Lenowitz carefully addresses the fundamental normative questions related to the practice of constitutional ratification. His response to the basic question of whether ratification is normatively necessary for a constitutional system is refreshingly original and poses an impressive challenge to the dominant approaches in the field. Overall, the book presents a first-rate argument in every way, especially reflective of the value of Jeffrey's approach to political theory. * Jack Knight, Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Political Science, Duke University * Constitutional Ratification Without Reason is one of the most illuminating books I've read in years about the deep conundra surrounding the notion of constitutional legitimacy in an age that valorizes popular sovereignty. Lenowitz's skepticism especially about purported popular ratification of an already-drafted constitution is persuasive and should have great impact on both theoretical discussions and the actualities of constitutional formation. * Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair and Professor of Government, University of Texas Law School *

Author Information

Jeffrey A. Lenowitz is the Meyer and W. Walter Jaffe Assistant Professor of Politics at Brandeis University, where he researches and teaches political theory. He received his doctorate from the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and held a Prize Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He is also a faculty member of the History of Ideas Program at Brandeis.

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