Product Description: Research on the Canadian Constitution is increasingly focusing more on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms over other dimensions of constitutional politics. Essential Readings in Canadian Constitutional Politics offers a corrective to the trend with a set of readings considered foundational to understanding the Canadian Constitution...read more

Product Description: One of the most important but least examined aspects of the Canadian judicial system is the dual structure of civil and criminal trial courts. Canada's Trial Courts examines the co-existence, in every province, of superior courts (presided over by federally appointed judges) and 'lower' courts (staffed by provincially appointed judges)...read more

Product Description: The global expansion in judicial power has led to a growing interest in the way judges are chosen. Reform of the judicial selection process is on the political agenda in many countries but the nature of that process differs according to the type of process used - whether a career judiciary, an elected judiciary (direct and indirect), appointment by the executive, or a hybrid system...read more

Product Description: A judicial revolution occurred in 1992 when Australia's highest court discarded a doctrine that had stood for two hundred years, that the country was a terra nullius - a land of no one - when the white man arrived. The proceedings were known as the Mabo Case, named for Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander who fought the notion that the Australian Aboriginal people did not have a system of land ownership before European colonization...read more

Product Description: Constitutional Odyssey is an account of the politics of making and changing Canada's constitution from Confederation to the present day. Peter H. Russell frames his analysis around two contrasting constitutional philosophies – Edmund Burke's conception of the constitution as a set of laws and practices incrementally adapting to changing needs and societal differences, and John Locke's ideal of a Constitution as a single document expressing the will of a sovereign people as to how they are to be governed...read more

Product Description: The role the courts should play in Canada's political system is a long-simmering issue. Ever since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect in 1982, Canada's courts have been empowered to strike down any legislation held to contravene Canadians' basic rights...read more

Product Description: This collection of essays by leading scholars of constitutional law looks at a critical component of constitutional democracy--judicial independence--from an international comparative perspective. Peter H...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Peter Russell, a political scientist and an energetic participant in constitutional debate, is the focus of this collection of essays. Designed to reflect the manifold career of Russell, the work, based on the proceedings of a conference held in 1996, includes contributions on constitutional politics, security and intelligence, Aboriginal people, the courts, and law and society...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Does 'Left of Centre' Necessarily Mean Political Marginalisation? It began to seem so with the steady rise of the Right over the past 25 years. Recently, however, there has been a turnaround. Over the last two years, social democratic parties have been elected to government in Britain, France, and Germany. They now control government alone, or in coalition with other left-leaning parties, in thirteen of the fifteen states of the European Economic Community.This kind of global movement requires global communication. Political scientist Peter Russell has heeded the demand by bringing together ten former leaders of social democratic parties and governments from four continents to express their views on the agenda of social democracy for the next century.Whatever the trends in political power, one thing remains consistent: the Left's capacity for critical self-reflection. Having emerged from the trenches of politics, the essayists in this collection are remarkably open, prescient, and nimble. With realistic optimism, they accept the existing market economy and inescapable globalization, but challenge neo-liberalism's absolute faith in market solutions, and present a strong case for humane public intervention to ensure that increases in wealth are directed to fulfilling the highest potential for all humankind.The result of this unprecedented meeting of minds inspired contributor Ed Broadbent, former national leader of the Canada's New Democratic Party, to organize a meeting of these minds. On November 20th, 1999, a major conference to launch the ideas and bring together these eminent figures was held at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. The conference marked a turning point inthe evolution of democratic socialism; neither friend nor foe of social democracy can afford to be without this book. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Why do citizens in pluralist democracies disagree collectively about the very values they agree on individually? This text highlights the inescapable conflicts of rights and values at the heart of democratic politics.

Product Description: This extensive revision of the landmark Leading Constitutional Decisions brings together recent Charter cases with the classical cases on the Canadian Constitution. An introductory essay traces the evolution and distinctive features of judicial review in Canada and includes references to the Constitution Act, 1982, and the important changes resulting from it...read more