Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T11:10:55.280Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - A Constitution Marked by a “Discomfort with Democracy”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Roberto Gargarella
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, I begin to study in more detail the “construction” of “counter-majoritarian” constitutions or, to use the terms employed by the Brazilian jurist Roberto Mangabeira Unger, constitutions constructed around a “discomfort with democracy.” I use, as a starting point in this exploration, the concept of “factions” that played a central role in the Federalist Papers, and which James Madison took as a basis to explain and justify his influential approach to constitutionalism. I examine the institutional implications of this “counter-majoritarian” view through numerous examples, including the preponderance of “indirect elections”; the special requirements to run for the Senate; and the peculiar organization and competencies of courts.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×