CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to Civics
1.1 MEANINGS OF CIVICS AND ETHICAL
EDUCATION
The Notion of Civics
 Cont…
• The subject field of civics originates from the nature of human
being itself i.e. from the natural behavior and level of
interaction of human beings it self. One basic nature of human
beings related with this statement is the fact that “man is a
social animal” whose life is closely related to each other.
• Almost all instincts, demands and progresses of human beings
are fulfilled in society. The superiority that human beings try
to achieve over nature and other living things is the result of
the social bond among human beings.
• If such bond is a requirement for the survival of human
beings, then what should be the pattern of social interaction
that exist among human beings is closely related with the
subject matter of civics.
 Cont…
• In this regard civics is considered as a subject field
which is mainly concerned with teaching citizens
as to how they can live harmonious and peaceful
life with other citizens and as to how they can
resolve conflicts peacefully among themselves.
• The other basic nature of human being is the
political view of philosophy by Plato that, “Man is
a political animal”, which means no human
being can escape from the deeds of politics and
its day-to-day life is either directly or indirectly
affected by it.
 Cont…
• For this reason human beings have to know the workings of
politics, institutions that affect their day to day life, norms,
principles and laws which are set in motion by politicians to
govern their societies and above all the duties and rights that
they have in the political community in which they are leading
their life.
• So, civics tries to make them familiar with such and other
concepts that make them active and awarded citizens.
• Civics as a branch of social science deals with the right and
responsibilities of citizens. The term civics comes from the
Latin word ‘civitas’, which implies citizens.
• Citizens are legal members of a politically organized
community- called state.
 Cont…
• The term citizen refers to a person who has the right to be a full
member of a particular state, while the actual legal status of
membership to a state is called citizenship.
• Civics deals with the various aspects of social life of a citizen. It
studies everything about citizens.
• The great political thinker, Aristotle defined “man as a social
animal”. He further goes to say that man as a social being interacts
with other members of the society.
• But in his interaction with the society, there may be cooperation
and/or conflict.
• What matters most is not why conflict arise among human beings
rather the question should be how to solve differences and live in
harmony with each other.
• And there fore, civics as a discipline is concerned with the
understanding and the relationship between man and his society.
 Cont…
In general ethics can be understood as:
• the value or rule of conduct held by a group
or individuals;
• Deals with human action from the moral
point of view, as right or wrong, good or bad;
• Rightness, honesty of behavior or action.
 Cont…
1.2 Ultimate Goals of civic Education
• The aims and objectives of teaching various subjects are
normally very similar and they are generally guided by
economic and social considerations .
• The aims and objectives of teaching civics include all the
aims and objectives of education. The goal of civic
education can be realized by the active participation of
citizens in a society.
• The extent and intensity of citizen’s active participation
reflect the realization of the goals. Civic education has
the following basic goals/objectives
 Cont…
• 1. Ideal citizenship- The most crucial aim of
teaching civics is to create ideal citizens, that
is to acquaint students all the qualities of an
ideal citizen.
• It includes believes in equality of opportunity
for all people; puts the general welfare above
one’s own welfare; realizes the necessary
connection of education with democracy and
so forth.
 Cont…
• 2. National character and patriotism- For a country to
progress effectively its citizens must be soaked in the
spirit of patriotism.
• Citizens should be prepared to sacrifice everything for
their motherland.
• They should also be proud of their identity, cultural
heritage and uphold the values of the society.
• These things can be implanted in to the minds of
students at their impressionable age, in a psychological
and scientific manner.
• The teacher should try to develop national character in
them and base it on the virtues of co-operation, love,
sympathy etc
 Cont…
• 3. Development of democratic outlook and strengthening
Democracy: Democratic out looks should be inculcated in
to the young generation.
• This can be possible by teaching students democratic
values, principles and cultivate them in such a way that
they could shoulder the responsibility of their country.
• 4. Providing citizens with the knowledge and intellectual
skills ;which are very important to monitor and influence
government rules, decisions and actions that greatly affect
individual rights and without which the good of the society
do not materialize.
 Cont…
• 5. Strengthening National and International
Integration: - Teaching civic education can succor
students to create a sound base for the continued
oneness and unity of country.
• Presently the world is becoming a village as a result
a man can be a real citizen of his/her country only
when he/she possesses in international outlook.
• This outlook greatly helps to have the attitude of
cooperation and peaceful way of living
 Cont…
UNIT THREE
THE STATE, GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
1. INTRODUCTION
2. States and Society
• A large number of communities that have social, cultural, and
economic interactions constitute a society.
• A Society is an organized group of people living together in a given
territory.
• When a society is politically organized, it forms a state. The state is,
therefore, the most highly organized political structure of a society.
• It keeps the members of that society together as citizens.
• The state makes the rules, principles and laws of the society it
belongs.
 Cont…
 The most important elements of the state are:
• population- peoples permanently settling on a
definite territory of the state.
• Territory – an area or a portion of earth’s surface,
internationally delineated or demarcated and on
which people of a state are expected
permanently reside.
• Government – that executes the wishes of the
state and acts on behalf of the state.
• Sovereignty- independence form external
interference
 Cont…
2.1 The Origins of the state
• Historical evidences show that politically organized
existence of people can be traced to the emergence of
society itself.
• The emergence of state is linked with a certain level of
development of human society. Obviously, since that level
of development, human society has maintained an
organized existence.
• In this regard, various historical, archeological and
anthropological studies indicate the existence of organized
societies since the beginning of human history at least in
their rudimentary forms such rudimentary society include
the family, the clan, the tribe.
 Cont…
• Originally, the need for organization of people was
associated with the desire for common protection from
natural or human-made disasters and danger.
• The origin of the state can also be explained in
association with the social decision of labor that gave
to the private ownership of property, and hence the
beginning of the formation of social stratification of
members of society in to classes.
• Some scholars are still of the opinion that the rise of
agriculture mode of economy in the great river basin
encouraged permanent settlement of people there by
leading to the creation of states.
 Cont…
2.2 Contending theories on the origin of the state
• There are so many contending theories that try to
explain the origins and purposes of the state. Some of
these are:
A The Natural or Evolutionary or Anthropological Theory
• This theory claims that the state gradually and slowly
evolved out of earlier forms of settled human
communities, such as the family, the clan and the tribe.
• According to this theory the state is seen as natural to
organized and settled social life.
 Cont…
B. The Divine Right Theory
• According to this theory, the state is seen as an
institution created by God.
• This theory claims the state to be of a divine creation.
Rulers were regarded as God’s-own representatives on
earth.
• That is, it is of God’s will that in human society some
are born to rule while other are born to be ruled.
• Moreover, the theory assures that the social order, in
which the position of the individual is determined
hierarchically on the basis of birth, was God-given and
thus immutable.
 Cont…
C. The social contract theory
• The social contract theory believes that the state is
an artificial creation based on the voluntary
agreement or contract among people.
• This theory strongly advocated that the state is
established by the consent of the people and its
main purpose is to safeguard people’s inalienable
rights such as the right to life, liberty and property.
• This theory praises popular sovereignty, limited
government and individual rights
 Cont…
D. The Force Theory
• The staunch proponent of this theory is Jean Bodin. According to him,
the origin of the state is a matter of conquest; one group conquers
another by force and the leader of the victor’s assumes ultimate
authority.
• This theory associates the emergence of states to wars and conflicts
that have been endemic in the history of human beings.
• Accordingly, wars of conquest resulted in the occupation of more and
more territories and led to the rise of states. According to this theory,
the state is primarily seen as an entity created by the use of physical
force.
• In other words, the state is created through a process of conquest and
coercion of the weak by the strong. Hence, military might and physical
strength of a society is considered to be of paramount importance for
the creation and consolidation of the state.
 Cont…
E. The Marxist Theory
• Marxism believed that in pre-class society people were
living communally. There was no private property, no
market and no institutions.
• According to the Marxist theory historically, the state was
originated from the split of society in to social classes with
sharp and polarized economic interests.
• The formation of social classes is associated with the
emergence of private property.
• The rise of the state with its agent-the government-
established to make laws, is, therefore, directly related with
the emergence of private property and the need to
safeguard it
 Cont…
2.3 Structures of States
• Presently we find many states. All of these are not similar
in a number of ways. Some states are very small in their
territorial extent and population. Others are very large.
• Also socio-economic, cultural and technological factors
differentiate states. Some states are highly developed in
their social and economic aspects; however, others are
less developed and very poor.
• States are also differentiated by the way they organize
their people/societies. Some states provide freedoms
and rights for its citizens and others provide little or no
freedom for their people.
 Cont…
• States can also be differentiated by the
structures of government they have.
• There are two main forms of structuring
governance in state.
• These are the unitary and the federal
structures.
• The federal and unitary forms of government
are basically distinguished by the degree of
power shared between central and local levels
of government.
 Cont…
A. Unitary state
• A unitary state is one in which no other governmental body but the
central government has any areas of policy that are exclusively
under its control.
• In a unitary state, local and regional political bodies may potentially
be over ruled by the central government in any political decision
they make.
• All the authorities and powers are exclusively in the hands of the
central government. The central government plans and decides the
duties of every public service throughout the country.
• In practice however, the central government delegates certain
administrative responsibilities because it cannot completely
centralize all matters. A majority of world state have unitary
systems. Unitary state structure does not mean under participation
of the people in the governance of the country
 Cont…
• This indicates that in such state structures there is
one central source of power and that is the
central government.
• There is very less or no power that is left for the
local units to practice independently.
• The existence of these units is justified in such a
way that they can serve as an administrative
agents through which the central government can
have reach, communicate and implement its
policies.
 Cont…
• Another most important feature of a unitary state structure is
that, the local units and their existence is mainly dependent on
the interest of the central government, unlike federal states
where their existence and power is legally defined by the states
constitution.
• Because of this reason the central government may challenge
their existence, increase or decrease their power.
• However not all unitary states have the same political structure
and decentralization of power.
• They differ in terms of the extent of power decentralized, the
structures of the units and the level of control employed by the
central government.
• Accordingly we can state such plethora’s of unitary states;
 Cont…
• There are unitary states that allow decentralization to
the local units but the power and existence of the units is
not legally or constitutionally entrenched.
• We can also have unitary states with almost no
decentralized power to the units and there is strict
control and supervision of the center over them
• In some others we may see some center local transfer of
power but the former directly appoints administrators to
the units that are directly accountable to it, by which the
power is re centralized.
 Cont…
• The fact that unitary states are mainly known for
centralization of power does not necessarily imply that
this system is always disadvantageous. There are
situations and country context where this system is more
applicable than others.
Merits and demerits of unitary state
 The merits may include:
• There is only one state and government and there is no
constitutional division or distribution of power between
the central and local governments. There is only one
source of power and will. And hence it can bring about
uniformity of law, policy and administration though out
the country.
 Cont…
• There is no conflict of authority, no confusion of
responsibility for work to be performed, no
overlapping of jurisdiction, no duplication of
work, plan or organization.
• The unitary state is simple in structure and less
expensive because the absence of duplication
of governmental departments and services.
• A unitary constitution is suited for as small
country with a homogeneous population.
 Cont…
The demerits can be explained as follows:
• There is no strong regional institutions and the
regulations of local policies and affairs by distant and far-
off authorities.
• There is additional burden of responsibility on the central
government and leads to greater red-tapism and
bureaucratic administration.
• Central authorities often the necessary knowledge of
local conditions and needs; and the consequence of it is
that local interests suffer.
• The unitary state structure tends to suppress local
initiative and discourage interest in social problems.
 Cont…
B. Federal state
• Federal form of state is the one in which power is formally
divided between the central government and certain
regional governments, each of which is locally supreme in
its own sphere.
• Powers and authorities are clearly separated and divided
among the central (federal) and regional governments.
Usually these powers are clearly specified in the
constitution.
• In federal systems, the central government usually has
exclusive control over foreign, defense and monetary
policy. And other power and authorities are exclusively
assigned or reserved to regional governments
 Cont…
• A federal system has often been the result of a compromise by which
reluctant members were induced to join in a state.
• Federal systems usually exist where there was some difficulty in
uniting the state or where the state is so large or so culturally diverse
that it is thought there may be problems holding it together.
• Small states are less likely to be federal systems than large ones
because problems like these are more likely to have cropped up in
large states with diverse population. Most large states in the world are
federal.
• It is most of the time true that multi-ethnic states do also adopt the
federal structure. However, one should bear in mind that the form of
federalism in all state is not necessarily the same. States apply
different principle and reasons for federation.
• Similarly, the degree of autonomy exercised at regional or local levels
is not similar in all cases
 Cont…
• In unitary state, autonomy is given by the central
government, but in federal state, the autonomy of
regional state is not given by the central government but
rather by the constitution.
• There fore the most important feature of a federal state
is the existence of two governments with in a state as,
the federal/central government (government of the
whole country) and regional governments (governments
of parts of the country).
• This division is strengthened by the fact that both levels
of governments are given with their own power and
authority that they can independently exercise from each
other.
 Cont…
• The constitutional division of this power entails
that both levels cannot intervene into the power
and jurisdiction of each other.
• It also guarantees that the central government
cannot arbitrarily withdraw the power and
structure of the regional units.
• The basic essence behind having a federal
arrangement in a state is the need to decentralize
state power to regional units as a means of
empowering them to deal with their affair by
themselves.
 Cont…
• Any federal arrangement can be created in one of the
two ways;
A. Federalism through aggregation: is federalism created
with a voluntary unity of previously independent states
after reaching compromise for certain common purpose
under a central government sharing power with the
federated units.
B. federalism through disaggregation (Devolution): is a
federal state that is created after a previously highly
centralized state compromised to share a considerable
extent of power to regional local units. Furthermore
there are different sets of power that are divided among
the two levels of governments
 Cont…
1. Exclusive power: the power specifically left to the federal
government
2. Residual power: the power that is left to the regional
governments
3. Concurrent power: is the common jurisdiction of both levels
of governments
Advantages of federalism
• it affords opportunity to small and weak states to unite into a powerful state
without loosing their independent existence.
• it is valuable to big states with vast population and with racial, cultural and
linguistic diversities.
• by the distribution of power the central government is relieved of the burdens
and congestions crated by heavy administration. This in turn discourage red-
tapism and bureaucratic administration.
• by giving local independence to the people of the units, it stimulates their
interest in public affairs
 Cont…
Disadvantages:
1. Possibility of conflict of jurisdiction between the
two levels of governments
2. It is costly: it requires ample economic resources
to manage
Two sets of governments
3. It creates weak government by dividing internal
sovereignty
4. Requires much more educated man power
5. There is a possibility of danger of secession
 Cont…
C. Confederal states
• Confederal states are simply voluntary associations of
independent states, based up on the common agreement of
states expressed in an elaborate document.
• Such an arrangement is created for common advantage
without affecting the internal freedom, structure, law making
and enforcing process and external relations.
• This common interest may be common economic interest,
common military threat, common political interest .
• For example if their common interest is military the main task
of the central government will be to organize military
activities among the member states.
 Cont…
• The central government established by these members of
the confederation will be provided with some very
limited power and authority as an expression of their
common interest.
• In such structure the member states are in a better
power position than their established central
government and the centre is under their dictate.
• The member states are also at freedom to interrupt their
membership from the federation and to cease the
existence of the centre based on their agreements.
 Cont…
2.4 Functions of the state
• The state is a universal institution because it is
responsible for a complex set of political, economic,
social and cultural activities of organized human
societies.
• The activities of the states emerge from some sets of
social needs. In other words, the state performs its
complex responsibilities in response to some social needs
of a specific society.
• The functions of the state vary in different places and
periods. Some functions are as old as the state itself,
while other functions are added recently.
 Cont…
• In broad terms, the spheres of activities of the
state include:
Maintenance of law and order in society. Social
order is extremely vital for the normal
functioning of societal affairs. In the absence of
a certain degree of order, there prevail chaos
and disharmony.
• The state makes various sets of laws and these
laws are assumed as binding to all members of
that society.
 Cont…
Protection and security of citizens: The state
is responsible to protect against collective
threats and dangers of aggression.
• The state resists external threats and
insecurities through diplomatic efforts,
international law and ultimately through use
of violence or war for defensive purposes.
 Cont…
Providing services and welfare to citizens:
The policies of the state are supposed to
redistribute resources and benefits to various
members of society.
• More specifically, the state deliberately
intervenes to benefit the most affected and
impoverished sections of society in terms of
education, health and social facilities.
 Cont…
Belongingness and civic development of
citizens: The state encourages a sense of
belongingness among its citizen.
• It is responsible for the moral and civic
development of its citizens
 Cont…
3. Government
• Is one of the most essential components and also an administrative wing
of a state. Government is the executive agent that acts in the name of the
state and its people.
• As an agent of the state, a government works to promote and safeguard
the interests of its population and maintain its territorial boundaries.
Government is the body of the people and institution that make, enforce
and interpret laws.
• Government differs from other organization because of its comprehensive
authority- rule are applied to all members of society, involuntary
membership-most people initially become citizens of a nation and subject
to its rule without any deliberate choice or conscious act, authoritative
rule –are generally recognized to be more binding up on all members of
society than the rules of all other organization, and legitimate monopoly
of overwhelming force.
• Government as one attribute of a state has responsibilities in keeping the
smooth run of all administrative organs.
 Cont…
3.1 Forms of Government
• The earliest and most famous system of
classification was developed by the Greek
philosopher Aristotle in the 4th c B.C.
• He distinguished among three benevolent kinds
of government- where the ruling authority acts
only according to legal guidelines, ruling in the
interests of the entire society, and three corrupt
counter parts where government acts only on its
own selfish interest.
• The three benevolent kinds of government are;
 Cont…
A. Monarchy
• It is one-man rule. Such governments exist in two forms :
• I. Traditional monarchy-The king or the queen maintain
his/her position by the claim of legitimate blood decent
than their appeal as popular leaders
• II. Constitutional monarchy-The king or the queen is
ceremonial head of the state, an indispensable figure in
all great official occasions and a symbol of national unity
and authority of a state but lacking real power.
 Cont…
B. Totalitarianism
• It is essentially a system of government in which one party holds all
political, economic, military and judicial power.
• This party attempts to restructure society, to determine the values
of society, and interfere in the personal lives of individual citizens in
such away as to control their preferences, to monitor their
movements, and to restrain their freedoms.
• With modern electronic devices, the state is able to control
communications and private activities and there by regulate
political life and thought, and also through electronic data control it
is able to coordinate and centralize the utilization of resources and
there by regulate economic life.
• The six basic features common to all totalitarian states are an all-
encompassing ideology, a single party, organized terror, monopoly
of communications, monopoly of weapons and controlled economy
 Cont…
C. Authoritarianism
• Authoritarianism is a system of government in which power is
exercised by a small group with minimum popular input.
• The group may be a family, in which case the authoritarian regime is an
absolute monarchy.
• Authoritarian governments generally do not attempt to control every
aspect of human society.
• Many economic, social, religion cultural, and family matters are left up
to individuals.
• Authoritarians view society as a hierarchical organization with a
specific chain of command under the leadership of one ruler or group.
• Command, obedience and order are higher values than freedom,
consent and involvement. Therefore, the citizen is expected to obey
laws and pay taxes that he or she has no voice in establishing.
 Cont…
D. Constitutional Government
• It is defined by the existence of a constitution that
effectively controls the exercise of political power.
• The two major constitutional governments are: the
presidential system and parliamentary system.
 Presidential democracies; most clearly show the
separation of power between the executive and the
legislative branches. The chief hallmark of these systems is
that the president is not just a figurehead but also a
functioning head of government. He or she is elected more
or less directly by the people. The president is vested with
considerable powers, and cannot be easily ousted by the
legislative body.
 Cont…
 In parliamentary system; the head of state (figurehead
monarch or weak president) is an office distinct from the
head of government (prime minister, premier or
chancellor). In this system, the prime minister is the
important figure.
• In parliamentary system voters elect only a legislature,
they cannot splits their tickets between the legislature
and the executive.
• Presidents in presidential systems are not responsible to
legislatures. The close connection between the
legislature and executive is broken. Presidents are
elected on their own and choose cabinet ministers or
department secretaries from outside the ranks of the
legislative body.
 Cont…
3.2 Major Organs of Government
• In the contemporary world the government is
composed of three major organs –legislature,
executive and judiciary. Each organ has its
own distinct role-the legislative makes law, the
executive enforces law and the judiciary
interprets the law.
 Cont…
A. The Roles of the Legislature
• The main propose of legislative bodies, in theory, is to
formulate the laws that govern society.
• In practice, the degree to which the legislature acts as
law initiator varies among political system.
• Ideally, legislatures initiate laws, propose constitutional
amendments, ratify treaties, control tax (revenues), and
act as a check on the other branches of government.
• The chief job of democratic legislatures is supposed to be
that of rule initiation; making the laws that governs
society.
 Cont…
The structure of parliaments- Bicameral or unicameral
• Some two-third of the legislative bodies in the world
have two chambers, an upper house (the US Senate,
the British House of Lords, or the German Budestrat)
and the lower house (the US House of Representatives,
the British House of Common and the German
Bundestang).
• These are called bicameral (two chambers)
legislatures. Despite its name, the upper house usually
has less and sometimes much less power than the
lower house; only the two houses of the US congress
are coequal
 Cont…
• A small number of parliaments are unicameral (one chamber)
such as China’s National Peoples’ Congress, Sweden’s Riksdag,
and Israel’s Knesset. Yugoslavia once experimented with a
five-chambered parliament.
• South Africa has a various (and properly temporary) three-
chambered parliament with one house each for whites,
mixed-race peoples, and East Indians.
• The majority black population was not represented in the
national parliament of South Africa.
• The reason for two chambers is clear in federal systems. The
upper house represents the component parts of the federal
system, and the lower house represents districts based on
population. The utility of an upper house in unitary systems,
however, is unclear
 Cont…
B. The Roles of the Executive
• Political executives are government officials who participate in the
determination and direction of government policy.
• They include heads of state and government leaders- president,
prime minister, premiers, chancellors, cabinet members, ministers,
counselors and agency heads.
• Executive officials play two quiet distinct roles: as chief of state-
which is the official who acts as government’s formal head and
spokesperson and head of government-the official who leads and
supervises the officials and agencies that initiate and enforce
government’s policies.
• The general powers and functions of the executive include
enforcement function, formulation and execution of administrative
policy, control of military forces, and conduct of foreign relations.
 Cont…
C. The judiciary body
• The judicial body is an organ responsible to
interpret the law.
• Law may be defined as “that which must be
obeyed and followed by citizens, subject to
sanctions or legal consequences’’.
 Cont…
4. Citizenship
• States cannot be understood in the absence of citizens and
citizenship. In the same way, citizenship cannot be
explained without the state.
• Thus, the notion of citizenship is important both to the
state and to individuals, since it denotes a basic
relationship between the state and its individual members.
• The term citizen is derived from a Latin word ‘civitas’,
which means resident of a city, as is used by Greeks.
• Citizenship refers to rights and duties of citizens.
• It is the official recognition of an individual’s integration in
to the political system
 Cont…
• That means, citizenship is the status of a person to be a
member of a particular state of country. With out the
status of citizenship, a person would be ‘‘stateless’’. i.e.
he would not belong to any state.
• Therefore, a status of citizenship gives a person his/her
official recognition of the state to exercise citizenship
rights and fulfill the responsibilities.
• Citizenship in all states is not the same.
• Non-democratic states reduce their people to mere
subjects that have very limited or no rights. Democratic
states, however, have people/citizens/ who govern
themselves and enjoys freedoms and equal rights in all
aspects of life.
 Cont…
CHAPTER FOUR
CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTIONALISM
2. A Constitution and its Purpose or Function
• In any political system the basic justification behind
establishing constitution is the need to limit the power of
both the government and the people.
• These bodies have certain rights and power, but there
activity must also be limited to keep them from
encroaching on the rights of others.
• Such rules that specify duties and rights of government
and the people are to be provided by statutes, traditional
customary rules and national constitutions.
 Cont…
• Accordingly the word constitution is commonly used in
two different senses.
• It may be generally understood as the whole system of
government of a country, the collection of rules that
establish, regulate or govern the government.
• But such rules are partly legal and partly non-legal. Legal
rules are those rules that are codified in a documented
form and are acknowledged by the courts, where as non-
legal or extra-legal rules that take the form of usages,
understanding, customs or conventions which courts do
not recognize as law but equally effective in regulating
governments as legal rules.
 Cont…
• Based on this we can define a constitution in two ways. If
we think of a constitution as a written document that
sets forth the fundamental rules by which a society is
governed then we are employing narrower definition.
• Broadly defined a constitution is that sets of rules written
or unwritten, legally established or extra legal by which
governments conduct their affair.
• States design constitution in order it to be the supreme
and fundamental law of the land, which cannot easily be
amended or revised like ordinary laws.
 Cont…
• In relation to this a constitution is also a very
general rule document that may discuss some
very important legal principles.
• This implies a constitution must be detailed and
specified by some other ordinary laws, so that it
can have applicability in the day-to-day life of the
society.
• For more understanding let us see two
definitions
 Cont…
• A constitution can be defined as a fundamental law
written or unwritten, that establishes the basic
characters tics of both the society and government.
• This is basically achieved by defining basic principles
to which the society must conform and describing
the organization of the government.
• It also poses regulation, distribution limitations and
the extent of exercise of power over government
departments.
 Cont…
• A constitution can also be viewed as;
 A national symbol; it embodies the basic
understanding of a people on certain fundamental
political issues and therefore reflects the characteristics
of the people themselves.
 In addition to this constitutions have some basic
purpose and function to serve, some of these include:
• One basic purpose of constitutions is to define the
political structure of a state and determine the
distribution of government powers.
 Cont…
 It establishes different branches of government and specifies who
does what by setting limit to their power. By this it establishes
certain fixed principles about government operation.
• It serves as a supreme law of the state and even as a national
symbol of the state, where by every body and every other law
operate under the constitution.
 It also sets up general rules about the duties and rights of citizens
and guarantees their Welfare/safety, prosperity, health and
happiness.
 It also determines a countries system of government to be
presidential, parliamentary republican or monarchical.
 It establishes legitimacy of government in newly established states.
 It also reflects the values, ideas and goals that seem to express
best the spirit of the national political culture.
 Cont…
2.1. Methods of Classifying Constitutions.
• Methods of classifying Constitutions are of various types
and we can employ these varieties for different situations.
• Accordingly we can classify Constitutions based on their
forms. This pertains to whether a constitution is a written
or unwritten type.
• The amendment procedures stated in constitutions is also
another method of classifying constitutions. Hence there
are constitutions with rigid and flexible amendment
procedures. The further mode of selecting constitutions is
based on the kind of state structure made by the
Constitution. In this regard it can be divide federal or
unitary mode of constitution.
 Cont…
 Written Constitutions: Majority of states of the world today
has a written constitution. That is, they have an assemblage
of a single document, which, they call a constitution as
fundamental law of their state.
 Unwritten Constitutions: There are very few countries who
are referred to have unwritten form of constitution. E.g. UK
and the Israeli.
 In such nations there is no one compiled document called
a constitution. They may have dispersed legal documents,
which serve as constitution.
 But most of the fundamental rules of the political system
of such nations are in unwritten form. This may take a form
of customs, understanding, precedents, conventions etc
 Cont…
• However, those nations who claim that they
have a written form of constitution is, giving a
narrower definition to constitutions.
• This is because we cannot compile all rules
governing a political system into a document
called a constitution.
• Rules governing a political system may have
extra legal character in unwritten form like
customs, precedents, common understandings
 Cont…
• Accordingly no political system can have all the
governing principle in a documented form.
• By the same token all such legal principles cannot
also be in unwritten form.
• In the British case, even if the fundamental
governing principles are in unwritten form it still
has written legal documents that cause some
effect to the system.
• Generally, we cannot have a totally written and
absolutely unwritten constitution as far as the
reality is concerned.
 Cont…
• Based on their provision of amendment procedure
constitutions can be classified as Rigid and flexible.
 Rigid Constitutions: are those constitutions which set-up
complex and special amendment procedure, which
makes changing an article from the constitution very
difficult.
• This also reduces the adaptability of the constitution to a
new situation.
 Flexible constitutions: set up simple amendment
procedures and there are as such no special required
procedures for amendment.
 Cont…
• The British is an example of the flexible constitution
where as countries like USA, Australia, Denmark and
Switzerland are mentioned to have rigid constitution.
• However this classification may also not absolutely be
used.
• Because, in reality those constitutions with rigid
Amendment procedures have been seen frequently
amending themselves than those with flexible
procedures.
• It depends up on the socio economic and political
interests of the ruling elites within a state.
 Cont…
• It is constitution that distributes power among the
different units of a state.
• But the model that is followed by constitutions in
distributing state power differs from each other.
• Some constitutions purely classify and decentralize
power between the central government and
regional/local units
and such constitutions are referred as federal
constitutions.
• Some other centralized state power in the hands of the
central government, hence unitary constitutions.
 Cont…
3. Constitutional Experience of selected Countries (the
case of USA and British)
• The US and the British have different forms of
constitutions. The British are obviously known for having
unwritten constitution, where as the US has a famous
written constitution.
• The reality with regard to the British legal history is that,
they have no an assemblage of document called a
constitution. One justification related with this situation
is that, in Britain most historical phenomena, which
would have caused promulgation of constitution, were
turned unsuccessful and resolved through other means
of compromise, than causing constitution
 Cont…
• This analysis emanated itself from the theoretical
establishment that constitutions are results of basic
social contradiction.
• Such theory emphasizes that after societies went
through serious social and political conflict they used
to establish constitution as a means of compromise
and starting life a new and a fresh.
• But in Britain such historical incidents that might have
caused the promulgation of a written constitution had
not reached to that stage.
 Cont…
• But this does not necessarily mean that the
British has no written aspect of a constitution.
Most legal documents has taken the form of
evolutionary transformation and development in
the form of addressing specific problems arose in
some specific moments, than adopting a
document called constitution all of a sudden.
• Therefore we can list out such dispersed
documents, which were written on some specific
issues, to address some specific problems of their
time
 Cont…
• These include the Magna carat (great charter) of
1215 (to limit the power of the king).
• The petition of right (1628) The bill of rights of
1689, the people representation act of 1832, the
women franchise act of 1928(to allow women to
vote), the acts of union (1707 and 1800) when
the British were united with Scotland and Ireland
respectively.
• These documents represent the written aspect of
the British constitution.
 Cont…
• These cannot fulfill the criteria of being constitution
because they are dispersed legal documents which do
not reflect the basic political elements of the system.
• The vital elements of the system rather are represented
more in the form of customs, beliefs, understandings,
conventions and precedents.
• So the reason why the British constitution is termed as
unwritten is because the determinant political principles
of the state took the form of extra legal customary rules
than a clearly stated document.
• Hence the unwritten aspect dominates the written
aspect of the constitution.
 Cont…
• Unlike the British, who is geared towards peaceful
transformation the US constitution is the result of
one big historical contradiction.
• That was the US Independence struggle against
the British colonialists.
• Today’s US was once the colony of British and their
successful struggle for independence reached to its
conclusive stage by promulgating constitution for
the US.
• The British classified their big colony in to 13
colonial states. Each colony has executive and
legislative authority
 Cont…
• The executive (appointed by the British) was
highly affiliated to the British and protects their
interest than the people in the states.
• The legislature was a relatively independent
organ which enjoys a considerable level of
autonomy from the British.
• So it was more favored by the people in the
colonies, for it stood for their interest.
 Cont…
• But based on the decision of King George III of England in
the mid 18th C the power of the relatively independent
parliament was obliterated.
• Following this the king imposed too much tax over the
people in the colonies to finance its war in India and
France.
• Previously the powerful legislature can repeal such tax
decisions but now it is not the case.
• As the result the people felt that they were not well
represented by the parliament but required paying too
much tax.
• This gave rise to the famous slogan ‘’No taxation with
out representation’’.
 Cont…
• This lack of representation in decision-making on
matters that affect their life discontented the
people and led them to fight against the British.
• Finally they managed to achieve their full
independence in 1883.
• Those who fought for independence and the
founders of the American state drew two basic
experiences from the previous colonial
administration in their effort to formulate
constitution for US.
 Cont…
1. They were aspiring for strong regional
Governments than central government.
• This is based on the idea that a powerful national
government as seen in the time of the colony is
distrustful.
2. Because of also the distrust that they have over
powerful executive, under the colony, they
opted for strong legislative.
• Based on these preferences the states established
the articles of the confederation (the first us
constitution), which was drafted in 1777, ratified in
1781 and served until 1787.
 Cont…
• But later it was realized that articles of the
confederation does not address the problem of
the states and even caused problems.
• Because of the institution of a very weak central
government such destructive deficiencies as lack
of uniform tax regulation and economic policy,
lack of central organ to regulate inter-state
economic relation and their relation with other
countries, absence of uniform tariff policy
etc…were occurred
 Cont…
• These and other problems showed that the articles
of the confederation must be reformulated.
• The states recognized the problem and decided to
work hard to wards it.
• Finally the convention which was held at
Philadelphia in 1787 quickly became the forum for
drafting a new constitution for the US leaving the
article of the confederation aside.
• This constitution was adopted in 1789 and it is the
working constitution of US still to day.
 Chapter 3

• constituation & constitutionalism

• 3.1 Definition
• constitution may be defined as folliws.
• A. A convenent document
• B. A documennt that reflicts national policies,
structure of state, system of gov't.
• C. A document that provides citizens rights &
duties.
• D.cument that specify duties & funcrions of
 atterarchy of ethical laws.
• constitution--supreme law of the land
• {proclamation --regulation--directives--
decrees--working mannual
• 3.2 classification of constirution
• * There are different standards by classified.
these may be:
• A. Rigid vs Flexible
• * A constitution is said to be rigid if itput
stringent, strong & passive procedure for
• * precedences
• *proclamations
• *jurispredences
• *minutes of legislates etc..
• #Thus majority of the world states used rhe
written constitution.
• # unwritten constitution is flexible
• #written constitution is rigid & challenged ro
accomodate social change.