Civics and Ethics

CHAPTER ONE
Defining Civics, Citizenship, Ethics
and Morality
• The word civics is derived from the Latin word
“civi-tates”; which means citizens.
• Therefore, civics is the study of the theoretical
and practical aspects of citizenship including
its rights and duties’.
• Being civics deals with citizenship which is
about state-individual relationship-it is a
citizenship study.
• In short civics is the study of participation,
self-determination, negotiation, respect and
tolerance in a democratic system.
• What is citizenship?
• It is a relationship between an individual and
a state, defined by the law of that state, with
corresponding duties and rights in that state.
• Although nationality is often synonymous with
citizenship, includes the relationship of an
individual to a state but suggests other
privileges, especially protection aboard.
• Therefore, different from others like nationals, aliens
and noncitizen nationals, citizenship is a full membership
of an individual in a state.
• Morality: in short deals with
morals/standards/values/norms which are emanated
from the culture/tradition of a society.
• Ethics: is a field of study which deals with what is
“good” or “bad”, what are “right” or “wrong”, what is
“acceptable” and “not acceptable” and what is “morally
sound” and “immoral” in human activities and
deeds/actions.
Similarities and differences of Civics and Ethics
• One of the major difference citizenship study
(civics) and morality study (ethics) is that the
former one deals with the political and legal
aspect of the life of an individual citizen in
relation to a state where as the later one
focused with the study of the cultural aspect
of his/her life in relation to a society
• Civics and ethics share the followings
commonalities/similarities:
• The Issue of Membership: Membership to a
certain groupings is the very essence of both
citizenship and morality studies.
• In citizenship study membership is meant that
individual citizen is member to a political and
legal community of the highest order(the
state)
• whereas in morality study it largely denotes to that of
a cultural community tied up by common moral and
value bonds whether there is government or not.
• In other words, Citizenship basically needs two
parties and their relations for its existence under
minimum conditions—the state and the individual
citizen, while morality needs the relation between
the individual and the larger social group as well as
the state directly and indirectly as a rule maker and
protector.
• As such, civics tends to focus on the vertical and
artificial relation of the individual while ethics
studies the horizontal and natural relations.
The Issue of Rights and Obligations:
• Citizenship entails a set of rights and obligations
for individual members thus the violation or
respect of which results in some arrangement
of punishment or reward by the group as well
as the state.
• Morality on its part is nothing but a list of
values standardizing bad and good behaviors
and dispositions of the individual by the larger
mass or group.
• The Issue of Institutional Protection: Both
citizenship and morality are founded on
institutionalized origin, development,
operation, supervision and protection within
the community.
• The state through the government and all
agencies under it regulate and administer
citizenship on day-today basis while such
social institutions like the church, family,
neighborhood and others inspect morality and
ethical standards more informally.
• The Issue of Interactive Duality:
• Both citizenship and morality reinforce each
other as the political community of citizens is
at the same time the cultural community of
human beings.
• Most legal rules, restrictions and controls over
the behaviors of the citizen get their origin
from the moral traditions and thoughts of the
people over its individual member.
• For instance, homicide is as seriously
punishable crime by the law of citizenship as it
is unacceptable and denounced by the moral
rule of cultural community.
Goals of Civics and Ethics
• several and complex real life problems that
make the need to study civics and Ethics
• Civic/political culture related problems:
• civic culture is the one with a good level of civic
consciousness in which citizens’ possess a
tendency to be reasonably concerned with the
conduct of politics and to get actively participated.

• Civic culture is understood as a trend (of

behaviors, attitudes and orientations) among
citizens to be concerned about political processes
and being efficacious /efficient in the political
climate
• Based on this definition, residents of a given
state usually demonstrate participatory,
passive/subject or parochial civic culture and
each affects the level of awareness they
develop.
• subjects (citizens with passive civic culture)
are those with inconsistent interest in politics
may be because they feel their private
conditions are too good to be concerned
about politics (say join national elections)
• or they have largely poor general knowledge
and understanding about national politics.
• At any rate, this group of citizens tends to be
passive in its civic participation.
• The worst case is, however, that of parochial
civic culture in which we have citizens with
neither the knowledge about political
developments at national level nor the
interest to participate at any level and agenda
of discussion.
• Socio-economic related problems: civic
mindedness is a highly desirable quality/virtue of
a citizen due to its positive contribution for the
development and transformation of society i.e.
• when the mentality of civic –mindedness
becomes a dominant national spirit, citizens
develop a strong tendency to be committed to
and concerned daily with the well – being of the
general public
• Civic – minded citizens have a clear
understanding and awareness about the
strategic importance of public infrastructures,
common natural resources and properties and
thus they never hesitate to guard and preserve
such public utilities and infrastructures as
roads, bridges, school buildings, hospitals,
water pipelines, electric poles and cables, etc.
against any damage and misuse.
• several evident problems regarding the virtue
of socio-economic lives of both governments
and societies manifested mostly in the form of
repeated and uninterrupted records of
‘’abuses and careless treatment” by citizens
and government of ‘common goods’.
• This can be seen from three recognizable
angles.
• vandalism: when citizens tend to intentionally
and illegally destroy public infrastructures,
utilities and properties like wild animals,
forests, water, electric and communication
facilities.
• prebendalism : a concept denoting the use of
state office as an instrument for the gains of
individuals and their ethnic brethren.
• kleptocracy : a behavior in which the entire
government system, relations between
citizens and the state, citizens with each other,
etc. become dominated by official and
proactive attitudes of corruption.
Competences of Good Citizen
• Legality: virtuous citizens freely adhere to the
fundamental rules required for the
maintenance of a system of constitutional
government without requiring the imposition
of external authority.
• Patriotism: it is the love, devotion and
commitment to one’s country.
• It was said that a true patriot should respect
and adore his country’s symbols like flag and
national anthem.
• Responsibility: Citizens have various obligations
in their society.
• These can be moral, ethical, and legal origins.
• Industriousness: work, being necessary for the
survival of the human race and civilization, is
the main concern of human beings.
• Self-reliance: is a remarkable level of
dependency on one’s power, resources and
judgment.
• Active community participation: it is the active
involvement of citizens in the socio-economic
and political spheres.
• In sum the goals of teaching civics and ethics at
any level of educational institutions is to produce
competent, high moral standard society and
responsible citizens who can ask and use their
rights and fulfill their obligations in accordance
with the laws of their respective country.
 CHAPTER TWO

UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY, STATE AND

GOVERNMENT
• Definition and Attributes of Society
• The Definition of Society: in its broader sense
society can be defined as a largest community of
people living together.
• Or it is the collective existence of human begins
in varying forms of organization and relationships
over a period of time in a defined territory
• Attributes of Society: Society is constituted by
certain elements which include: common
culture, bounded territory, variety of
interactions, the feeling of solidarity, common
political or social structure, and common
language.
• Common geographical territory: a particular
society has been demarcated by the other
with natural or artificial boundaries.
• Variety of interactions: the society is full of
interactions and the different social processes
and going on in the society.
• The people come face to face and interact
among themselves and share certain interests,
attitudes, skills, traditions, customs, values,
objectives and mores/civilizations.
• Feeling of solidarity: since members of a society
occupy a common territory, share common
customs and traditions, common values, common
history, common cultures, self-contained
interdependence on each other obviously causes
oneness and feelings of development and solidarity
among themselves.
• Common culture: each society has its own
culture and individual’s relationships are organized
and structured by the culture.
• Social Structures: members of a society are
socially organized.
• Society itself has a structure and the
important components of social structure
include: norms, rules, power, authority,
groups, associations and institutions.
• Functional differentiation: all individuals in
human society never perform similar activities
and functions.
• Rather they perform different functions
depending upon their sex, age, interest,
abilities, skills and other qualifications.
• 2.1.1. Contending theories of Society
• The three views, the once most widely used
by sociologists, are the functionalism, conflict,
and interactions perspective.
• Functionalism/structural-functionalism:
Think of society as a living organism in which
each part of the organism contributes to its
survival.
• This view is the functionalist perspective,
which emphasizes the way that part of society
is structured to maintain its stability.
• Therefore, accordingly, society is seen as a
resulting from consensus about what is
important (values), and how we should
behave (norms) in particular situation (roles).
• Conflict theory: conflict theorists see the social
world in continual struggle.
• The conflict perspective assumes that social
behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or
tension between competing groups.
• Such conflict need not be violent; it can take the
form of labor negotiations, party politics,
competition between religious groups for
members, or disputes over the governmental
budget, etc.
• Inter-actionist theory: workers interacting
of job, encounters in public places
• Whereas functionalist and conflict theorists
both analyze large scale society wide pattern
of behavior, the inter-actionist perspective
generalizes about every day forms of social
intonation in order to understand society as a
whole.
2.2. Definition and Attributes of the State
The Definition of State
• State is self- governing political entity which
consists of five essential elements (population,
territory, government, sovereignty and recognition).
• Therefore, state is a political association or entity
that establishes sovereign jurisdiction with in a
defined territorial borders and exercise authority
through a set of institutions over all members of a
society.
Attributes of State
The state is fundamentally characterized by the
following five (5) major attributes or features:
• Sovereignty: A state exercises absolute and
unrestrained/unreserved power in that it
stands above all other associations, institutions,
and groups in a given society.
• Sovereignty is the highest (supreme) decision
making power.
Two dimensions of Sovereignty:
• Internal sovereignty: refers to the state's
government not that of any other institution or
other state decides on how it will manage its
domestic affairs, problems and challenges:
formulate their own laws and rules, etc in general.
• External Sovereignty: is about the external sphere
of a state. it implies that the country should (is) free
from any foreign control of any kind of the external
affairs of a state.
Human populations:
• The jurisdiction of the state is geographically
defined, and it encompasses all those who live
within the state's borders, whether they are
citizens or non-citizens.
• At the international stage, the state is
therefore regarded as an autonomous entity.
2.2.1. Theories on the Origin and Development of
State
• Kinship: blood relationship is the first and
foremost factor that led to the creation of family as
the first unit of collective life.
• Then family became a tribe and tribes eventually
create society and society at length creates the
state.
• Hence, the state is the eventual extension of the
family.
• Religion: religion emerged out of the way of
life of the people living in the families and
tribes.
• It assumed the form of social practices
associated with worshipping some objects of
nature of some mystical forces.
• When the bond of kinship became weak, the
bond of religion strengthened the relation.
• Social contract/agreement: the authority of
rulers is based on some kind of agreement
between ruler and the subjects.
• It regarded people as the source of authority.
In other words, men had originally created the
state by means of a social contract to which
each individual had consented.
• Force (physical force): it is another factor is
that state is the consequence of the forcible
subjugation through long continued war-fare
among primitive groups; i.e. it is the result of
wars and conflicts that have been endemic in
the history of human beings.
• 2.2.2 Types of State Structure: Unitary vs
Federal
• Unitary state/unitarism: is a form of state
structure which is characterized by
centralization of power and indivisible
sovereignty.
• The national government is legally supreme
over sub-national units.
• Unique Features of Unitary Structure: a
unitary state may have the following unique
characteristic features.
• Supremacy of the central legislature: there
is only unicameral kind of legislature, which is
supreme.
• Absence of subsidiary sovereign bodies:
sovereignty is vested in the hands of a central
government and hence sub-national bodies
are not sovereign because in a unitary state
sovereignty is indivisible
• Re-centralization of power at the will of the
central government unilaterally: the power
that may have been decentralized to sub-
national bodies can be recentralized at the will
of the central government unilaterally.
•  Unchecked centralization of power at the
center: sub-national bodies can be reshaped,
reorganized and even abolished at the will of
the central government.
2.3.1.2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Unitarism

Advantages: even though unitarism is characterized by centralism

and indivisibility of sovereignty, it has the following
merits/advantages.
• The organization is relatively simple,
• Conflict of jurisdiction is avoided,
• Duplication of civil servants and services are comparatively rare
because powers and functions are centralized at the
center/National government,
• Uniformity of law, policy and administration can be maintained
throughout the whole state, and
• It is advantageous to a country with relatively small area and
homogenous population.
Disadvantages: in addition to the above merits
unitarism has the following demerits.
• Overburdens the national legislature with numerous
local matters.
• In fast changing world, the central authority cannot
cope with and maintain pace with the issues prevailing.
• Leaving distant authorities and may lack adequate
knowledge of local conditions to the determination of
policies and the regulation of matters, which may
concern only to the localities affected.
• Hence, it is relatively less responsible to local
needs and interests.
• Tends to responsive local initiatives and
interests in public affairs and impairs the vitality
of local government.
• It restrains the self-governance and self-
determination of sub-national bodies/units.
• It facilitates the development of central
bureaucracy.
 Federal form of State Structure
• Federal form of state structure (federal state)
is the form of state structure where by power
is formally (constitutionally) divided between
the federal / central government and sub-
national (regional or provincial) governments,
each of which is locally supreme in its own
sphere.
• Features of Federal form of State Structure
• The existence dual polities: two relatively
autonomous levels of government i.e. both the
central government (federal) and sub national
(regional) state levels possess a range of powers and
functions that other cannot encroach/influence.
• Written constitution: a federal state has a written
(codified) constitution.
• The constitution stipulates formal (constitutional)
division of authority between the federal and sub
national governments.
• Supremacy of the federal government and
constitution: in most states, the federal government
and constitution are superior and supreme over the
sub national governments and constitutions in
conducting key issues and activities of the country.
• Equal power shared by the federal authority and
federal units (decentralized federalism): this does not
mean they have equal power in one affair, rather the
reserve powers (power applied when required but
reserve until then) and federal powers are seen equally.
• Absence of the re-centralization of powers
and authority by the federal government at
its will unilaterally
• Absence of amending the constitution or
some of its provisions by federal government
unilaterally: hence, it needs the consent or
agreement of the sub national/regional
governments for amending the federal
constitution.
• Constitutional arbiter: the formal provisions of
the constitution are interpreted by a supreme court
(the judiciary) at the federal level, which there by
arbitrates in case of conflict (disputes) between
federal and regional governments.
• Linking institutions: in order to develop
cooperation, partnership and understandings
between the federal and regional governments,
regional governments have representation both at
the national and regional legislature.
 CHAPTER THREE
UNDERSTANDING CITIZENSHIP: ETHIOPIAN
FOCUS
3.1. Definition and Dimensions of Citizenship
• Definitions: as to the views of different
scholars like Isin Engin F. and Turne Bryan S. r
defined citizenship, it is the legal, political, and
economic forms of relationships of individuals
with their respective state which is defined by
the law of that state
• it can be defined as the full membership of
individuals in a given state (regardless of their
ethnic identity, culture, color, sex as well as
educational, economic and political status
member/citizens receive equal protection of
the law from their state).
Dimension of citizenship
• These include: civil, political, socio-economic,
and cultural or collective aspects.
• The civil Dimension of citizenship: refers to a way of
life where citizens define and pursue commonly held
goals related to democratic conceptions of society.
• It inscribes fundamental community values, the
limits of governmental decision making in relation to
the individual citizen, and the rights of private
interest groups and associations.
• It includes freedom of speech, expression and
equality before the law, as well as the freedom of
association and access to information.
• The political Dimension of citizenship: it
involves the right to vote and to political
participations.
• The Socio-economic Dimension of Citizenship:
it refers to the relationship between
individuals in a societal context and to the
rights of participating in the economic
activities.
• The definition of social and economic rights
includes the rights to economic well-being, for
example, the right to social security, to work,
to minimum means of subsistence and to a
safe environment.
The Cultural Dimension of Citizenship:
• it refers to the manner in which societies take
into account the increasing cultural diversity in
societies, diversity due to a greater openness
to other cultures, to global migration and to
increased mobility.
• This dimension of citizenship refers to
awareness of a common cultural heritage.
3.2. Philosophical Discourses on Citizenship
Liberal Citizenship:
• It is a political philosophy founded on the
ideas of liberty and equality- it is about
free and fair elections, civil rights,
freedom of the press, freedom of religion,
free trade, and a right to life, liberty, and
property of individuals.
• Therefore, Liberal citizenship is a distinct
conception and institutionalization of citizenship
whose primary value is to maximize individual
liberty and equality.
• Republican citizenship: republic is a Latin word
(res publica) which means the public thing, matter,
business, or property, with the implication that a
republic differs from a state or society in which the
rulers regard everything, including the people who
inhabit it, as their property.
• Republican citizenship has an ethical as well as
a legal dimension.
• It would make no sense in a state where more
and more people hold the legal title of
citizenship.
• Citizenship may be a matter of legal status that
confers various privileges and immunities on
the citizen, in other words, but it must be
more than that.
• Accordingly, real citizenship requires
commitment to the common good and active
participation in public affairs.
• Communitarian Citizenship: communitarian
citizenship is rooted in a culturally defined
community, and therefore political community
is the derivative of its members.
• The assumption in the communitarian
conception of citizenship is that community
provides a cultural foundation for citizenship.
• For communitarians, citizenship is about
participation in the political community but it
is also about the preservation of identity, and
therefore citizenship is always specific to a
particular community.
3.3. Modes/Ways of Acquiring and Loosing
Citizenship
3.3.1. Ways of Acquiring Citizenship
• two major ways (by birth, and by law
/naturalization).
• By Birth: is also two
• jus soli means right of soil and jus Sanguinis
means right of blood.
• By Law/Naturalization: is the legal process by
which foreigners become citizens of another
country.
• Grant on Application: depending on their
rules, different countries adopt requirements to
grant citizenship by application. According to
the Ethiopian Nationality proclamation of 2003
article 5, the following are the requirements:
• (1) one should attain the legal age of 18
• ( 2) one should lived in Ethiopia for a total of
at least four years;
• (3) self-reliant- she/he must have sufficient
and lawful source of income to maintain
himself/herself and his/her families;
• (4) one who is able to communicate in any of
the languages of the nations and nationalities
of the country;
• (5) one who have a good character;
• (6) one who have no recorded criminal
conviction;
• (7) one who be able to show that he/she has
been released from his/her previous
nationality or the possibility of obtaining such
a release upon the acquisition of Ethiopian
nationality or that he/she is a stateless person;
and
• 8) he/she shall be required to take the oath of
allegiance under Article 12 of this
proclamation which says that “I-----, solemnly
affirm that I will be a loyal national of the
federal democratic republic of Ethiopia and be
faithful to its constitution”.
• Marriage: a foreigner who is married to an
Ethiopian national may acquire Ethiopian
nationality.
• Accordingly, the Ethiopia, proclamation
number 378/2003 article 6 clearly states that
a foreigner who is married to an Ethiopian
national may acquire Ethiopian nationality by
law when he/she fulfills the following
requirements:
• (1) the marriage is concluded in accordance
with the laws of Ethiopia or the other
country where the marriage is contracted
• (2) there is a lapse of at least two years since
the conclusion of the marriage;
• (3) he/she has lived in Ethiopian for at
least one year preceding the submission of
the application; and
• (4) he/she has fulfilled the conditions stated
under article 5 (1, 7, 8) of the proclamation
Legitimating (Cases of Adoption):
this is citizenship by recognition.
• An illegitimate child has the right to get his
biological or caretaker father/mother
citizenship after legitimating.
• Such process is usually attributed to a
father/mother of multiple citizenship.
• And child adopted by Ethiopian national may
acquire Ethiopian nationality by law.
• For example article 7 of the Ethiopian nationality
proclamation (No 378/2003) any child adopted by
Ethiopian national, may obtain Ethiopian nationality by
law when the following conditions are fulfilled:
• (1) he/she has not attained the age of majority,
• (2) he/she lives in Ethiopia together with his adopting
parent;
• (3) where one of his adopting parents is a foreigner and so
expressed in written statement; and
• (4) the condition stated under article 5(7) of the
proclamation has been fulfilled.
• Reintegration (Restoration): a person who has
lost his/her citizenship due to some reasons
may get it back if he/she fulfills some
conditions as laid down by the laws of the
state.
• Citizenship by special case: citizenship can
be given to an individual or collectives without
undergoing all the legal procedures related to
acquisition of citizenship.
• Citizenship by Political Case: the political case
refers to acquisition of citizenship by conquest or
cession of territory. Cession is voluntary process
where as conquest is coercive act.
• Citizenship by political case is possible in two ways.
• These are: (1) When the people of subjugated state
are incorporated within the territory of the
victorious state, they acquire citizenship of the
new state.
• When large number of people acquires
citizenship at the same time, such practice is
termed as collective citizenship.
• (2) Due to the merger of one state or region
of a state with another state, citizens of the
merged territory become citizens of the new
state in which they are merged.
• Option: this is a modern development due to
the direct participation of the inhabitants in
their status of citizenship. In voluntary
partition, cession or exchange of territories
option is given to the inhabitants to choose
only the citizenship of one state. Example,
when the territory of India was divided into
Pakistan and India.
• Defacto Citizenship (Citizenship by Claim): a
woman or man can marry another national
without undergoing the required legal
procedure of marriage.
• Under such condition the married woman or
man can possibly claim citizenship of her
husband’s (his wife’s) country.
• Such kind of citizenship by claim/assumption
is termed as apparent Nationality.
• 3.3.2. The ways of Loosing Citizenship in
another States
• An individual may loose his/her citizenship in a
certain state by the following ways.
• Deprivation: a citizen of a state may be
deprived of his/her citizenship, if he/she is
guilty of committing certain serious crimes
against the state. Such as: (a) to make access
national secrets to alien country
• (b) serving in another country’s armed forces or
government,
• (c) Trying to overthrow the government by force,
• (d) promising loyalty to another country,
• (e) becoming naturalized in another country, etc.
• But according to the Ethiopian Nationality proclamation
of 2003, article 17; no Ethiopian may be deprived of his
nationality by the decision of any government authority
unless he/she loses his/her Ethiopian nationality under
article 19 or 20 of the proclamation.
• Lapse: citizenship may be lost, if a person
stays outside his/her country for a long and
continuous period of time.
• For example, according to the Indian
nationality law, if an Indian stays outside
his/her country continuously for more than
seven years, the person will loose his/her
Indian citizenship by the principle of lapse.
• Renunciation (Expatriation):
• the 1948 United Nations Universal
Declaration on Human Rights, article 15(2)
provides the right to individuals to
renounce/give up/reject his/her citizenship
and seek the citizenship of some other state
according to his/her choice.
• Substitution: citizenship may be lost when the
original citizenship is substituted by another
state, where it is acquired through
naturalization.
• According to the Ethiopian amended
Nationality proclamation of 2003, article 20,
Ethiopian nationality can be lost upon the
acquisition of other nationality.
 CHAPTER FOUR

CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTIONALISM,

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
• Constitution: is the fundamental/basic law of a
state, constituting of:
• (a) the organization of the government,
• (b) the powers and functions of the principal
government organs and agencies,
• (c) the restraints on the extent of and methods
of exercising these powers,
• (d) the relationship between the government
and the people, and (e) the basic political
principles that should be followed.
• Constitutionalism: is the doctrine that
governments should be faithful to their
constitutions.
• This is because; the rules and laws so provided
all that can protect citizens’ rights from arbitrary
actions and decisions of the government.
 4.1.1. Purposes and Functions of Constitution

• A Framework of a State: a constitution of a state sets

out the principles and values upon which the state is
organized and governed.
• Limiting the Powers of a Government: a constitution
provides a foundation for orderly government by
defining and limiting the powers of government
agencies.
• It establishes checks and balances within the main
branches of government (the Executive, Legislature and
Judiciary), through the doctrine of separation of powers.
• Gives Guarantee for the human and
democratic rights of individuals:
• it safeguards the basic rights and freedoms of
the people by incorporating a Bill of Rights,
and providing the machinery for their
enforcement through an independent
judiciary and other institutions.
• The Supreme Law of a Country: constitution
of state is the source of all laws in a country.
• As the Weapon for Legitimizing Regimes: a
constitution of states is also indispensable for
building legitimacy for regimes.
• Legitimacy is the right to rule or the validity to
govern.
 Classification of Constitutions

• Constitutions of a state in different political

systems differ from one another in terms of their
principles on the distribution of political power,
on the structural separation of authority among
the different branches of government, and on the
limits they set on government authority as well as
their amendment procedures and their forms.
• Accordingly can be classified into the following
categories:
Written (Codified) Vs Unwritten (uncodified)
Written Constitution: key constitutional
provisions are collected together in a single legal
document.
• Being all the key provisions are available in a
single document, it can have the following
benefits:
• (a) it is full of clarity and definitions because key
provisions are written,
• (b) it has the quality of stability- since people
know the nature of constitutional provisions;
the people can feel a sense of satisfaction,
• (c) the Rights and liberties of the people are
secured- since all important points are reduced
to writing,
• (d) it has educational Value in that it highlights
the central values and over all goals (objectives)
and principles of the political system,
• (e) major principles and key constitutional
provisions are entrenched, safeguarding them
from interference by the government of the
day,
• (f) the power of the legislative is constrained,
cutting its sovereignty down to size, and
• (g) non-political judges are able to police the
constitution of state to ensure that its
provisions up held by the public.
Unwritten (uncodified) Constitution
• It refers to a set of rules, regulations, declarations
and laws passed by either a legislature/ other body
(ies) at different times.
• In other words, it is not compiled in a single
document- containing key constitutional provisions.
• Therefore, the legislative body will have the right to
make/unmake any law on any issue what so ever.
• Because most of the time uncodified
constitutions didn’t show clear separation of
power between the different organs of a
government and the law making power
resides in the hands of the legislative body.
• Benefits of uncodified constitution: (a) it has
the quality of elasticity and adaptability to
changing circumstances or situations,
• (b) it is resilient with the result that it can
absorb and also recover from shocks that may
destroy a written constitution, and
• (c) it is dynamic in that it prevents chances of
popular uprisings.
II. Rigid vs Flexible Constitutions
• On the basis of amendment process constitutions can be
classified as- rigid and flexible.
• Rigid Constitution of State: is a constitution that does
not adapt itself to changing circumstances immediately
and quickly i.e. amendment procedures may be more or
less complex or difficult.
• For example, in Australia, Denmark, Ireland, and Spain,
popular referendums are used to obtain the public
approval for constitutional amendments or ratify once
endorsed by the legislature.
• The FDRE constitution also stipulates the initiation
and enactment of constitutional amendment in its
article 104 and 105.
• Flexible Constitution: is a constitution that
adapts easily and immediately to changing
circumstances.
• The legislature has the unchallenged and
unconstrained power to make laws on any issues
and affairs. Prominent examples are- UK and Israel.
III. Effective Vs Nominal Constitution
• On the basis of the degree to which constitution of
state observed in practice, constitutions can be
classified as effective and Nominal Constitutions.
• Effective Constitution: is one that fulfills two criteria:
• (a). at least, the practical affairs of government
correspond to the provisions of the constitution;
• (b). the above occurs because the constitution has the
capacity through whatever means, to limit government
behavior and activities.
• Therefore, an effective constitution of state
requires not merely the existence of constitutional
rules and laws but also the capacity of those rules
and laws to constrain government behavior and
activities- there is constitutionalism.
• Nominal /Facade/ Constitution: that shows the
texts, principles, rules and laws that may
accurately describe the government behavior but
fail to limit government behavior and activities in
practice.
• Therefore, a nominal constitution of state is
not observed in practice but in form.
• Hence, it can be said a paper value
constitution- there is no constitutionalism.
• Constitutions can be further classified into
federal and unitary (based on the nature of
state structure), parliamentary and
presidential (based on the systems of
government), etc.