Description

The French Constitutional Council, a quasi-judicial body created at the dawn of the Fifth Republic, functioned in relative obscurity for almost two decades until its emergence in the 1980s as a pivotal actor in the French policymaking process. Alec Stone focuses on how this once docile institution, through its practice of constitutional review, has become a meaningfully autonomous actor in the French political system. After examining the formal prohibition against judicial review in France, Stone illustrates how politicians and the Council have collaborated over the course of the last decade, often unintentionally and in the service of contradictory agendas, to significantly enhance Council's power. While the Council came to function as a third house of Parliament, the legislative work of the government and Parliament was meaningfully "juridicized." Through a discussion of broad theoretical issues, Stone then expands the scope of his analysis to the politics of constitutional review in Germany, Spain, and Austria.

Reviews

"This panorama provides the grounds for appreciating the significance of a new player in constitutional politics and for considering the viability of a system of abstract constitutional review as compared to other alternatives."--The Law and Politics Book Review

"Alec Stone has written a comprehensive description of the inception and subsequent evolution of the French Constitutional Council, but he has also done much more....This is a rich book and one that can be profitably read by students of judicial and comparative politics and by those whose inclinations lie in jurisprudence and law."--West European Politics

"Judicial politics specialists are Americanists, and comparativists know nothing about law and courts. Stone's book, which is a highly sophisticated 'public law' study by a first-class comparativist, is a major step into the gap, and must reading for scholars in both fields."--Martin Shapiro, University of California at Berkeley School of Law

"This is a first-rate study of a phenomenon of growing importance of European politics--the rise of constitutional review. Stone illuminates the problem with a fine eye for the nuances of French politics as well as judicial interpretation."--Peter Hall, Harvard University

"Undoubtedly a significant contribution to our understanding of French constitutional process. Stone has studied the changes in the role of the Council with great virtuosity and real scholarship. He has read everything there is on the subject, and he has rightly juxtaposed narrative chapters, analytical sections, case studies, and comparative perspectives."--Stanley Hoffmann, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Product Details

320 pages; 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-507034-7ISBN10: 0-19-507034-8

About the Author(s)