Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do

by Cass R. Sunstein

"In modern nations, political disagreement is the source of both the gravest danger and the greatest security," writes Cass Sunstein. All democracies face intense political conflict. But is this conflict necessarily something to fear? In this provocative book, one of our leading political and legal theorists reveals how a nation's divisions of conviction and belief can be used to safeguard democracy.

Confronting one explosive political issue after another, from presidential impeachment to the limits of religious liberty, from discrimination against women and gays to the role of the judiciary, Sunstein constructs a powerful new perspective from which to show how democracies negotiate their most divisive real-world problems. He focuses on a series of concrete concerns that go to the heart of the relationship between the idea of democracy and the idea of constitutionalism. Illustrating his discussion with examples from constitutional debates and court-cases in South Africa, Eastern Europe, Israel, America, and elsewhere, Sunstein takes readers through a number of highly charged When should government be permitted to control discriminatory behavior by or within religious organizations? Does it make sense to govern on the basis of popular referenda? Can the right to have an abortion be defended? Can we defend Internet regulation? Should the law step in if children are being
schooled in discriminatory preferences and beliefs? Should a constitution protect rights to food, shelter, and health care?

Disputes over questions such as these can be fierce enough to pose a grave threat. But in a paradox whose elaboration forms the core of Sunstein's book, it is a nation's apparently threatening diversity of opinion that can ensure its integrity.

Extending his important recent work on the way deliberation within like-minded groups can produce extremism, Sunstein breaks new ground in identifying the mechanisms behind political conflict in democratic nations. At the same time, he develops a profound understanding of a constitutional democracy's system of checks and balances. Sunstein shows how a good constitution, fostering a "republic of reasons," enables people of opposing ethical and religious commitments to reach agreement where agreement is necessary, while making it unnecessary to reach agreement when agreement is impossible.

A marvel of lucid, subtle reasoning, DESIGNING DEMOCRACY makes invaluable reading for anyone concerned with the promises and pitfalls of the democratic experiment.

Genres: Politics

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Cass R. Sunstein is an American legal scholar, particularly in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and law and behavioral economics, who currently is the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. For 27 years, Sunstein taught at the University of Chicago Law School, where he continues to teach as the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor. Sunstein is currently Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he is on leave while working in the Obama administration.

Reviews

[Alan Tsuei · Rating 3 out of 5]

本書的目標在介紹美國憲法的立法精神及其目標，如果對美國史或近代民主進程有興趣的話，可以看看美國先賢是如何開創其架構，後代人民又如何對其再三精進的過程，不過整體來說，就是對少數人少數意見盡可能的保護，以防止多數人或掌握權力的人透過立法與表決來侵害個人的自由與意志，同時也可以看出為何歧視的議題在美國是這麼嚴重與被過度政治正確了，加上美國人自認積極進取，與我們保守安穩的作風有所不同，所以很強調對憲法修正的開放態度，這可以某種程度上避免法律的消極被動性。
1．民主就免不了開會討論，而開會討論則很可能對議題產生兩極化或走極端的結果，而極大原因是與會者的資訊與學習的程度，另外就是與自身利益相關，最後如果是不記名如網路的環境，就更有可能加劇這種情況，但確保不同意見有機會表現的根本原則是不變的，否則民主式的討論就失去其最大意義了，而且就算再極端的人在充份討論後，也會比完全不討論來的更容易調整一些。
2．有一般性原則的共識就足以成為憲法基礎，而不用對更高層的細節有共識，畢竟多數人並不具備對細節有判斷力，加上細節與執行是與時俱進的，另外，一個公正的原則比多數人同意的原則要來的更重要，所以好的憲法和好的制度是一樣的，方向與框架必須要明確，這樣既不會讓人無所適從，也不會讓人無法理解。
3．憲法或法律都會參考習慣與文化，這本身無可厚非，但在設計框架時，必須要有與時俱進的包容，否則會很容易過時而被頻繁修改甚至推翻的可能，這樣就失去國家大法的本意。
4．個人權利與公眾權力是分開的，憲法要保障個人不會受“多數決”的公眾權力所傷害。
5．脫離或獨立的權力應該由另外的特法為之，憲法中不應包含此部分，更適當的做法應該是在憲法中對自治權的盡力保護。
6．憲法不可能每條都明確規定到細節，所以司法流程中應該堅持其精神對案件進行解釋。
7．要保障個人的自由，就必需對多數或特定團體的限制，這樣才能確立平等的基礎。
8．同性戀的議題也在憲法保障的平等框架之下，這和不同種族通婚或會不會因此受到歧視的問題相同
9．宗教與舊文化與舊習俗一樣帶著歧視的框架，所以自然不能用宗教自由來為其辯護

[Ft. Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essay on social/welfare rights in South Africa alone makes the book worth reading. Keep on fighting the caste system as administrative czar, Cass.