POL 101W Chapter Notes -Limited Government, Legislature, Constitutionalism

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 101W
• Professor: Andy Heard

Document Summary

Constitutions are both abstract and untouchable, and have tremendous practical consequences. Every organized society has a constitution, because one is needed to identify and define the powers of those who exercise political authority over others. A constitution is the collection of the laws, principles, and practices that together provide the rules for who governs and how. Constitutions can be both flexible and rigid : a flexible constitution is one that can change and evolve through normal legislative processes, a rigid constitution is one that requires a special process in order to be changed. Every political system relies on informal rules called constitutional conventions. this is because no formal constitution can provide all the details as to all the powers of government and circumstances in which they may be used. Constitutionalism is a foundation for all modern democracies because it provides that all government actors must act according to the powers that the constitution gives them.