Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2022
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009158541.005
Abstract
Protecting individual rights is a core feature of democratic constitutionalism. The centralization of the means of coercion gave rise to the Hobbesian dilemma, the fear that this enormous power might be abused unless it be effectively controlled. In addition to dividing power among different branches of government or sharing it between the federation and its units, constitutions have fortified individual rights with judicial review and enforcement mechanisms against the executive branch to rein in state power.
Proposing a collective right to effective self-government sits oddly with a vision that pitches free individuals against an all-powerful state. Such a right can, however, be justified on two interrelated grounds. First, in the absence of effective protection by a state, individual civil and political rights remain empty declarations. Stateless people, Hannah Arendt has taught us, are the most vulnerable; they have no legal rights and no way of seeking protection as a matter of right.
Disciplines
Administrative Law | Constitutional Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Katharina Pistor,
The Right to Effective Self-Government,
Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?, Vicki C. Jackson & Yasmin Dawood (Eds.), Cambridge University Press
(2022).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4566
Comments
This material has been published in "Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?", edited by Vicki C. Jackson and Yasmin Dawood. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use.