This thesis considers some conceptual problems in the constitutional voting rights doctrine of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court has expanded its theory of voting rights to cover matters other than the right of suitably qualified individuals to register and cast a ballot. The thesis considers the manner in which the Court has extended its theory. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the Court's decision on votor registration and franchise laws. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the application of voting rights doctrine to electoral districting disputes. Chapter 6 considers the problems raised by attempts to extend the reach of the doctrine to claims that certain forms of electoral structure dilute the voting power of racial (or other) minority groups. The subject of Chapter 7 is the right to be a candidate and the relationship between that right and the right to vote. Chapter 8 contains a short treatment of the Court's complex decisions on laws regulating election campaign spending, and considers the compatibility of the theory on which those decisions are based with the Court's broader constitutional voting rights doctrine. This broad survey of the Court's voting rights decisions is undertaken with the aim of highlighting inconsistencies in its characterisation of the constitutional right to vote. It is concluded (Chapter 9) that the Court has repeatedly retreated behind a limited conception of the right to vote as a right to register and cast a ballot, and to be protected against the various forms of voting-related discrimination which the Constitution explicitly prohibits. Possible explanations for the Court's preference for a narrow conception of the right to vote are considered in the text.

No description available.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Since its conquest by Britain in 1890, Zimbabwe has witnessed a series of constitution-making projects. Spanning over 100 years, the question of constitutional development has continued to dominate public debate. The end of colonial rule did not see an end to the demand for a constitution that is legitimate and durable. The search for an enduring and good constitution continued into the 21st century. With the unveiling of the 2013 constitution-making project, however, it seemed as if a long lasting solution had been 'delivered' on the question of a legitimate and durable constitution. The thesis assesses the questions of institutions and processes in Zimbabwe’s quest to construct a new constitution. It contends that institutions and processes used to make constitutions are as important as the contents of a final constitution. That is why more time and efforts are often spent negotiating the twin questions of institutions and processes of constitution-making than is spent negotiating the content of a constitution. With this in mind, the thesis develops standards for assessing institutions and processes used in successive constitution-making projects in Zimbabwe. A major finding of the assessment is that the twin questions of institutions and processes were neglected in all constitution-making efforts undertaken in Zimbabwe, including that which culminated in the creation of the Constitution of 2013. The thesis maintains that a lot of significance must be attached to the design of institutions and processes of constitution making if a constitution is to be enduring and widely accepted as legitimate.

No description available.

La justice constitutionnelle ivoirienne, dans sa forme actuelle, est le fruit du mouvement de démocratisation enclenché sur le continent à partir des années 1990.Mais si ailleurs l'exercice du contrôle de constitutionnalité s'est tout de suite imposé comme un instrument incontournable dans l'effectivité de la Constitution et l'avènement d'un Etat de droit, en Côte d'Ivoire, la garantie de la suprématie de la Constitution a évolué en permanence à un rythme oscillatoire. Le contrôle de constitutionnalité s’exprime d’abord à travers une stratégie des petits pas. Le choix par le juge constitutionnel d’une interprétation restreinte de ses attributions produit une jurisprudence peu audacieuse et orientée vers la légitimation du pouvoir exécutif et de sa gouvernance. Par la suite, à l’avènement de la deuxième République à partir de l'an 2000, la juridiction constitutionnelle se montre relativement plus active. Mais malgré l’extension du droit de saisine aux citoyens par le biais de la question préjudicielle la justice constitutionnelle reste peu sensible à la protection des Droits et libertés fondamentales. Son dynamisme se manifeste surtout lorsque la Constitution se trouve confrontée aux Accords politiques, mobilisés pour la résolution de la crise militaro- politique. L’office du juge constitutionnel se révèle alors comme la défense de l’ordre constitutionnel en péril ou du régime l’incarnant. Ici transparaît encore la forte irradiation du pouvoir exécutif dans un système politique déséquilibré faisant converger, comme des rivières au fleuve, l’ensemble des institutions dans le sens de la majesté du Pontife constitutionnel. De surcroît, la prépondérance du contentieux électoral et les crises qu’il suscite, annihile, quasi-systématiquement, les progrès jurisprudentiels résiduels qui peuvent accorder de la crédibilité à la justice constitutionnelle. Dans ce contexte, la garantie de la suprématie de la Constitution demeure encore à un stade embryonnaire, marqué du sceau de la précarité que lui impose des pratiques constitutionnelles perverties et l’instabilité politique chronique. / Ivorian constitutional justice, in its current form, is the fruit of the democratization movement launched on the continent from the 1990s. But if elsewhere the exercise of constitutional review immediately became an essential instrument in the effectiveness of the Constitution and the advent of the rule of law, in Côte d'Ivoire, the guarantee of the the Constitution’s supremacy has evolved continuously at an oscillatory rhythm. The constitutionality check is first expressed through a strategy of small steps. The constitutional judge's choice of a narrow interpretation of his attributions produces a daring case law geared towards legitimizing the executive power and its governance. Subsequently, with the advent of the second Republic from the year 2000, the constitutional jurisdiction is relatively more active. But despite the extension of the right of referral to citizens through the preliminary question, constitutional justice remains insensitive to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. Its dynamism manifests itself especially when the Constitution is confronted to the Political Agreements, mobilized for the resolution of the military political crisis. The office of the constitutional judge is then revealed as the defense of the constitutional order in danger or the regime embodying it. Here again there is the strong irradiation of the executive power in an unbalanced political system converging, like rivers in the river, all the institutions in the sense of the majesty of the constitutional Pontiff. Moreover, the preponderance of electoral disputes and the crises it provokes, annihilates, almost systematically, the progress of the case law that can give credibility to constitutional justice. In this context, the guarantee of the supremacy of the Constitution remains at an embryonic stage, marked by the seal of precariousness imposed by perverted constitutional practices and chronic political instability.

Cette thèse constitue une analyse de contenu des critiques contre l'Union européenne exprimées par plusieurs acteurs politiques et sociaux de gauche en France et en Allemagne, au cours des débats sur le projet de Constitution européenne. Elle s'intéresse plus particulièrement aux idéologies sous-jacentes à ces critiques. Pour comprendre le sens de ces arguments, les comparer entre eux et les classer, certains idéaux-types ont été élaborés sur quatre dimensions (politique, socio-économique, identitaire et stratégique). Cette recherche a permis de combler une lacune importante dans l'analyse des acteurs dits "eurosceptiques", à savoir, l'étude des idéologies animant ces courants. L'essentiel de la littérature se concentre en effet surtout sur l'explication de l'euroscepticisme et, lorsqu'elle aborde leur idéologie, c'est pour construire des taxinomies excessivement globales. La thèse explore aussi en conclusion certaines pistes d'explications de ces résistances à l'UE en essayant d'aller au-delà des visions stratégiques, culturalistes et institutionnalistes, dominantes dans ce domaine, et en insistant davantage sur les dimensions idéelles et structurelles. // This doctoral dissertation analyses the content of the critiques made by some left-wing social and political actors in France and Germany against the current EU. The study focuses on the debates that surrounded the project of European Constitution and more specifically on the more general ideologies underlying these arguments. In order to understand, compare and classify these critiques, idealtypes have been elaborated on four dimensions (socio-economic, political, identity-related and strategic). This research fills a gap in the literature analysing so-called "eurosceptic" actors by concentrating on the ideas conveyed by these currents. Indeed, most of this literature mostly tries to explain this phenomenon. And when it addresses the issue of ideology, it is only to build too far-reaching categories. The conclusion also aims at exploring possible explanations of theses resistances to the EU beyond the traditional theories, based on strategic agency, culturalism and institutionalism, and insisting more on the role of ideas and material structures.

No description available.

Magister Legum - LLM / Kenya has embarked on a constitutional making process that is hoped to ensure a transition to democracy. The current constitution making process is not the first of its kind in post independence Kenya.1 Since the Lancaster House Conference2 that gave Kenya its very first constitution after independence, constitution making processes have been fraught with controversies.3 The periods after independence saw the Kenyans glamour for constitutional change and reforms.4 A number of amendments have been effected to the Kenyan, constitution since independence. The clamor for constitutional review gradually grew leading to the repeal of section 2A of the Constitution in 1991 which restored multi-parties.s The pressure from civil society organizations in 1997 led to the enactment of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission Act6 and this was considered as the formal beginning of the Constitutional Review Process in Kenya.7 The next major constitutional review process came in after the end of the term of President Daniel Arap Moi in 2002. A review process, commonly known as the

In this paper, I argue that pluralism about material constitution (i.e., holding that the relata of constitution can be non-identical) is a theoretically useful notion. First, I propose a principle whose denial is sufficient and, to my knowledge, necessary for pluralism to be true. Then I formulate three metaphysical antinomies (the problem of material constitution, the problem of change, and the problem of many) in such a way as to reveal that the previous principle is involved in all three. Then I show that the denial of the principle resolves all three of these problems. Finally, I conclude that pluralism is indeed theoretically useful on the basis of the following three points: 1) denying the mentioned principle is sufficient for pluralism to be correct, 2) denying the principle resolves three problems, and 3) by a theoretically useful notion I mean that if it were true it would solve multiple problems. / Master of Arts