Dear Readers, Given that I proposed a food issue more than two years ago, it is my great pleasure to finally present to you the Politics of Food. While the culinary and gastronomic—the world of foie gras and Big Macs—might seem out of the norm for the Harvard Political Review, this cover in fact epitomizes … Read more
The United States is unique among nations worldwide in its system of “trust votes” to elect its president. This system, known as the Electoral College, involves bestowing states with a certain number of “electors” who, if elected, cast their ballots in turn for the nation’s two highest offices. By empowering the Electoral College to elect … Read more
The Roadmap to South Africa’s Constitution At the time of its creation, the South African Constitution was hailed as a landmark success for young democracies, especially in Africa. The New York Times in a 1996 article described the event as “What was once nearly unthinkable became nearly unanimous… as South Africa adopted a new Constitution … Read more
How Hungray’s Conservative Wing Wrote a New Constitution for Itself In 2010, Hungary embarked on one of the most important tasks for the survival of their government by beginning to draft a constitution. Members of the parliamentary drafting committee wrote the document on their iPad. The “iPad” constitution attempts to completely undue the nation’s communist … Read more
A Transformative Reflection The late Justice William Brennan stated that “the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.” Justice Brennan holds a reputation for … Read more
The allegedly transformed state of treason When is a citizen guilty of treason? The Treason Clause in the U.S. Constitution was written to prosecute Americans who betrayed the country on the behalf of enemy nation-states. For much of the United States’ history, the charge was a substantial one: rarely invoked, and usually only then against … Read more
The power of the Oval Office continues to grow While the Constitution meticulously lays out the workings and duties of the legislative branch, the founding fathers’ commentary on the executive branch proved significantly more limited. The powers explicitly granted to the President are wholly contained within Article II, Section II. Among the few responsibilities listed … Read more
Political catch-phrase or principled doctrine? Penned by our Founding Fathers 224 years ago, the Constitution has long been construed differently by political forces to justify their own political agendas. Conservatives in particular have been active in using this document to advocate for fundamental changes in government policy. Their efforts have culminated with congressional proceedings questioning … Read more
In 2009, 33 legal scholars pushed for a Judiciary Act implementing regular appointments to the Supreme Court, term limits for Justices, ousting aging Justices, and reforming the Court’s process of granting review. An observer might have expected the reformers to gain traction; after all, most of America’s government remains spectacularly unpopular. Yet such expectations proved … Read more
Political catch-phrase or principled doctrine? Penned by our Founding Fathers 224 years ago, the Constitution has long been construed differently by political forces to justify their own political agendas. Conservatives in particular have been active in using this document to advocate for fundamental changes in government policy. Their efforts have culminated with congressional proceedings questioning … Read more