A Sociology of Constitutions
Constitutions and State Legitimacy in Historical-Sociological Perspective

Chris Thornhill examines the legitimating role of constitutions from the first quasi-constitutional documents in medieval Europe to recent constitutional transitions.

Chris Thornhill (Author)

9781107610569, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 November 2012

466 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.7 kg

'Chris Thornhill's A Sociology of Constitutions … provides an uncompromisingly detailed and telling analysis of the structural and conjunctural forces that have shaped constitutional developments in a mainly European context since the Middle Ages. For anyone seriously interested in constitutional history, this book provides an excellent and erudite analysis.' Grahame Thompson, Economy and Society

Using a methodology that both analyzes particular constitutional texts and theories and reconstructs their historical evolution, Chris Thornhill examines the social role and legitimating status of constitutions from the first quasi-constitutional documents of medieval Europe, through the classical period of revolutionary constitutionalism, to recent processes of constitutional transition. A Sociology of Constitutions explores the reasons why modern societies require constitutions and constitutional norms and presents a distinctive socio-normative analysis of the constitutional preconditions of political legitimacy.

1. Medieval constitutions
2. Constitutions and early modernity
3. States, rights and the revolutionary form of power
4. Constitutions from Empire to Fascism
5. Constitutions and democratic transitions.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Politics & government [JP], Sociology [JHB]