Book Review: Making Sense of Constitutional Monarchism in Post-Napoleonic France and Germany . By Markus J. Prutsch . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. viii+333. $95.00 (original) (raw)
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Historia Constitucional, 2015
Could monarchical claims for personal government be realistically reconciled with the legacy of the Revolution? This dilemma of the post-Napoleonic age gave rise to the concept of a genuinely 'monarchical' form of constitutional rule in Europe, which distinguished itself not only from absolutism and revolutionary constitutionalism, but also British parliamentarianism. Focusing on Germany and the states of Bavaria and Baden in particular, this article examines constitutional debates after 1814, and especially the role of the French Charte constitutionnelle as the prototype of 'constitutional monarchism'. Its role in the making of post-1814 German constitutions is highlighted with a view to assessing the Charte's actual significance vis-à-vis other potential models, and identifying parallels as well as dissimilarities between the constitutional systems in France and the German states. In result, the paradigmatic role of the Charte for (Southern) German constitutionalism is confirmed; yet at the same time, fundamental differences are discernible with regard not only to the role monarchical-constitutional orders played in different national contexts, but also their status within longterm political developments in different countries.
JMEH 15,2, 2017
This article proposes a comparative perspective on the role of constitutions in European political cultures from 1814 to c.1835. Through its analysis of constitutions first as a means to legitimising post-revolutionary monarchies, and secondly as a means to integrating the divided societies in France, Great Britain as well as the German states, this article suggests two major results: 1) Constitutions were a central instrument that was imagined by post-revolutionary European societies in order to open up an «evolutionary» path to political progress and thereby finally «end» or «prevent» further revolutionary changes. 2) The major challenges to constitutional integration were posed by the emergence of competing political groups that often demanded a strengthening of certain parts of the constitutions or their further reform. The problems, which were faced by almost all political actors regarding the acceptance of these new imperatives of party politics and the different constitutional «solutions» that they had developed to meet these challenges, provide explanations for the different constitutional paths that were taken by Great Britain, the German states and France during the early 1830s. In Great Britain, a common constitutionalist language enabled a precarious understanding amongst the competing groups, whereas anti-pluralist constitutional conceptions led to constitutional instability in France and even damaged the very idea of constitutional integration in Germany thus benefitting a «unification first»-approach in the German states.
Last issue of the Journal of Constitutional History dedicated to the executive power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic), edited by Michel Troper and Elsa Marguin-Hamon giornale di storia costituzionale n. 28 / II semestre 2014 journal of constitutional history n. 28 / II semester 2014 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République) / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic) 5 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République). Une révolution achevée ? / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic). An accomplished revolution? elsa marguin-hamon 11 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République). Introduction / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic). Introduction michel troper Fondamenti 19 Le dualisme de l’Exécutif sous la Révolution française / Dualism of the Executive under the French Revolution arnaud le pillouër 33 L’accès aux archives des présidents de la République française: retour sur quelques idées reçues… / Access to the Archives of the Presidents of the French Republic: Truth and Tales jean-charles bédague 39 Le dualisme de l’Exécutif ou les archives du chef du Gouvernement / Dualism of the Executive or Archives of the Prime Minister vivien richard 43 La responsabilité du chef de l’État / The French President’s Responsibility marcel morabito 51 L’émergence du pouvoir réglementaire / The birth of Regulatory Power guillaume glénard 67 Exécutif et pouvoir réglementaire. La collection authentique des lois et décrets conservée aux Archives nationales, lieu caché d’un pouvoir réglementaire du roi? / Executive Power and Regulatory Power. Authentic collection of laws and decrees preserved in the National Archives, a hidden regulatory power of the king? martine sin blima-barru Itinerari 77 Les relations extérieures, «domaine réservé » du pouvoir exécutif? / External Relations, “reserved Domain” of the Executive Power? virginie martin 93 Les relations extérieures, domaine réservé du pouvoir exécutif ? La réponse des contemporains face aux enjeux de la documentation administrative et des archives diplomatiques du Comité diplomatique et du Comité de salut public / External relations, reserved Domain of the Executive Power? Answer of contemporaries compared with administrative documentation and diplomatic archives of the Diplomatic Committee and Committee of Public Safety martine sin blima-barru 99 L’article 16 et les antagonismes constitutionnels issus de la Révolution / The 16th Article and constitutional antagonisms since the Revolution françois saint-bonnet 111 Le pouvoir exécutif et la Justice en France, l’échec du Pouvoir judiciaire sous la Révolution / The Executive Power and the Justice in France, the failure of the Judiciary Power under the Revolution jean-louis halpérin 123 Entre Exécutif et Judiciaire: quelques mots sur les archives du ministère de la Justice / Between Executive and Judiciary Powers: few words about the Records of the French Ministry of Justice cyprien henry 127 Démocratie et Pouvoir exécutif dans les constitutions révolutionnaires. Du pouvoir exécutif au gouvernement / Democracy and Executive Power in Revolutionary Constitutions. From the Executive Power to the Government michel troper Ricerche 137 A proposito di cameralismo e polizia: da Federico il Grande ai giorni nostri / On cameralism and police: from Frederick the Great to nowadays pierangelo schiera 153 I diritti dei prussiani tra costituzione, legislazione e amministrazione (1850-1870) / The Rights of the Prussians between Constitution, Law and Government (1850-1870) anna gianna manca Testi & Pretesti 187 Diritto e romanzo nel secolo della borghesia. Le Colonel Chabert di Honoré de Balzac / Law and novel in the bourgeoisie century. Le Colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac aldo mazzacane Librido 217 Diciotto proposte di lettura / Eighteen reading proposals 229 Autori / Authors 231 Abstracts
Constitutional Politics in Postwestphalian Europe
The modern European state is increasingly the subject of not only normal political critique and contestation, but of contestation in constitutional terms. The questioning of the modern constitutional state -i.e. a unit that joins territory, jurisdiction, and citizenry -has set in a few decades ago, and in some cases this process is now accelerating due to the recent global economic crisis. Whereas in the post-1945 period, territorial governance was firmly embedded in the national constitutional order, in recent times the fundamental linkage between territorial governance and the nationstate, including its dominant modes of governance, are increasingly contested. What is novel and significant, is that contestation is frequently using the language of constitutionalism. Main assumptions of modern constitutionalism are being questioned: the state as ultimate constitutional arbiter; the nation-state as the 'natural' territorial unit for governance; the constitutional order as a closed legal and expert system. The project will comparatively investigate distinct trajectories of constitutional change, and, more importantly, the different forms of constitutional politics, in a number of European countries. Constitutional politics is engaged with by a variety of actors, some of whom make innovative proposals for pluralistic, participatory, or even cosmopolitan, constitutional orders. In the last two decades, a cross-disciplinary debate has started to address new forms of constitutionalism as well as multi-level governance. The focus is, however, on novel forms of post-state constitutionalism -for instance, regarding international lex mercatoria, human rights regimes, and supranational governance -as well as on sub-national constitutionalism and non-state legal regimes. There is, however, a glaring absence of systematic and comparative reflections on, and analyses of, the way in which constitutionalism itself is being contested by a variety of actors as well as the object of proposals for (radical) change. What is more, no systematic work has been done on potential shifts in the understanding of constitutionalism or the emergence of innovative views.
giornale di storia costituzionale n. 28 / II semestre 2014 journal of constitutional history n. 28 / II semester 2014 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République) / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic) 5 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République). Une révolution achevée ? / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic). An accomplished revolution? elsa marguin-hamon 11 Le pouvoir exécutif en France (Révolution/ Vème République). Introduction / The Executive Power in France (Revolution/Fifth Republic). Introduction michel troper Fondamenti 19 Le dualisme de l’Exécutif sous la Révolution française / Dualism of the Executive under the French Revolution arnaud le pillouër 33 L’accès aux archives des présidents de la République française: retour sur quelques idées reçues… / Access to the Archives of the Presidents of the French Republic: Truth and Tales jean-charles bédague 39 Le dualisme de l’Exécutif ou les archives du chef du Gouvernement / Dualism of the Executive or Archives of the Prime Minister vivien richard 43 La responsabilité du chef de l’État / The French President’s Responsibility marcel morabito 51 L’émergence du pouvoir réglementaire / The birth of Regulatory Power guillaume glénard 67 Exécutif et pouvoir réglementaire. La collection authentique des lois et décrets conservée aux Archives nationales, lieu caché d’un pouvoir réglementaire du roi? / Executive Power and Regulatory Power. Authentic collection of laws and decrees preserved in the National Archives, a hidden regulatory power of the king? martine sin blima-barru Itinerari 77 Les relations extérieures, «domaine réservé » du pouvoir exécutif? / External Relations, “reserved Domain” of the Executive Power? virginie martin 93 Les relations extérieures, domaine réservé du pouvoir exécutif ? La réponse des contemporains face aux enjeux de la documentation administrative et des archives diplomatiques du Comité diplomatique et du Comité de salut public / External relations, reserved Domain of the Executive Power? Answer of contemporaries compared with administrative documentation and diplomatic archives of the Diplomatic Committee and Committee of Public Safety martine sin blima-barru 99 L’article 16 et les antagonismes constitutionnels issus de la Révolution / The 16th Article and constitutional antagonisms since the Revolution françois saint-bonnet 111 Le pouvoir exécutif et la Justice en France, l’échec du Pouvoir judiciaire sous la Révolution / The Executive Power and the Justice in France, the failure of the Judiciary Power under the Revolution jean-louis halpérin 123 Entre Exécutif et Judiciaire: quelques mots sur les archives du ministère de la Justice / Between Executive and Judiciary Powers: few words about the Records of the French Ministry of Justice cyprien henry 127 Démocratie et Pouvoir exécutif dans les constitutions révolutionnaires. Du pouvoir exécutif au gouvernement / Democracy and Executive Power in Revolutionary Constitutions. From the Executive Power to the Government michel troper Ricerche 137 A proposito di cameralismo e polizia: da Federico il Grande ai giorni nostri / On cameralism and police: from Frederick the Great to nowadays pierangelo schiera 153 I diritti dei prussiani tra costituzione, legislazione e amministrazione (1850-1870) / The Rights of the Prussians between Constitution, Law and Government (1850-1870) anna gianna manca Testi & Pretesti 187 Diritto e romanzo nel secolo della borghesia. Le Colonel Chabert di Honoré de Balzac / Law and novel in the bourgeoisie century. Le Colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac aldo mazzacane Librido 217 Diciotto proposte di lettura / Eighteen reading proposals 229 Autori / Authors 231 Abstracts
European Constitutional Ideas and the Rise of Authoritarianism
Constitutional theory has recently shown renewed interest in Kantian principles of cosmopolitanism, including, in foreign relations, absence of war between states, and protection of universal rights in individual legal systems. From this principled perspective, this paper examines European constitutionalism, a unique but imperiled mixture of supranational and national legal structures. First, it presents three Kantian concepts, constitutionalism, federalism and world citizenship, as driving principles towards the progress of civilization and peaceful coexistence of nations. Second, between realism and utopianism, the paper argues that the post Second World War European constitutionalism qualifies as a real progress narrative, in that it has made cooperative constitutional justice accessible. Finally, the paper classifies divergent responses to the current European crisis: a theoretical approach from Habermas and two different cases of the United Kingdom and Hungary. It argues that there is no democratic path back to sovereign nation states; that way lies only authoritarianism.