David Ritchie

Shifting Foundations and Historical Contingencies David Ritchie

This project is a deconstruction both of the liberal mechanisms employed by contemporary political founders to approximate their goals, and the grouping of these mechanisms into totalizing wholes which are designed to constitute the terms of social, political and legal organization. In so doing, this book explores the question of whether positivist constitutionalism is sufficient to create and structure a healthy social group. The author maintains that such a reliance on empty formalism is not sufficient to accomplish this task. Ultimately, the author suggests that the organic elements of culture, tradition and social practices of a nation engaged in constitutional formation must be incorporated into a constitution in order for that text to be authentically linked to the forming or re-forming nation.