Neither the same Nation Nor Different Nations

Constitutional Conventions in the United States and Australia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2108062
AutoresLyn Spillman (0000-0003-0725-2457, University of Notre Dame, autor correspondente)
Ano1996
Volume38
Fascículo1
Páginas149-181
Data de publicação1996-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417500020156
OpenAlexW1997360173
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas80

Debates in constitutional conventions in the United States in 1787 and Australia in 1897 reveal similarities and differences that illuminate the process by which nations became increasingly meaningful forms of social organization. Although the tone of these debates tended to be technical and pragmatic, focusing on specific concerns about the machinery of 'good government,' convention delegates showed in their assumptions, their omissions, and in the claims and comparisons they repeated, what they were coming to perceive as commonalities. Claims about what identified the new nations were part of the repertoire of debate used by delegates as they addressed their tasks. So the conventions distilled ideas available to political elites about what was taken to be distinctive about and shared by prospective citizens

Convention · Government (linguistics) · Linguistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Repertoire · Sociology · Tone (literature) · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Australian History and Society · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Public Administration