rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Constitutionalism and democratic legitimacy
    sub title: How constitutions affect democratic governance
  title info:
    title: How constitutions affect democratic governance
  name:
    name part: Scheier, Melissa Jeanette.
    role:
      role term: creator
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: xx
    date issued: 2003
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: print
    extent: x, 152 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
  abstract: Understanding the link between constitutions and individual attitudes has, by and large, been ignored in favor of focusing on the impact of specific institutional arrangements. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between theoretical expectations concerning the importance of constitutions and empirical work in the field. Beginning with Habermas' theory of discursive democracy, I analyze how constitutions affect both behavior (discourse) and individual levels of perceived regime legitimacy. Recent constitution drafting and implementation across Central and Eastern European countries provide a unique natural experiment to test hypotheses derived from normative theory. Findings suggest that constitutions impact both behavior and attitudes, but not in the way that Habermas predicted. While both the effective level of checks and balances and rule of law significantly impact the probability of political discourse, checks and balances decreases the probability while rule of law increases it. Further, guaranteed rights (necessary and non-necessary) actually decrease levels of perceived legitimacy. Interestingly, the inclusivity of the constitutional drafting and ratification processes appear to have no impact of perceived legitimacy. This points to a need to re-think constitutions as primarily positive, civic-culture building documents. Rather, individuals in new democracies react in a more complex fashion to these founding "moments".
  note: by Melissa Jeanette Scheier.
  note: Vita.
  note: "Major Subject: Political Science".
  note: Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc.
  note: Ph. D. Texas A&M University 2003
  note: Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-147).
  subject:
    topic: Major political science
  identifier: 30-88181 UMI
  identifier: http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login
  related item:
    location:
      url: http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login
  record info:
    record content source: TXA
    record creation date: 040224
    record change date: 20190325110802.0
    record identifier: in00001814122