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Constitutionalising Secession

David Haljan author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:25th Feb '14

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

Constitutionalising Secession cover

Constitutionalising Secession proceeds from the question, 'What, if anything, does the law have to say about a secession crisis?' But rather than approaching secession through the optic of political or nationalist institutional accommodation, this book focuses on the underpinnings to a constitutional order as a law-making community, underpinnings laid bare by secession pressures. Relying on the corrosive effects of secession, it explores the deep structure of a constitutional order and the motive forces creating and sustaining that order. A core idea is that the normativity of law is best understood, through a constitutional optic, as an integrative, associative force. Constitutionalising Secession critically analyses conceptions of constitutional order implicit in the leading models of secession, and takes as a leading case-study the judicial and legislative response to secession in Canada. The book therefore develops a concept of constitutionalism and law-making - 'associative constitutionalism' - to describe their deep structure as a continuing, integrative process of association. This model of a dynamic process of value formation can address both the association and the disassociation of constitutional systems.

David Haljan’s Constitutionalising Secession is surprisingly timely as well as intellectually engaging…provid[ing] an excellent overview of practically every theoretical issue present in secessionist disputes. It amply repays a close reading.There can be no doubt that Haljan has made an enduring contribution to the literature on secession, and no future discussion can afford to ignore his well-constructed, sometimes even eloquent, arguments even if one continues to be sympathetic to unvarnished claims for “self-determination” even in the absence of tyrannical hegemons. -- Sanford Levinson * Law and Politics Book Review *
...a timely and in-depth contribution to this area of the law...an ideal read for anyone seeking to acquire expertise in the theoretical study of secession movements. -- Michele Fink * Common Market Law Review *
...a valuable contribution to the debate... -- Henri de Waele * European Constitutional Law Review *
Constitutionalising Secession is undoubtedly valuable contribution not only to the literature on secession, but also to the wider field of constitutional theory as a whole. -- David Taylor * Public Law Review *

ISBN: 9781849464376

Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 15mm

Weight: 947g

448 pages