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"Legitimation by constitution" is a phrase coined by Michelman and Ferrara to represent an idea in Rawlsian political liberalism of reliance on a dualist democracy: ground-level laws are subject to the constraints of a legal constitution that all citizens, across the political spectrum, can accept as a framework for their collective politics.
List of contents
- Part I: Popular Sovereignty Versus Higher (and Higher) Law
- 1: "Always Under Law"
- 2: On the Paradox of Deliberative Democracy
- 3: The Challenge of "Most Reasonable for Us"
- 4: The "Most Reasonable for Us" or "Irrescusability" as Preserving Authenticity
- Part II: A Democratic Horizon
- 5: Constitutional Interpretation: A Dualist Democrat's Dilemma
- 6: On Reconciling the Two Understandings of Judicial Review
- 7: Judicial Constitutional Application: A Rejoinder
- 8: Backgrounding the Debate: Judicial Occlusion and Remedial Strategies
- Part III: Global Orders and Limits of Liberalism
- 9: Hyperpluralized Constituencies: The Challenge for Political Liberalism
- 10: Can Legitimation by Constitution Apply Beyond the State?
- 11: A Political Conception of People (and its Consequences)
- 12: From Decency to Democracy: Leading by Example
- Conclusion
- A Glance Back and the Road Ahead
- A Liberal Limit to Constitutional Thinness
About the author
Alessandro Ferrara is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, and teaches Legal Theory at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome. He served as President of the Italian Society for Political Philosophy (2005-2010). He has authored The Democratic Horizon (2014), several other monographs, many articles, and contributions to edited volumes in political and legal philosophy. Since 1992 Ferrara has been a Co-Director of the Yearly Conference on Philosophy and Social Science, held in Prague since 1933 under the auspices of the Czech Academy of Science.
Frank I. Michelman is the Robert Walmsley University Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University. He has been the President of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Co-Director of the annual Prague Conference on Philosophy and Social Science, and has served on the Board of Directors of the United States Association of Constitutional Law and the National Advisory Board of the American Constitution Society. In 2005, Professor Michelman was awarded the American Philosophical Society's Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence.
Summary
"Legitimation by constitution" is a phrase coined by Michelman and Ferrara to represent an idea in Rawlsian political liberalism of reliance on a dualist democracy: ground-level laws are subject to the constraints of a legal constitution that all citizens, across the political spectrum, can accept as a framework for their collective politics.
