Constitutional Democracy

Walter F. Murphy (1929-2010) was the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. He was the author of numerous scholarly books, articles, and textbooks, as well as several novels, including Vicar of Christ.

• PrefaceGeneral InformationI. Creating a Constitutional DemocracyIntroduction1. Values, Interests, and Goals2. Alternative Political Systems3. Alternative Political Systems: The Debate4. The Possibility of Constitutional Democracy5. To Draft or Not to Draft a Constitutional Text6. Drafting 1: The Shape of the Constitution7. Drafting 2: The Judiciary8. Drafting 3: A Bill of Rights9. Drafting 4: Special CasesEpilogueII. Maintaining a Constitutional DemocracyIntroduction10. Creating Citizens11. Military and Security Forces12. Rebuilding the Machinery of the State: The Bureaucracies13. Dealing with Deposed Despots14. Constitutional Interpretation as Constitutional Maintenance15. Constitutional Change and Its LimitsEpilogueRepriseGeneral IndexIndex of Cases

This is a significant, impressive work of constitutional theory in its largest and most important sense. Choice 2007 The phrase 'instant classic' may be an oxymoron, but if it can be fairly applied to any recent work in the field of constitutional theory, this is the one. -- Jack Wade Nowlin, Jessie D. Puckett Jr. Law and Politics Book Review 2007 Constitutional Democracy is an extraordinarily ambitious book, taking as its model nothing less than Aristotle's Politics. -- George Thomas Claremont Review of Books 2007 This fine book brings to bear Walter Murphy's manifold gifts: breadth of knowledge about political systems around the world and throughout history, keen critical learning about ancient and modern political thought, deep understanding of constitutional law, and a clear and clever style. -- Ralph Ketcham Perspectives on Politics 2008 In this magnum opus, Walter Murphy tells [the] story with all the erudition and skill that he has gathered in a lifetime of the study of political systems. Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association 2007