The Scepter of Reason

This work explores the origins of Anglo-American constitutionalism, from both a philosophical and a historical perspective. It attempts to show that the institutional mechanisms incorporated into the American Constitution were modelled under a strong bias against collective discussion. The book also examines the alternative institutional system then proposed by a different and more radical tradition of thought, and evaluates this alternative from the ideal of a deliberate democracy. The book challenges much of the academic literature on the philosophical foundations of modern constitutionalism, and advances suggestions for a different approach.