Constitutional Courts

The highest judicial body in a political

system that decides whether laws and
policies violate the constitution

•Major Branch of government in liberal democracies

•Increased power in the last half century to protect human
rights after the technically legal rise to power of
authoritarian leaders in WWII
•Long-term positions/usually not elected directly  not
easily influenced by politicians and provides stability during
political turnovers
•Prevents power abuse and corruption
 Constitutional Courts
Judicial Review
The mechanism by which the court can
review laws and policies and overturn those
that are seen as violations of the constitution

Concrete Review:
The court rules on the
basis of cases brought
before it
e.g. – USA, Germany*,
Japan, South Africa*,
Hungary*
Abstract Review:
The court decides legal
questions not arising
from actual cases or
laws
e.g. – France,
Germany*, Lebanon,
South Africa*, Hungary*

*Some state’s constitutional courts have the power of

both concrete and abstract review
 Constitutional Courts

Examples =D
 The United States Supreme Court and other Federal
Courts:
 Concrete Review
 Weakest of 3 branches
 Expansion of power in last half century b/c of more
unclear regulatory policies being passed and expansion
of the rules of standing, allowing groups and
individuals to challenge laws
 Britain
 No judicial review, can only say whether policy violates
common law or an act of Parliament
 Traditionally in the House of Lords, law lords, highest
court for appeal of civil and criminal cases, but has
weakened in attempts in constitutional reform by Blair
 As an EU member, must follow the European Court of
Justice’s decisions
 Corporatism
A method of cooptation whereby authoritarian
systems create or sanction a limited number of
organizations to represent the interests of the public
and restrict those not set up or approved by the
state

•Cooptation – the process by which individuals are brought

into a beneficial relationship with the state, making them
dependent on the state for certain rewards
•Many independent, competing organizations are replaced
with state-approved, state-funded groups that represent
and are given a monopoly over a sector of society
•Results in the state, society, and the market being a single
body, with each group acting in its own specific and limited
role
•Opposite from pluralist systems, where bussiness, labor,
and political parties stand apart from and in opposition to
one another
 Corporatism

Examples =D
 Fascist Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal up until
the 1970s had element of corporatism while under
authoritarian rule.
 Spain: a single political party organized most
business and labor interests together into a limited
number of syndicates that represented both owners
and workers in different sectors of the economy.
 Communist Cuba: all labor is organized under a
single union directly controlled by the state,
independent unions are illegal
 Coup d’ etat
A move by which military forces take control of the
government by force; a forceful extra constitutional action
resulting in the removal of the existing government

•Usually results in authoritarian military rule, the military

sees itself as the only organized source
•Common where state’s government struggles with
legitimacy and stability and high levels of public unrest or
violence
•Military Rule: Have a high capacity for the use of violence in
ruling. Use surveillance and force to eliminate opponents
and restrict civil liberties
•Usually lacks specific ideology and do not have traditional
legitimacy
•Bureaucratic authoritarianism – a system in which the
state bureaucrat and the military share a belief that a
technocratic leadership, focused on rational, objective,
technical expertise, can solve the problems of the country,
as opposed to emotional or irrational ideologically based
party politics
 Coup d’ etat
Examples =D
• Common in Africa and Latin America in the last
century
• Mexico: The Revolution of 1910
• Open elections were held in 1911 after Diaz was
forced into exile as there was increasing
opposition to dictatorship
• The new President, Madero, was assassinated in
a 1913 coup d’ etat and political order collapsed
 Direct Democracy
Democracy that allows the public to
participate directly in government
decision-making

•Athenian Democracy - The roots of democracy, in ancient

Greece, government of public rule where the people were
the state [excluding women, children, and slaves]
•Worked well in small communities
•Influenced the rise of the indirect democracies,
representative rule, of today
 Electoral systems
A set of rules that decide how motes
are cast, counted, and translated into
seats in a legislature
•First past the post, district represented by a single person
usually giving rise to a 2 party system, ballots cast for
individuals [US, UK, France, Australia, India]
•Proportional Representation, multi-member districts, multi
party systems, ballots cast for parties [majority of
democracies]
•Mixed system, combines PR and FPTP, a single ballot with 2
choices of selecting a political party and an individual for
their district [Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Russia, Japan]
•Balance of the 2 systems vaires by country, Germany’s
legislature splits equally between PR and FPTP selected
voters, Japan has 60% FPTP and 40% PR