What Is a Political Constitution?

Abstract

The question-what is a political constitution?-might seem, at first blush, fairly innocuous. At one level, the idea of a political constitution seems fairly well settled, at least insofar as most political constitutionalists subscribe to a similar set of commitments, arguments and assumptions. At a second, more reflective level, however, there remains some doubt whether a political constitution purports to be a descriptive or normative account of a real world constitution, such as Britain's. By exploring the idea of a political constitution as differently articulated by J.A.G. Griffith, Adam Tomkins and Richard Bellamy, this essay explores why the normativity of a political constitution may be indistinct and ill-defined, and how compelling reasons for this indistinctness and ill-definition are to be found in the very idea of a political constitution itself. A political constitution is here conceived as a 'model' which supplies an explanatory framework within which to make sense of our constitutional selfunderstandings. The discipline of thinking in terms of a model opens up a critical space wherein there need not be some stark, all-encompassing choice between constitutional models, which, in turn, allows for more subtle understandings of Britain's constitution as neither exclusively 'political' nor 'legal'.

The Political Constitution Revisited

“…By 2010, Gee and Webber were telling us that it 'is commonplace … for textbooks and articles to juxtapose the idea of a political constitution with that of a legal constitution'. 56 If that is correct, it reveals the impoverishment of public law thought. Significantly, it was not long after this that Tomkins entirely resiled from his own argument.…”

Self-determinable Development of Small Islands

“…UK sovereignty, thus, resides in Parliament (Gee and Webber 2010). It is often described as being a 'political' constitution in that it is through political processes and institutions that those who wield power are made accountable to citizens.…”

Political Constitutionalism and the Question of Constitution‐Making

“…The same is true for the constitution, which, in the words of Gee and Webber, is “already before us, the political process already in use, and the process of rebuilding is, simply put, continual. For a political constitution, there is thus no single, identifiable moment of constitution‐making and, for the political constitutionalist, it is right that this should be so” (Gee and Webber , 288, emphasis added). In this perspective, the political constitution assumes an evolutionary nature and takes up the presupposition that there should be nothing politically relevant outside constituted powers.…”