Judiciary and Federalism Flashcards
what is Trias Politica?
separation of powers
what are the three main powers to be separated?
- legislative branch
- executive branch
- judicial branch
what does the legislative branch do?
makes laws and checks government
what does the executive branch do?
puts laws into operation
what does the judicial branch do?
interprets laws
what is judicial activism?
judges should be more willing to enter the political system and influence it according to their political view
what are constitutions?
a body of meta-norms which specify how all other legal rules are to be produced, applied, enforced and interpreted
what are the different classifications of constitutions?
codified vs. uncodified constitutions
rigid vs. flexible constitutions
what is the difference between codified and uncodified constitutions?
codified: contained in a single document
uncodified: consists of several different sources
what is the difference between rigid and flexible constitutions?
rigid: difficult to change
flexible: easy to change
what is meant by constitutional rule?
a commitment of the political community to accept and obey the constitution
what are the two different types of judicial reviews?
- ordinary judicial review
- special judicial review
what is ordinary judicial review? what are its characteristics?
-decentralised (all judges)
-supreme court (general jurisdiction)
-concrete review
what is special judicial review? what are its characteristics?
-centralised (special judges)
-constitutional court (special jurisdiction)
-abstract review
which two factors influence the power of judiciary?
- legal doctrine of a country
- control of judicial appointments
how does the legal doctrine of a country influence the power of judiciary?
-legislative supremacy / parliamentary sovereignty
-supremacy of the constitution
how does the control of judicial appointments influence the power of judiciary?
-are supreme/constitutional court judges appointed or elected or co-opted?
-are they for short or long or for life periods?
what are the five different levels of governance?
- supranational (IOs)
- national (governments)
- regional (states/provinces)
- local (cities/municipalities)
- sub-local (neighbourhoods/communities)
on the basis of division of power, which three main categories can modern states be divided into?
- federal states
- confederal states
- unitary states
what are the three key features of federal states?
- legal sovereignty is shared between the federal government and the constituent states/regions
- Powers of constituent units are entrenched in the constitution
- states/regions are represented in an upper chamber of the assembly
what are some examples of federal states?
United States, Germany, Switzerland
what are the four key distinctive features of federalism that separate different types of federal states?
- dual vs. cooperative
- symmetric vs. asymmetric
- bottom-up vs. top-down
- territorial vs. non-territorial
what are confederal states?
-loose-knit operation between sovereign states
-weaker forms of federations
what are some examples of confederal states?
no modern examples exist, the US was one when it was first formed
what are unitary states?
legal sovereignty rests exclusively with the central government
what are the three different aspects in the distribution of power in unitary states?
- deconcentration
- decentralisation
- devolution
what is meant by deconcentration?
Central government functions executed by bureaucrats/staff in cities, towns, etc.
what is meant by decentralisation?
Central government functions executed by subnational government
what is meant by devolution?
Process where central government gives decision-making authority to different regions (powers can be taken away at any time)
what are some examples of unitary states?
United Kingdom, France, Turkey
