Rule of Law Commons^™

Overview Of Bicameral Legislatures’ Potential Impact On The Executive Selection Process, Kyle Kopchak

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Bicameral legislature is a common constitutional design model, with bicameral legislatures making up roughly 41 percent of all legislatures worldwide. As of April 2014, 79 bicameral and 113 unicameral systems were recorded in the database of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. In general, “bicameralism is more common in federal, large, and presidential states, while unicameralism is more common in unitary, small, parliamentary ones”. Bicameral systems operate two legislative chambers, both of which play a role in drafting and passing national legislation. However, each house often fulfills a unique role in the legislative process and is usually elected by different methods. Proponents of …

Enforcing Interstate Compacts In Federal Systems, Michael Osborn

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

The central goal of a federal system is for local government units to retain degrees of independence, specifically over matters of importance to that local unit. A logical corollary to that independence is the ability for local units to negotiate and contract with other local units on matters of importance. Therefore, it is not surprising that almost every federal system allows, either implicitly or explicitly, member states to form binding compacts with other states, the union government, or municipalities.1 Some federal democracies even allow member states to compact with foreign governments. Furthermore, almost every federal constitution includes a provision outlining …

A Taxonomy On Constitutional Court Appointment Mechanisms In Federal Countries, Molly Madden

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

This paper provides a taxonomy of how federal countries appoint judges to their highest courts. Appointment mechanisms involve (1) little or no meaningful input from state government, (2) the states acting in an indirect role, or (3) substantial state government input. Within-group one, countries that allow for little to no meaningful input from state governments, some countries require that one federal body check another federal body during the appointment process, such as the federal executive’s nominees are confirmed by the federal senate. I first evaluate which court or entity in each country answers federalism questions, whether that is a Constitutional …

Constitutional Court Landscape Post - Arab Spring: A Survey Of Design, Dane Kirchoff-Foster

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

This is a case study seeking to survey the landscape of constitutional courts in the MENA region after the Arab Spring. To accomplish this, the case study identifies the traditional functions of constitutional courts, then analyzes the design features present in post-Arab Spring constitutional courts to determine how and to what extent these design features help – or hinder – each court in fulfilling its traditional functions. Analysis of design features will focus on (1) which (and how many) constitutional matters the court is empowered to decide (court jurisdiction), (2) the processes by which a court is presented a …

Appraising Policy: A Taxonomy Of Ex Ante Impact Assessments, Aaron Hurd

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In the pursuit of better policy, many nations have turned to Impact Assessments as a potential solution. However, in order to make Impact Assessments as effective and impactful as possible, governments must think critically about which body should write Impact Assessments and what should go into these documents. In this Paper, I survey different Impact Assessment structures and the various government bodies formed to draft or review them. After completing this survey, I conclude that presidential and parliamentary systems should form their Impact Assessment offices differently in order to complement their differing governmental structures. While presidential systems would be best …

We Are All Farkhunda: An Examination Of The Treatment Of Women Within Afghanistan's Formal Legal System, Ashley Lenderman

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In this paper, I will examine three cases of violence against women that went through the Afghan formal legal system: the case of Farkhunda, the Paghman district gang rape case, and the case of Sahar Gul. In the first Part, I will discuss the formal legal system framework on which the cases are based. In the second Part, I will discuss the cases in detail. In the third Part, I will describe neo-liberal, reformist, and neo-fundamentalist approaches to interpretation of Islamic law, and I will then draw out pieces of the decisions from the three cases that closely match these …

Taxonomy Of Minority Governments, Lisa La Fornara

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

A minority government in its most basic form is a government in which the party holding the most parliamentary seats still has fewer than half the seats in parliament and therefore cannot pass legislation or advance policy without support from unaffiliated parties. Because seats in minority parliaments are more evenly distributed amongst multiple parties, opposition parties have greater opportunity to block legislation. A minority government must therefore negotiate with external parties and adjust its policies to garner the majority of votes required to advance its initiatives.

This paper serves as a taxonomy of minority governments in recent history and proceeds …

The Voice Of The People: Public Participation In The African Continent, Rafael Macia

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Public participation is becoming a more common characteristic of constitutional drafting processes around the world, and Africa has not been an exception in this regard. This paper seeks to survey several of the public participation processes undertaken in a number of African nations, in order to examine the methods followed and the effects produced by such processes. For that purpose, I have analyzed the constitutional drafting efforts in South Africa, Uganda, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya, and Egypt. These processes all show different circumstances and approaches, with variations in terms of their top-down or bottom-up nature, and, more importantly, in terms …