Constitutionalism, Universalism and Democracy - a comparative analysis

Pluralistic, democratic societies face particular constitutional challenges. Taking German law as their starting-point, these fourteen essays give a comparative analysis of the constitutional framework of modern democracies.
The contributors, who are professors of public law in Germany, discuss the role of the rule of law, of judicial review and of democratic representation, and analyse the extent to which German constitutional law has been echoed or adopted abroad. Further essays address particular issues of civil rights in an age where the role of the state is diminishing and cultural pluralism is increasing, examining the rights of minorities, non-citizens and the ways in which democracies have defined the relationship between religion and the state.
The volume, which contains the German contributions to the 1999 Fifth World Congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), will be of particular interest to students and teachers of public law, comparative law and political science, and to civil servants and legislators.
The editor is a professor of constitutional law at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen.