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Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs

Louis Henkin in Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs writes about the thorny issue of the governance of foreign affairs, something that Henkin says has been neglected in constitutional jurisprudence. Henkin approaches his analysis as a way of defining issues facing constitutional scholars and courts required to adjudicate matters regarding the governance of foreign policy. Henkin sees the overall issue as one which is in what he calls the "twilight zone" of constitutional jurisprudence, plagued both by concerns raised by what the Constitution did not address and by what the Constitution did address, with the latter capable of creating as many thorny issues as the former. Henkin is critical of certain elements of the debate, but he is not one calling for a massive change or for throwing out the old organs of government because he knows that they have been effective and that they remain remarkably vigorous, though at certain times we have merely muddled through when a clearer conception would have provided clearer guidelines. Clearer guidelines are what Henkin would prefer, and he elucidates constitutional uncertainties, constitutional friction, and constitutional dissatisfaction in order to assess the existing constitutional organs and to determine if new organs would be more efficacious.

In the Introduction, Henkin discusses the nature of his inquiry and relates it to some general ideas about democracy and constitutionalism. The key to his concern about how we treat constitutional issues is in the fact that our governmental system has changed from what was created by the framers, and we have reshaped various aspects of the Constitution either directly or through judicial fiat. Henkin writes, "Concern for the adequacy of our two-hundred-year-old blueprint is a challenge to every aspect of our constitutional government" (15). Henkin intends to examine the issue specifically in terms of our governance of foreign a...

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Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:34, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1690372.html