Comparing congress: Bryce on deliberation and decline in legislatures

Boston University Law Review

Volumn 89, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 847-862

  Uhr, John ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 67649531411     PISSN: 00068047     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (91)

1. 1 See WOODROW WILSON, CONGRESSIONAL GOVERNMENT: A STUDY IN AMERICAN POLITICS (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 1981) (1885).
2. 2 See David R. Mayhew, Is Congress "the Broken Branch"?, 89 B. U. L. REV. 357, 362 (2009);
3. Kenneth A. Shepsle, Dysfunctional Congress?, 89 B. U. L. REV. 371, 371-72 (2009);
4. Barbara Sinclair, Question: What's Wrong with Congress? Answer: It's a Democratic Legislature, 89 B. U. L. REV. 387, 388-90 (2009).
5. 3 See generally Graham K. Wilson, Congress in Comparative Perspective, 89 B. U. L. REV. 827 (2009).
6. 4 See, e.g., MICHAEL FOLEY, THE BRITISH PRESIDENCY 1-26 (2000) (highlighting certain 'presidential' features of the Blair premiership);
7. MICHAEL FOLEY, THE RISE OF THE BRITISH PRESIDENCY 256-83 (1993) (comparing various dimensions of the British premiership generally with the American presidency).
8. 5 Bryce is one of the founders of the modern political science of comparative government, and something of a forgotten forerunner of theories of deliberative democracy. See JOSEPH M. BESSETTE, THE MILD VOICE OF REASON: DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND AMERICAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 213-15, 221-22 (1994) (presenting Bryce's views on impediments to citizen deliberation in the late-nineteenth century, and testing these impediments in modern-day America).
9. 6 See 2 JAMES BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES 367-77 (London, Macmillan 1921) thereinafter BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES].
10. 7 See 1 id. at 174.
11. 8 THOMAS E. MANN and NORMAN J. ORNSTEIN, THE BROKEN BRANCH: HOW CONGRESS IS FAILING AMERICA AND HOW TO GET IT BACK ON TRACK 213 (2d ed. 2008).
12. 9 Id.
13. 10 Filibustering is a prime example of such delayed decision-making.
14. 11 MANN and ORNSTEIN, supra note 8, at 170-75.
15. 12 Id. For an analysis of deliberative democracy in a parliamentary setting, see JOHN UHR, DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY IN AUSTRALIA: THE CHANGING PLACE OF PARLIAMENT (1998).
16. 13 MANN and ORNSTEIN, supra note 8, at 170-75.
17. 14 Id. at 175.
18. 15 Id. at 169-79.
19. 16 See WILSON, supra note 1, at 57-162 (exposing many of the weaknesses of Congress when compared with a Parliamentary government).
20. 17 See generally JAMES BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH (London, Macmillan 1889) [hereinafter BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH]. On this work, see Sanford LEVTNSON, OUR UNDEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION: WHERE THE CONSTITUTION GOES WRONG (AND HOW WE THE PEOPLE CAN CORRECT IT) 82 (2006).
21. 18 See MANN and ORNSTEIN, supra note 8, at 14-24.
22. 19 THE FEDERALIST No. 52, at 324-25 (James Madison) (Isaac Kramnick ed., 1987).
23. 20 THE FEDERALIST No. 53 (James Madison), supra note 19, at 327.
24. 21 THE FEDERALIST No. 56 (James Madison), supra note 19, at 342.
25. 22 THE FEDERALIST no. 41 (James Madison), supra note 19, at 269-70; see also THE FEDERALIST no. 58 (James Madison), supra note 19, at 350; The Federalist No. 63 (James Madison), supra note 19, at 374; The Federalist No. 71 (Alexander Hamilton), supra note 19, at 412.
26. 23 MANN and ORNSTEIN, supra note 8, at 14-24.
27. 24 See WILSON, supra note 1, at 80.
28. 25 Id.
29. 26 Compare id. at 77-80, with 1 BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH, supra note 17, at 150-60 (contrasting the English system of organizing assemblies into well-defined parties with the American system of dividing the assembly into a number of much smaller bodies).
30. 27 WILSON, supra note 1, at 91.
31. 28 Id. at 147.
32. 29 Id. at 91, 147.
33. 30 Id. at 72.
34. 31 Id.
35. 32 Id. at 145.
36. 33 Id. at 24, 78-79 ("In a word, the national parties do not act in Congress under the restraint of a sense of immediate responsibility. ").
37. 34 Id. at 145.
38. 35 Id. at 77.
39. 36 Id. at 76.
40. 37 Id. at 142.
41. 38 Id.; cf. 1 BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH, supra note 17, at 205-24 (describing the relations of congress to the President).
42. 39 See, e.g., UHR, supra note 12, at 77-81 ("[O]ne can discern an approach to a federated Australia which holds out the possibility of... a new synthesis which overcomes some of the limitations of the antithesis between 'responsible government' and 'federalism.'").
43. 40 See, e.g., STANLEY BACH, PLATYPUS AND PARLIAMENT: THE AUSTRALIAN SENATE IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 326 (2003) ("Perhaps no other national assembly in a truly democratic nation rubs more strenuously up against the prevailing taxonomic categories that shape and underlie political and constitutional analysis.");
44. AREND LIJPHART, PATTERNS OF DEMOCRACY 204-09 (1999) (comparing various forms of bicameralism throughout the globe).
45. 41 See generally JAMES BRYCE, The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1 STUDIES IN HISTORY AND JURISPRUDENCE 391 (1901) (critiquing the Australian constitution and parliamentary system of government);
46. Graham Maddox, James Bryce: Englishness and Federalism in America and Australia, 34 PUBLIUS: J. FEDERALISM 53, 53-54 (2004).
47. 42 Haig Patapan, Melancholy and Amnesia: Toqueville's Influence on Australian Democratic Theory, 49 AUSTL. J. POL. and HIST. 1, 6-11 (2003).
48. 43 AUSTRALIAN CONST, chs. I, II, III.
49. 44 Id. at ch. I.
50. 45 Id. at ch. V.
51. 46 Id. at ch. VIII.
52. 47 Id. atch. I, § 1.
53. 48 Constitution Act, 1867, 30 and 31 Vict. Ch. 3, art. IV, § 17 (U. K.), as reprinted in R. S. C., No. 5 (Appendix 1985).
54. 49 NEW ZEALAND CONST, pt. III.
55. 50 See infra notes 62-64 and accompanying text.
56. 51 See 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 545-68; Maddox, supra note 41, at 65-68 (observing, inter alia, Bryce's "blindness to the atrocities perpetrated by English settlers on Aborigines").
57. 52 See 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 597-604 ("[Oligarchy springs up everywhere as by a law of nature....").
58. 53 See id. at 223-29.
59. 54 DAVID DAY, ANDREW FISHER: PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA 191-92 (2008).
60. 55 2 HERBERT A. L. FISHER, JAMES BRYCE 76 (1927).
61. 56 For a detailed account of this struggle, see NEAL BLEWETT, THE PEERS, THE PARTIES AND THE PEOPLE: THE BRITISH GENERAL ELECTIONS OF 1910 (1972).
62. 57 U. S. CONST, amend. XVII, § 1.
63. 58 2 FISHER, supra note 55, at 75; see also Maddox, supra note 41, at 63-68 (documenting the development of Bryce's interest in Australian democracy).
64. 59 See 2 FISHER, supra note 55, at 75-79 (describing the context of Bryce's visit to Australia);
65. see also 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 382, 390 (illustrating certain "perversions" or "defects" of representative government via the particular example of the Australian legislature).
66. 60 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 181, 495-96.
67. 61 Id. at 281-84.
68. 62 See id. at 367-77.
69. 63 E.g., 1 BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH, supra note 17, at 150-60.
70. 64 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 371, 377; see also JAMES BRYCE, THE HINDRANCES TO GOOD CITIZENSHIP 75-104 (1909) (discussing party spirit as a hindrance to good citizenship).
71. 65 1 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 134.
72. 66 2 id. at 368.
73. 67 Id. at 367.
74. 68 Id. at 373-75.
75. 69 Id. at 337-39.
76. 70 Id. at 367-77.
77. 71 See UHR, supra note 12, at 37-55 (discussing republicanism and liberalism as theories of parliamentary power);
78. JEREMY WALDRON, THE DIGNITY OF LEGISLATION 63-91 (1999) (discussing Locke's views on the role of the legislature and constraining legislative power).
79. 72 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 384-90.
80. 73 1 id. at 181 ("The discussion which forms opinion by securing the due expression of each view or set of views so that the sounder may prevail... is an educative process constantly in progress.");
81. 2 id. at 501-03.
82. 74 2 id. at 337-38.
83. 75 See 2 BRYCE, THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH, supra note 17, at 209-334 (offering, inter alia, a thorough critique of the nature of public opinion, its particular varieties, its failures, and its successes).
84. 76 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 391, 632.
85. 77 Id. at 634.
86. 78 See Wilson, supra note 3, at 828 n. 6.
87. 79 WILSON, supra note 1, at 23 ("[T]he new leadership of the Executive... may bring about... an integration which will substitute statesmanship for government by mass meeting. It may put this whole volume hopelessly out of date.").
88. 80 MANN and ORNSTEIN, supra note 8, at 263.
89. 81 Id. at 211-13.
90. 82 Id. at 170-75, 215.
91. 83 2 BRYCE, MODERN DEMOCRACIES, supra note 6, at 614-15.