Absolutist Constitution And Its Impact On Politics And Society

It is definite to say that the design of any constitution of any country has impacts on the politics and society of that country. Nevertheless, the impacts that it has on the country can be positive and negative as it depends on say whether that country has a democratic regime or an authoritarian regime and this piece of academic writing will demonstrate how. For example in a democratic regime, a constitution will most likely state how power is to be dispersed which will have a different impact on the politics and society in comparison to an authoritarian regime where a constitution is most likely going to state that power is to be concentrated in just one person or a small group of people ie an oligarchy.

To begin with, how would one describe
check if I need to reference? All these types will have different impacts on the politics and society of a country. An absolutist constitution is one that is likely to exist in absolute monarchies. Let’s look at Saudi Arabia as an example. ‘Individual rights are strictly limited and Islam is the state religion and the only religion permitted to be practiced openly’ (Gimpel, 2011). Having an absolutist constitution impacts the society because it limits citizens’ ability to flourish individually and it limits their individual rights. It can impact the politics because power is not dispersed but rather concentrated in just one small body. In addition, there is no system of elections thus society does not have any control over their own governance. Stone Sweet (2014) stated, ‘this type of constitution typically rejects popular sovereignty, rights and separation of power’ (p.152). The following paragraph will state the second type of
Let’s look at the UK for example. The UK has a system of parliamentary sovereignty. This is the idea that parliament is the highest source of authority. ‘Parliament can make, amend or repeal any law it wishes’ (Heywood, 2011) do I need to reference whole book or chapter? This can impact the politics of a country because it means that parliament has complete control over the political system and other political institutions can only exercise power if authorised by parliament. Nevertheless, parliament being the most superior body can have negative impacts on the society. Even though there is the Human Rights Act, Parliament can still override it as it’s not entrenched, like the Bill of Rights in the US is (Heywood, 2011). The following paragraph will state the third type of