| Popis: |
This chapter will argue that cities should be understood in light of a specific constitutional theory of federalism. Section I argues for a particular version of republican theory that justifies constitutionally entrenching a division of powers between territorially defined jurisdictions. Section II argues that cities and their residents have interests and characteristics that can be described and understood in the terms of this republican theory. Section III argues that according to a general theory of constitutional change, the Canadian Constitution should be amended to entrench the status of cities. The chapter concludes by showing how entrenchment in the Canadian context serves republican ends and by offering policy prescriptions for achieving entrenchment. This chapter contributes to an emerging theoretical debate about whether federations should constitutionally entrench the jurisdictional status of their cities. In the context of this debate, conceptual and normative arguments are advanced. Some arguments are conceptual, in that they aim to show how the reasons supporting entrenchment in this context are consistent with the reasons supporting entrenchment in federations, generally. Other arguments are normative, in that they advance republican claims that are available to individual city dwellers, as well as to cities that have distinct cultural identities. |
