An Historical Introduction to Western Constitutional Law

The constitutional question is of paramount importance in the political and nationalist agenda of late twentieth-century Europe. Arguments focus on the best form of constitutional organization: democracy versus autocracy, unitary versus federal organization, pluralism versus intolerance, centralism versus regionalism, national sovereignty versus European. Professor van Caenegem's new book addresses these fundamental questions by analysing different models of constitutional government through a historical perspective, assessing why some models were established and others rejected. The book's approach is pragmatic and chronological: constitutionalism is explained not as a paradigm devised by a team of jurists, but as the result of many centuries of trial and error. The narrative begins in the early Middle Ages and concludes with contemporary debates, taking as its focus the main European countries, the United States, and finally the former Soviet Union.