Sovereignty, civic participation, and constitutional law : the people versus the nation in Belgium / / edited by Brecht Deseure, Raf Geenens andStefan Sottiaux

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910477046703321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; ; New York, NY : , : Routledge, , 2021
• ISBN: 9781003039525; 9780367483593
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource
• Collana: Routledge research in constitutional law
• Soggetti: Political participation - Belgium; Constitutional law - Belgium; Representative government and representation - Belgium; Sovereignty; Constituent power - Belgium; Constitutional history - Belgium
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: A simple sentence. Towards a new interpretation of sovereignty in the Belgian Constitution / Raf Geenens, Brecht Deseure, Stefan Sottiaux -- Constitutionalism in restoration Europe / Markus J. Prutsch -- Benjamin Constant and the limits of popular sovereignty / Nora Timmermans -- Abbé Sieyès : the immanent and transcendent nation / Olga Bashkina -- The liberal and Catholic origins of the Belgian Constitution. From the opposition under the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Constitutional Debates of 1830-1831 / Stefaan Marteel -- The Coppet Group and the political liberalism of the Belgian founding fathers / Christophe Maes -- Constituent power in the Belgian National Congress and the 1831 Belgian Constitution / Christophe Maes, Bas Leijssenaar -- 'All powers emanate from the nation'. People, nation and sovereignty in the Belgian Constitution of 1831 / Brecht Deseure, Christophe Maes -- Belgium's 1831 representative system : making representation national again / Christophe Maes, Brecht Deseure -- The monist nation and the general will : Raymond Carré de Malberg on sovereignty / Olga Bashkina -- ; Pulling the curtain on the national sovereignty myth. Sovereignty and referendums in Belgian constitutional doctrine / Christophe Maes, Brecht Deseure, Ronald Van Crombrugge -- Laboratories for democracy. Democratic renewal in the Belgian Federation / Ronald Van Crombrugge -- A non-populist direct democracy for Belgium / Nenad Stojanović -- Democratic constitution-making under the Belgian Constitution. Utilising its untapped potential / Ronald Van Crombrugge -- Sovereignty without sovereignty. The Belgian solution / Raf Geenens.
• Sommario/riassunto: "This book brings recent insights about sovereignty and citizen participation in the Belgian Constitution to scholars in the fields of public law, history, and political theory. Throughout the Western world, there are increasing calls for greater citizen participation. Referendums, citizen councils, and other forms of direct democracy are considered necessary antidotes to a growing hostility towards traditional party politics. This book focuses on the Belgian debate, where the introduction of participatory politics has stalled because of an ambiguity in the Constitution. Scholars and judges generally claim that the Belgian Constitution gives ultimate power to the Nation, which can only speak through representation in parliament. In light of this, direct democracy would be an unconstitutional power grab by the current generation of citizens. This book critically investigates this received interpretation of the Constitution and, by reaching back to the debates among Belgium's 1831 founding fathers, concludes that it is untenable. The spirit, if not the text, of the Belgian Constitution allows for more popular participation than present-day jurisprudence admits. Combining new insights from law, history, and political science, this book is a showcase for continental constitutional theory. The questions it asks reverberate far beyond Belgium. The book provides a rare source of information on Belgium's 1831 Constitution, which was in its time seen as modern constitutionalism's greatest triumph which became a model for countless other constitutions"--