Between Populism and Juristocracy
The Republicanism of Rainer Knopff
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6236571 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Geoffrey Sigalet (0000-0002-7789-401X, McGill University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 513-533 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0008423921000354 |
| OpenAlex | W3172430832 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 22 |
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
Political Political Theory
Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy
On the People's Terms
Human Rights and Social Technology
Same-Sex Marriage in Canada
The Supreme Court on Trial
Republicanism and the division of powers in Canada
What Is Populism
Populism and the Politics of Rights
Terms of Entitlement
Ghosts of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The politics of the millennium
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |