The Instruments of D/democratic Government and Governing

• Author: Gregory Tardi
• Pages: 39-58

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 

The Instruments of D/democratic

Government and Governing

Setting a Path Toward Better Understanding

e f‌irst proposition of this study is that participatory citizenship

requires a more thorough understanding of D/democratic govern-

ment and governing than what currently prevails. us, studying

public law, public policy and administration, and political science

singly is inadequate to the understanding necessary for eective

and participatory citizenship. An interdisciplinary frame of mind

becomes necessary, together with a methodology that enables study

of the interactions and of the balance of forces among the several

topics in question. As D/democracy is contingent on the rule of law,

the force of law prevails over policy and politics.

e path toward better understanding f‌irst requires a suitable

methodology. In this instance, “suitable” must be taken as a syno-

nym not only for novel but also for practical. Political law will add

nothing to our knowledge o f government and governance if it me rely

replicates existing perspectives. Great scholars have devised a num-

ber of ways of analyzing the place of law in D/democratic society.

e literature of law and politics is abundant in this regard. How-

ever, these books use a method of analysis with a predisposed frame

of reference and examine the law in a predetermined conceptual

POLITICAL LAW IN CANADA

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framework. For this study, it is more appropriate to survey the evi-

dence neutrally, without any philosophical predisposition. Political

law strives for a comprehensive overview of the legal system, as do

other studies. In contrast to other studies, however, what it looks at

is the actual use of the specif‌ic instruments of governance and at

the relationships of inf‌luence and power among those instruments.

It derives its conclusions about the rule of law from the evidence of

the relationships among the instruments.

Accomplishing the analytical aim of political law requires famil-

iarization with all the various categories of instruments of govern-

ment and governance. It also needs the vision to categorize these

instruments properly. Considering the multiplicity of instruments

of all types in a modern, developed D/democratic state, this initial

phase of study can seem challenging. In fact, this is a most interest-

ing gateway into the structure and mechanics of government.

Recognizing the Law of Public Institutions and

Administration (LPIA)

It may be asserted that all public law relates, in some fashion, to the

structure of government and the conduct of public aairs. However,

not all public law is equally relevant to the specif‌ic matters and

issues of concern to political law.

Constitutional Law

Questions of national concern capture the most public attention.

us, the best-known area of public law relevant to statecraft, con-

sidered to be the pinnacle from which to take a legal perspective

on government, is constitutional law. In the specif‌ic Canadian

context, the traditional focus of constitutional law since Confed-

eration was originally federalism. With the incorporation of the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the constitutional fabric

in , the def‌inition and assurance of Charter rights has in large

measure overtaken federalism as the subject of primary attention in