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dc.contributor.editorDeseure, Brecht
dc.contributor.editorGeenens, Raf
dc.contributor.editorSottiaux, Stefan
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-02T11:00:19Z
dc.date.available2021-03-02T11:00:19Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.identifier.isbn9780367483593en_US
dc.identifier.isbn9780367712280en_US
dc.identifier.isbn9781003039525en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/47018
dc.description.abstract"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. "en_US
dc.languageEnglishen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issuesen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::L Law::LN Laws of specific jurisdictions and specific areas of law::LND Constitutional and administrative law: general::LNDC Law: Human rights and civil libertiesen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::L Law::LN Laws of specific jurisdictions and specific areas of law::LND Constitutional and administrative law: generalen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAZ Legal historyen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::L Law::LN Laws of specific jurisdictions and specific areas of lawen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophyen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHC Constitution: government and the stateen_US
dc.subject.otherlawen_US
dc.titleSovereignty, Civic Participation and Constitutional Lawen_US
dc.title.alternativeThe People versus the Nation in Belgiumen_US
dc.typebook
oapen.relation.isPublishedBy7b3c7b10-5b1e-40b3-860e-c6dd5197f0bben_US
oapen.relation.hasChapter97eb1fe9-18f0-432b-a07c-dc4895917d11
oapen.relation.hasChapterf4206e85-f133-42a6-9ceb-24235606a870
oapen.relation.hasChapterc17e1df1-ec64-4e3b-abef-9c737c9e7db8
oapen.relation.hasChapter77a7013b-1591-4a21-959f-2e3b671217d7
oapen.imprintRoutledgeen_US


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