Constitutional Democracy Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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A constitutional democracy is a form of representative, democratic governance, in which the constitution, or rule of law, is supreme. This type of democracy is premised on the doctrine of the separation of powers, resulting in a system of checks and balances. The separation of powers manifests through the constitutional authority that each branch of government exercises in checking and balancing the other branches of government. A constitutional democracy normally consists of three largely independent branches; the functions of each, however, do not operate in complete exclusivity. The executive branch is responsible for the administrative implementation of legislation; the legislature enacts and amends laws; and the judiciary interprets, and applies, the law based on precedence and legislative statutes. Each branch may be elected or appointed.

Constitutional democracies may be unitary, federal, or confederal, but most states are unitary. Unitary states are constitutionally governed as one single unit with authority stemming from a single legislature. In a unitary state, there may be sub governmental units, but they are created and abolished by the central government. Any powers that subgovernmental units hold are granted and amended by the central government without the need for formal agreement from the subgovernmental units—a process known as devolution. A devolved state is unitary in nature, but the subgovernmental units have a great deal of autonomous decision-making authority, much like federal systems. Nevertheless, the subgovernmental units do not have any constitutional authority to override national legislation or to protect the powers they have been granted.

Federal governments consist of a central or national government alongside other autonomous legislatures, such as state or provincial governments. These different levels of government are constitutionally recognized, with constitutionally enshrined legislative distribution of sovereignty. Areas of jurisdiction can be exclusive or concurrent, depending on the requirements laid out in the constitution. Classical federalism mandates that the levels of government are equal; there is no imbalance between the jurisdictional authorities of each level. In this way, the central government normally retains exclusive jurisdiction over matters that are of relevance to the nation as a whole, while the provincial or state governments deal with issues that are localized or regional in nature. However, this rarely occurs because federal constitutions are usually biased in favor of one level of government. Confederal states are rare and mirror federal governments quite closely in structure, albeit with most authority vested in peripheral government bodies, while the central government holds little power.

Centralization occurs when the majority of authority lies with the national government, whereas decentralization describes a system where the subnational legislative bodies hold significant jurisdictional powers. Asymmetrical federalism occurs when the different levels of government have imbalanced degrees of jurisdictional authority. Fiscal federalism stems from the devolution of power over revenue sources divided among the different levels of government, including management of any fiscal imbalances among governments.

If a legislative body acts outside of its jurisdictional authority, it is beyond the legal scope of the constitution, while legislation or statutes that are within jurisdiction are within this power. However, there are residual powers to consider in a federal system. These residual powers are areas of authority not explicitly assigned in the constitution, which are comprehensively granted to one level of government.

In federal systems, there may be additional orders of government, such as local governments, but these are usually not given explicit constitutional jurisdiction. Instead, they are often creatures of the subnational governments, serving the needs and interests of specific cities, communities, or neighborhoods. Powers may include taxation and other limited autonomy granted by the constitutionally recognized levels of government.

Some federations are multinational in scope, including national minority populations within the federation. Canada is an especially useful example of a multinational state, most notably with regard to its francophone and indigenous peoples. Very basically, in the provincial context of Quebec, extensive autonomous governing authority, rooted in historical and cultural distinctiveness, has been recognized and ensured to protect Francophone culture. While the same progress is not evident for indigenous peoples in Canada, there has been implied judicial and explicit governmental acknowledgment of Aboriginal governance. While the Canadian constitution does not explicitly lay out a third order of Aboriginal governance, as would have been the case had the 1992 Charlottetown Accord been successfully ratified by the Canadian public, several governance agreements have been implemented, or are currently being negotiated, including some jurisdictional authority for indigenous communities.

Bibliography:

Bakvis, Herman, and Grace Skogstad, eds. Canadian Federalism: Performance, Effectiveness, and Legitimacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Dalton, Jennifer E. “Aboriginal Self-Determination in Canada: Protections Afforded by the Judiciary and Government.” Canadian Journal of Law and Society 21, no. 1 (2006): 11–38.
Murphy,Walter F. Constitutional Democracy: Creating and Maintaining a Just Political Order. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Rocher, François, and Miriam Smith, eds. New Trends in Canadian Federalism, 2nd ed. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2003.
Watts, Ronald L. Comparing Federal Systems, 2nd ed. Kingston, Ont.: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen’s University, 1999.