Sieyès versus Bicameralism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6397443
AutoresLucia Rubinelli (0009-0005-8838-0320, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume81
Fascículo2
Páginas255-279
Data de publicação2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Review of Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034670518001201
OpenAlexW2932987737
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas10

Bicameralism is traditionally considered necessary to the principle of the limitation of power and, as such, a key feature of the liberal constitutional state. Yet the history of the French Revolution reveals that this has not always been the case and that bicameralism's relationship to liberal constitutionalism is more complex than is traditionally assumed. This article will discuss how the Abbé Sieyès, one of the founding fathers of modern constitutionalism, rejected bicameralism not only because it was contrary to the revolutionary principle of equality, but also because it did not actually succeed at limiting power. Even worse, bicameralism would threaten the constitutional system by forcing the legislative power into procedural impasses that would eventually open the way to despotism. Putting Sieyès's claims in historical perspective, the paper aims to offer some historical nuance and insights into bicameralism's relationship to liberal constitutionalism

Constitutionalism · Democracy · Law and economics · Legislature · Limiting · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Engineering · European Political History Analysis · Law · Mathematics · Political Theory and Influence