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Comparative Politics and Government Javeed Ahmad Bhat, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 3: Constitutions and Constitutionalism

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
3.1 Meaning and Process of Growth of Constitution
3.2 Kinds of Constitution
3.3 Necessity of a Good Constitution
3.4 Meaning and Development of Constitutionalism
3.5 Liberal and Marxist Notions
3.6 Summary
3.7 Key-Words
3.8 Review Questions
3.9 Further Readings

Objectives
After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Explain the Meaning and Process of Growth of Constitution and Constitutionalism
• Describe the Kinds of Constitution
• Know the Necessity of a Good Constitution
• Understand the Liberal and Marxist Notions

Introduction

It is one of the celebrated maxims of political science that there can be no well-ordered society
without a state; another ancillary axiom is that there can be no state without a constitution of its
own. Though the word ‘constitution’ is used in many senses (as constitution of a body, constitution
of a trade union, constitution of a political party etc.), we are concerned with its use in a political
sense alone that signifies the constitution of the state. If so, every state has a constitution of its own
and by virtue of that, in a literal sense, it is a ‘constitutional state.’ But, as we shall see, the term
‘constitutional state’ has assumed a normative connotation; now it has become another term for a
‘democratic political order.’ The very idea that every state must have a constitution of its own and
that its government must be organised and conducted according to ( the rules of the constitution
so that the people have a ‘rule of law’ and not a ‘rule of man’, it constitutes the case of
‘constitutionalism.’
The study of political constitutionalism occupies a significant place in the sphere of comparative
politics in view of the fact that it is the constitution that, as Dicey says ‘directly or indirectly affects
the exercise of the sovereign power of the state.’ A political scientist is concerned with the origin
and development of the state, with its nature and organisation, with its purpose and functions,
and with the theory of the state and its possible forms. If so, he is naturally concerned with all
these facts of the subject in a certain manner. Since the study of the political constitutions is ‘a
branch of political science or the science of the state’, a student of this subject” is interested chiefly
in the institutions which the state builds up for its peace and progress without which the state
could not maintain itself, any more than a society could maintain itself without the state.”

42 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY