Public Law and Democracy in the United Kingdom and the United States of America

by P. P. Craig

Overview

This study brings the fruits of writings in political science and political theory to bear on the issues of public law. A critical examination of the centralist democratic views of Dicey is followed by an extensive discussion of a variety of pluralist theories of democracy, tracing their development in the U.S. from the early twentieth century to their more sophisticated recent versions. A similar analysis is applied to a cross-section of English pluralists, and in all cases the discussion is followed by criticism of the views expounded and an exploration of their implications for public law. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of public law, political science and political theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198256373
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/14/1991
Series:	Clarendon Law Series
Pages:	454
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.81(h) x 1.28(d)

About the Author

Worcester College, Oxford

Table of Contents

1.	Introduction
1.	Two Themes	1
@a.	The 'Minor' Theme	1
@b.	The 'Major' Theme	3
2.	Two Countries	9
2.	Dicey: Unitary, Self-Correcting Democracy and Public Law
1.	Introduction	12
2.	Sovereignty: Legislative Omnicompetence and Constitutional Law	13
3.	Sovereignty: Legislative Monopoly and Administrative Law	19
4.	The Traditional Vision of Constitutional Law: Appearance and Reality	30
@a.	Support for the Diceyan View	30
@b.	The Internal Coherence of Dicey's Argument	33
@c.	The Reality of Constitutional Power	39
5.	The Traditional Vision of Administrative Law: Strains and Tensions	47
6.	Conclusion	52
3.	Pluralist Democracy, Groups, and Process: USA (I)
1.	Introduction	56
2.	Pluralist Thought in the United States	57
@a.	Madison: Pluralist or not?	57
@b.	Modern Pluralism	58
@c.	Elitism, Behaviouralism, and Elite Pluralism	67
@d.	The Critique of Pluralism and Elite Pluralism	75
4.	Pluralist Democracy, Groups, and Process: USA (II)
1.	Model One: The Public-Choice Model	80
@a.	A Summary	80
@b.	Constitutional Implications of the First Model	81
@c.	The Public-Choice Model: A Critique	83
2.	Model Two and Model Three: A Summary	90
3.	Ely and Constitutional Law	91
@a.	The Theory	91
@b.	The Substance within Process	97
4.	The Second Model and the Focus of Constitutional Review	99
5.	The Viability of the Third Model	106
6.	Pluralism and Process: The Dilemma	113
7.	Administrative Law	116
@a.	Pluralism, Delegation, and Interest Representation	116
@b.	Pluralism and Administrative Law: Criticism and Uncertainty	124
@c.	Pluralism and Administrative Law: Some Reflections	134
5.	Pluralism, Process, and Substance: UK (I)
1.	Introduction	137
2.	Early Pluralist Thought	140
3.	The Corporatist Challenge	148
4.	The Free Market, the Strong State, and Modern Pluralism	153
5.	Conclusion	158
6.	Pluralism, Process, and Substance: UK (II)
1.	Introduction	159
2.	Pluralism and Process	160
@a.	Participation and the Common Law	160
@b.	Participation: Two Arguments for the Status Quo	162
@c.	Participation, Constitutional Structure, and Pluralism	166
@d.	Participation: Voting, Rule-Making, and Adjudication	173
@e.	The Two Visions of Pluralism and the Limits of Participation	179
@f.	Process, Substance, and Hard Look	182
@g.	Reinforcing the Legislative Process?	187
3.	Pluralism, Rights, and Public Law	192
@a.	The Nature and Application of Rights	193
@b.	The Content of Rights	196
7.	Constitutional Reform and Democracy: UK
1.	Introduction	208
2.	The Rationale for Constitutional Change	208
3.	The Nature of Constitutional Reform: Rights, Legitimacy, and Accountability	211
@a.	The Content of Constitutional Rights	213
@b.	Legitimacy, Accountability, and Constitutional Reform	218
4.	Constitutional Reform: The Impact of the EC	223
@a.	The EC and Legal Sovereignty	224
@b.	The EC, Political Sovereignty, and Democracy	227
@c.	The EC: Conclusion	233
5.	Constitutional Reform: The Impact of Nationalism	234
@a.	The Movement for Reform	234
@i.	The nationalist arguments	235
@ii.	The economic and administrative arguments	237
@b.	Constitutional Consequences of Reform	240
6.	Conclusion	243
8.	Liberalism: The Right, The Good, and the Scope of Public Law (I)
1.	Introduction	245
2.	Rawls's Theory of Justice	247
@a.	The Priority of the Right over the Good	247
@b.	The Determination of the Right: Method	249
@c.	The Determination of the Right: Content	250
@d.	The Relationship between the Right and the Good	255
3.	Public Law within Ideal Theory	259
@a.	Equal Liberties	259
@i.	Conflicts between liberties	259
@ii.	Political liberties and fair value	261
@iii.	The limits of legislation	263
@iv.	The role of judicial review	265
@b.	Fair Equality of Opportunity and the Difference Principle	269
@i.	The conceptual basis of the second principle	270
@ii.	The institutional basis of the second principle	271
@iii.	The legal implications of the second principle	272
@iv.	The role of judicial review	273
4.	Public Law within Non-Ideal Theory	276
@a.	The Degree of Economic Development	276
@b.	Departures from Justice	277
@c.	The Role of the Courts	279
@i.	Civil disobedience and the law	279
@ii.	Constitutional review and non-ideal theory	279
9.	Liberalism: The Right, The Good, and The Scope of Public Law (II)
1.	Introduction	284
2.	The Radical Critique: Indeterminacy and Inconsistency	284
3.	The Limits of Legislative Action: Liberalism's Conception of the Person	290
@a.	The Concept of the Person and the Second Principle of Justice	290
@b.	The Concept of the Person and the First Principle of Justice	293
@c.	Problems and Tensions	296
4.	The Limits of Legislative Action: Liberalism and Neutrality	301
@a.	'Rival Justices, Competing Rationalities'	302
@b.	Two Conceptions of Neutrality: 1. Foundational Neutrality	304
@i.	The nature of the problem	304
@ii.	An individualistic bias?	306
@iii.	Neutrality, primary goods, and the concept of the person	309
@c.	Two conceptions of Neutrality: 2. Internal Neutrality	312
@i.	The uncontested ground	312
@ii.	The contested ground	314
5.	Conclusion	316
10.	Republicanism, Civic Virtue, and Participatory Democracy
1.	Introduction	317
2.	Republicanism: Historical Foundations	318
@a.	Self-Government, Political Association, and Civic Virtue	318
@b.	Republicanism: Virtue under Stress	323
3.	Republicanism and the US Constitution	328
@a.	Independence	328
@b.	The Constitution	331
4.	Republicanism and Modern US Public Law	334
5.	The Republican Revival: Normative Assessment	340
@a.	Deliberation and the Public Good: The Dilemma of the Legislator	340
@b.	Republican Rights and Distributive Justice: The Position of the Legislator	343
@c.	Republican Rights and Distributive Justice: The Role of the Courts	346
@i.	The rationale for a republican interpretation	346
@ii.	The content of constitutional rights (1)	349
@iii.	The content of constitutional rights (2)	351
6.	The Republican Revival: Institutional Realization	357
@a.	Continuity and Change in Republican Thought	358
@b.	Institutional Realization: Dilemmas and Future Prospects	363
11.	Participatory Democracy: The Radical View
1.	Introduction	366
2.	Two Visions of Participatory Democracy	367
@a.	'Strong Democracy'	367
@b.	'Empowered Democracy'	370
@i.	The explanatory theory	370
@ii.	Social reconstruction and empowered democracy	372
3.	Normative Foundations	379
@a.	Strong Democracy: Base without Base?	379
@b.	Empowered Democracy: Structure Without Structure?	382
@i.	The limits of transformation	382
@ii.	Superliberalism	385
@iii.	Institutional realization	389
4.	Public Law Within Participatory Democracy	391
@a.	The Radical Critique of Constitutional Law Theory	392
@b.	The Critique of Traditional Administrative Law Theory	393
@c.	An Assessment of the Radical Critique	396
@d.	Strong Democracy and Public Law	398
@i.	Constitutional law	398
@ii.	Administrative law	400
@e.	Empowered Democracy and Public Law	407
@i.	Constitutional law and immunity rights	407
@ii.	Constitutional law, administrative law, and destabilization rights	411
@iii.	Administrative law and the economic regime	414
5.	Conclusion	414
	Bibliography	417
	Index	437

Editorial Reviews

"Impressive....Extensive in its coverage....The documentation is excellent."—Choice

From the Publisher