Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution
- The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I History
- 1 The Tradition of the Material Constitution in Western Marxism
- 2 The Soul of the State
- 3 Laski’s Materialist Analysis of the British Constitution
- 4 Rudolf Smend’s Legacy in German Constitutional Theory
- 5 The Constitution in the Material Sense According to Costantino Mortati
- 6 The Material Constitution of the Dual State
- 7 ‘A Certain Shadowy Totality’
- 8 The Material Constitution in Greek Constitutional Thought
- 9 The Constitution As Social Compromise
- 10 ‘Self-Justifying Law of Constitutional Law’
- Part II Challenges
- Part III Analyses
- Index
3 - Laski’s Materialist Analysis of the British Constitution
from Part I - History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2023
- The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution
- The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I History
- 1 The Tradition of the Material Constitution in Western Marxism
- 2 The Soul of the State
- 3 Laski’s Materialist Analysis of the British Constitution
- 4 Rudolf Smend’s Legacy in German Constitutional Theory
- 5 The Constitution in the Material Sense According to Costantino Mortati
- 6 The Material Constitution of the Dual State
- 7 ‘A Certain Shadowy Totality’
- 8 The Material Constitution in Greek Constitutional Thought
- 9 The Constitution As Social Compromise
- 10 ‘Self-Justifying Law of Constitutional Law’
- Part II Challenges
- Part III Analyses
- Index
Summary
During the 1920s, Harold Laski worked on producing a comprehensive account of a political philosophy appropriate for the new age of social democracy that was just emerging. During the 1930s, however, his optimistic political outlook waned and with this he modified his position and, in its place, presented a materialist account of British constitutional arrangements. This paper explains this later development of his thought. It examines the unfolding of his argument through his studies of the crisis of parliamentary democracy, the nature of the modern state and his materialist analysis of the British constitution and offers critical reflections of the significance of this phase of his work.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook on the Material Constitution , pp. 64 - 75Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023