Between Populism and Juristocracy

The Republicanism of Rainer Knopff

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6236571
AutoresGeoffrey Sigalet (0000-0002-7789-401X, McGill University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen54
Número3
Páginas513-533
Fecha de publicación2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423921000354
OpenAlexW3172430832
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas22

Rainer Knopff's scholarship on Canadian constitutionalism has offered some of the most trenchant criticism of the exercise of judicial review under the Charter, yet his theory has largely been misunderstood (as has that of his frequent co-author F. L. Morton). This article exposes two prominent critiques of Knopff's constitutional writings as straw man arguments and provides a republican account of his constitutional theory. The first straw man argument is that Knopff supports a majoritarian or populist conception of direct democracy. This claim is belied by Knopff's embrace of representative democracy and institutions structured to encourage reflexive deliberation. The second straw man argument is that Knopff is a moral rights skeptic. Knopff's rights skepticism is a legal skepticism about the determinacy of many rights that is merely a function of his inclusive legal positivism. The article concludes by reflecting on the republican lessons that Knopff's constitutional scholarship continues to offer, including how holding legislatures responsible for settling reasonable disagreements about legally indeterminate Charter rights might help counteract the twin threats of populism and juristocracy

Argument (complex analysis · Constitutional law · Constitutional theory · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Populism · Scholarship · Skepticism · Sociology · Criminal Law and Evidence · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Ombudsman and Human Rights · Philosophy