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Latin American Constitutionalism,1810-2010

The Engine Room of the Constitution

Roberto Gargarella author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:29th Aug '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Latin American Constitutionalism,1810-2010 cover

Latin America possesses an enormously rich constitutional history, but this legal history has only recently begun to be subjected to scholarly inquiry. As Roberto Gargarella contends, contemporary constitutional and political theory has a great deal to learn from this history, as Latin American constitutionalism has endured unique challenges that have not appeared in other regions. Such challenges include the emergence of egalitarian constitutions in inegalitarian contexts; deliberation over the value of "importing" foreign legal instruments; a long-standing exercise of socio-economic rights (which is only just starting in other areas of the world); issues of multiculturalism and indigenous rights; substantial experience with "unbalanced" versions of the system of "checks and balances" (due to the presence of so-called hyper-presidentialist regimes); and the succession of numerous and frequent constitutional changes. In this landmark book, Gargarella provides a broadly comparative history of Latin American constitutionalism, informed by constitutional theory. He organizes the book across four major historical periods of Latin American legal history, infusing this history with a discussion of the ideas of thinkers including Juan Bautista Alberdi, Francisco Bilbao, Simón Bolívar; Juan Egaña, José González Vigil, Victorino Lastarria, Juan Carlos Mariátegui, Juan Montalvo, José María Mora, Mariano Otero, Manuel Murillo Toro, José María Samper and Domingo Sarmiento.

An original book and one of the first serious intellectual attempts to identify common features shared by the constitutional experience of all countries in the continent. Roberto Gargarella is affirming the existence of a "Latin American constitutionalism" and his book can be the cornerstone of a new field of study in constitutional law and constitutional theory. * Daniel Wei L. Wang, International Journal of Constitutional Law *

ISBN: 9780199937967

Dimensions: 165mm x 236mm x 25mm

Weight: 592g

298 pages