Synopses & Reviews
This book analyzes the formal constitutional changes that have recently taken place in the Asia-Pacific region, embracing the countries of East and South East Asia and the Pacific Island states. In examining the different constitutional systems in the region, it asks several key questions: What constitutional arrangements operate in the region and how can their fundamental differences be explained? How do social, political and economic factors limit the effectiveness of the existing constitution? What lessons are gained for the practice of constitutionalism elsewhere?
Synopsis
Analyses the formal constitutional changes that have recently taken place in the Asia-Pacific region.
Synopsis
This book describes and analyses the constitutional changes that have taken place in the Asia-Pacific region, embracing the countries of East and South East Asia and Pacific Island states. It asks key questions concerning differences in constitutions and how social, political and economic factors impact upon them.
About the Author
Graham Hassall is widely published in Pacific Studies and is an expert on the states of Micronesia in particular. He was Research Fellow and Director of the Asia-Pacific program of teaching and research in the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Melbourne Law School, and is currently the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Landegg International University, Switzerland.Cheryl Saunders is one of Australia's leading scholars in the fields of comparative and international law. She is the Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has been an adviser to many governments in the region on the question of constitutional development and reform.
Table of Contents
Part I. Modernity and nation-states at the dawn of the global era: 1. Traditional states and colonisation; 2. The 'modern' constitution; 3. Writing the constitution; Part II. The constitution of modernity: 4. The legislature; 5. Representation; 6. Head of state; 7. Constitutional revision; Part III. Democracy and the rule of law: 8. Courts and the judiciary; 9. The suspension of constitutional power; 10. Devolution; Conclusions: Postmodernity and integrative constitutionalism.