Chapter 1 focuses on the state as a distinct form of political organization, and analyzes the formation and capacity of states in Latin America. It initially considers the states created by indigenous peoples in pre-Columbian times and the states subsequently imposed by the Spanish and Portuguese colonial rulers. It next shows how modern states were formed in Latin America after independence from Spain and Portugal. It argues that Latin America pursued a trade-led model of state formation and that the resulting states were weak, patrimonial states – that is, states that were treated by rulers, partially at least, as their private property and did not enforce the rule of law. Moreover, it holds that state weakness has been a persistent problem in Latin America, as a discussion of Mexico and Uruguay shows, and that contemporary states are unable to impose their rule in a uniform manner throughout the territory they claim to control. It maintains that Latin America has modern states, but also that these states are weak.

Chapter 16 presents the key findings and overarching arguments of the book. It notes that a century and a half into the political life of Latin America’s modern states the question of how to develop state capacity and how to manage the economy for the benefit of citizens has not been resolved. It maintains that the record of democracy and citizenship rights in contemporary Latin America is a mixed one, with some significant achievements, but also many serious problems. It argues that contemporary Latin American democracies have partly served as a stepping stone to improve the inclusiveness of democracy and to advance civil and social rights, and that these gains have shown the power of democracy to improve people’s lives. However, it also holds that problems of democracy have frequently prevented the elimination of problems for democracy, and that problems for democracy have blocked the possibility of reducing problems of democracy. It concludes by suggesting that the achievement of democracy in the late twentieth century was not the endpoint of the region’s history but, rather, a step that opened a new horizon in the never-ending quest for democracy and citizenship rights.

In Chapter 2 we examined the sources of constitutional rules within the UK’s governance order. We established the importance of Acts of Parliament, which can be used to override other rules and have not, in the UK’s history as a state, been challenged by the courts. The theoretical relationship between constitutional sources, however, provides a distorted picture of the workings of the UK Constitution, and this section therefore explores the workings of the institutions of central government in the UK. This chapter concentrates upon the executive branch of government and how this branch has achieved a dominant position within the UK Constitution, both in spite of and because of parliamentary sovereignty. We begin by charting how the modern executive managed to accrue powers shed by a declining monarchy and proceed to analyse how the politicised elements of the executive branch were able to harness the party system and support of the civil service to exert control over Parliament.

We continue on the theme of government and money in this chapter. Instead of having only one government at a time, however, we move on to consider a world in which each government has its own monetary policy. Indeed, the main piece added in this chapter is to examine the question: What happens when each country issues its own fiat money? The organizing principle is that there is a price at which each currency trades for another country’s currency.

This chapter examines the role, powers and effectiveness of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, an officer of Parliament more frequently referred to as the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Parliamentary Ombudsman plays an important role in helping to secure governmental accountability and also encourages continuing improvement in the standards of administrative decision-making. Alongside an assessment of the role, jurisdiction and powers of the Ombudsman, this chapter considers the effectiveness of the office and possibilities for reform.

It is time to let people trade. Given the people who live in this economy, it is straightforward to expect that young people have something – the consumption with which they are endowed – that old people want. For the trade to be mutually beneficial, the old people must have accumulated something valuable when young that serves as a kind of “store of value.” By offering this to the young person, we may get a trade.

In this chapter, our goal is to develop a model of the economy and then show how a make-believe, benevolent planner would choose the allocation. In other words, the planner would maximize the lifetime utility of all people living two periods subject to the resource constraint.

In most countries a codified constitution explains the overarching relationship between individuals and the state and establishes a coherent hierarchy of authoritative sources of law. The absence of a codified UK Constitution means that constitutionally significant rules can be found in a range of legal sources including statutes, statutory instruments, the Royal Prerogative and judicial decisions. There is even a prominent role for political understandings, known as conventions. This chapter compares the operation of the UK Constitution to the codified constitutions adopted in most other liberal democracies and introduces constitutional debates which will be developed in later chapters.

In this chapter we examine the structural reforms to the apex of the judicial branch implemented as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. By reforming the office of Lord Chancellor and establishing a Supreme Court for the UK, the Constitutional Reform Act severed the structural link between the executive, legislature and the senior judiciary in the UK. As a result, the Act has arguably cemented the idea of the institutional independence of the judiciary and has shown the contemporary relevance of ideas associated with separation of powers in achieving and implementing constitutional renewal.

The UK’s Constitution is not insulated from external influences. In considering the sources of constitutional law, we cannot ignore the influence of public international law and international legal orders to which the UK belongs. This chapter therefore examines the relationship between the UK’s legal systems, public international law in general, and introduces specific treaties which are significant for the UK’s legal systems, such as the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).