Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?
How should constitutional design respond to the opportunities and challenges raised by ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural differences, and do so in ways that promote democracy, social justice, peace and stability? This is one of the most difficult questions facing societies in the world today.

There are two schools of thought on how to answer this question. Under the heading of "accommodation", some have argued for the need to recognize, institutionalize and empower differences. There are a range of constitutional instruments available to achieve this goal, such as multinational federalism and administrative decentralization, legal pluralism (e.g. religious personal law), other forms of non-territorial minority rights (e.g. minority language and religious education rights), consociationalism, affirmative action, legislative quotas, etc. But others have countered that such practices may entrench, perpetuate and exacerbate the very divisions they are designed to manage. They propose a range of alternative strategies that fall under the rubric of "integration" that will blur, transcend and cross-cut differences. Such strategies include bills of rights enshrining universal human rights enforced by judicial review, policies of disestablishment (religious and ethnocultural), federalism and electoral systems designed specifically to include members of different groups within the same political unit and to disperse members of the same group across different units, are some examples.

In this volume, leading scholars of constitutional law, comparative politics and political theory address the debate at a conceptual level, as well as through numerous country case-studies, through an interdisciplinary lens, but with a legal and institutional focus.
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Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?
How should constitutional design respond to the opportunities and challenges raised by ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural differences, and do so in ways that promote democracy, social justice, peace and stability? This is one of the most difficult questions facing societies in the world today.

There are two schools of thought on how to answer this question. Under the heading of "accommodation", some have argued for the need to recognize, institutionalize and empower differences. There are a range of constitutional instruments available to achieve this goal, such as multinational federalism and administrative decentralization, legal pluralism (e.g. religious personal law), other forms of non-territorial minority rights (e.g. minority language and religious education rights), consociationalism, affirmative action, legislative quotas, etc. But others have countered that such practices may entrench, perpetuate and exacerbate the very divisions they are designed to manage. They propose a range of alternative strategies that fall under the rubric of "integration" that will blur, transcend and cross-cut differences. Such strategies include bills of rights enshrining universal human rights enforced by judicial review, policies of disestablishment (religious and ethnocultural), federalism and electoral systems designed specifically to include members of different groups within the same political unit and to disperse members of the same group across different units, are some examples.

In this volume, leading scholars of constitutional law, comparative politics and political theory address the debate at a conceptual level, as well as through numerous country case-studies, through an interdisciplinary lens, but with a legal and institutional focus.
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Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?

Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?

Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?

Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation?

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Overview

How should constitutional design respond to the opportunities and challenges raised by ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural differences, and do so in ways that promote democracy, social justice, peace and stability? This is one of the most difficult questions facing societies in the world today.

There are two schools of thought on how to answer this question. Under the heading of "accommodation", some have argued for the need to recognize, institutionalize and empower differences. There are a range of constitutional instruments available to achieve this goal, such as multinational federalism and administrative decentralization, legal pluralism (e.g. religious personal law), other forms of non-territorial minority rights (e.g. minority language and religious education rights), consociationalism, affirmative action, legislative quotas, etc. But others have countered that such practices may entrench, perpetuate and exacerbate the very divisions they are designed to manage. They propose a range of alternative strategies that fall under the rubric of "integration" that will blur, transcend and cross-cut differences. Such strategies include bills of rights enshrining universal human rights enforced by judicial review, policies of disestablishment (religious and ethnocultural), federalism and electoral systems designed specifically to include members of different groups within the same political unit and to disperse members of the same group across different units, are some examples.

In this volume, leading scholars of constitutional law, comparative politics and political theory address the debate at a conceptual level, as well as through numerous country case-studies, through an interdisciplinary lens, but with a legal and institutional focus.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780199535415
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 06/09/2008
Pages: 496
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Sujit Choudhry holds the Scholl Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where is Associate Dean. He has written widely on comparative constitutional law and constitutional theory. His previous books include The Migration of Constitutional Ideas (Cambridge University Press) and Dilemmas of Solidarity (University of Toronto Press).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Integration, Accommodation and the Agenda of Comparative Constitutional Law, Sujit ChoudhryPart I: Setting the Stage1. Integration or accommodation? The enduring debate in conflict regulation, John McGarry, Brendan O'Leary and Richard Simeon2. The internationalization of minority rights, Will Kymlicka3. Does the world need more Canada? The politics of the Canadian model in constitutional politics and political theory, Sujit Choudhry4. Beyond the dichotomy of universalism and difference: four responses to cultural diversity, Alan Patten5. Groups and constitutionalism in divided societies: a dynamic approach to the design of democratic institutions, Richard H. PildesPart II: Case Studies6. Indonesia's quasi-federalist approach: accommodation amidst strong integrationist tendencies, Jacques Bertrand7. Integrationist and accommodationist measures in Nigeria's constitutional engineering: successes and failures, John Boye Ejobowah8. The limits of constitutionalism in the Muslim world: identity and narration in Islamic law, Anver Emon9. A tale of three constitutions: ethnicity and politics in Fiji, Yash Ghai and Jill Cottrell10. Rival nationalisms in a plurinational state: Spain, Catalonia and the Basque Country, Michael Keating11. Northern Ireland, John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary12. Iraq's Constitution of 2005: liberal consociation as political prescription, John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary13. Recognition without empowerment: minorities in a democratic South Africa, Richard Simeon and Christina Murray14. Giving with one hand: Scottish devolution within a unitary state, Stephen Tierney
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