The New Fourth Branch: Institutions for Protecting Constitutional Democracy (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781009048491)

Twenty-first-century constitutions now typically include a new 'fourth branch' of government, a group of institutions charged with protecting constitutional democracy, including electoral management bodies, anticorruption agencies, and ombuds offices. This book offers the first general theory of the fourth branch; in a world where governance is exercised through political parties, we cannot be confident that the traditional three branches are enough to preserve constitutional democracy. The fourth branch institutions can, by concentrating within themselves distinctive forms of expertise, deploy that expertise more effectively than the traditional branches are capable of doing. However, several case studies of anticorruption efforts, electoral management bodies, and audit bureaus show that the fourth branch institutions do not always succeed in protecting constitutional democracy, and indeed sometimes undermine it. The book concludes with some cautionary notes about placing too much hope in these - or, indeed, in any - institutions as the guarantors of constitutional democracy.

Author: Mark Tushnet
ISBN-10: 100904849X
ISBN-13: 9781009048491
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/02/2021
Pages: 220
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.42d