Colloque Bolton

PROGRAMME
I. La Constitution “révolutionnaire”, ou née de la Révolution/
The Revolutionary Constitution, or The Constitution Born of the Revolution
1.
“An Early American Dilemma? Scandinavian Travel Writers' Reflections on the
Tension Between the Founding Ideals of the United States and the Condition of African
Americans, ca. 1850-1900”/
“Un dilemme né en Amérique ? Les récits des voyageurs scandinaves et leurs
réflexions sur la tension entre les idéaux fondateurs des Etats-Unis et la condition des
afro-américains, 1850-1900”
Jørn Brøndal, Associate Professor of American History, PhD, University of Southern
Denmark
During the second half of the nineteenth century, several prominent Scandinavian writers and
journalists traveled across the Atlantic with a view to reporting home about their experiences
in the New World. Most of the writers came over after the Civil War, but a few journeyed to
the United States before that conflict. In their accounts, the writers typically pondered the
meaning of the American experiment in republican government and ultimately democracy,
leading them also to discuss notions of American freedom. At the same time, however, some
of the writers dwelled on the condition of African Americans in the South. In my paper, I
shall attempt to juxtapose these early discussions of the founding ideals of the American
nation with the travel writers' reflections on the condition of African Americans. In studying
the travel writers, the abolition of slavery in 1865 represents a particularly interesting
chronological fault line. By focusing on the tension between the American founding ideals
and the oppression of African Americans both before and after slavery, however, we may
possibly also be confronting an early version of what the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal
in his 1944 landmark study termed An American Dilemma./
Jørn Brøndal is associate professor of American history at the University of Southern
Denmark. He took his PhD degree at the University of Copenhagen in 1999 following a oneyear stay at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Fulbright scholar. His book, Ethnic
Leadership and Midwestern Politics: Scandinavian Americans and the Progressive Movement
in Wisconsin, 1890-1914 (2004), earned him a Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award of
Merit. Brøndal works within the fields of political, ethnic, and racial history, as well as
nineteenth-century travel literature. Since 2009 he has been a member of the editorial board of
The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Since 2011 he has been President of the
Nordic Association for American Studies. He frequently discusses American politics in the
Danish mass media.
2.
« We, the People », ou la Constitution américaine, œuvre du people.
Elisabeth Zoller, Professeur de Droit public à l’Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas)
– (sous réserve de confirmation)
Elisabeth Zoller (docteur en droit, agrégé de droit public) est professeur à l'Université Paris II
(Panthéon-Assas) où elle enseigne le droit constitutionnel et le droit public comparé, et dirige
le Centre de droit américain.
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3.
« Révolutions et Constitutions »
Slobodan Milacic, Professeur émérite de Droit public de l’Université de Bordeaux IV
(sous réserve de confirmation)
Directeur-fondateur du CEREB (Bordeaux IV), il est un spécialiste de la théorie politique, des
idées politiques, de la démocratie et des transitions.
4.
“Le principe d’égalité à l’épreuve du temps”
Guillaume Glénard, professeur de droit public à l’Université d’Artois
Le principe d’égalité entre les individus est assurément le grand apport de la Révolution
française. Son éminence est d’ailleurs soulignée par le fait qu’il est énoncé à l’article 1er de la
Déclaration des droits de l’homme de 1789. Toutefois, à parcourir les différentes constitutions
françaises, on remarque que ce principe n’a forcément ni le même statut ni le même contenu.
On peut relever des inflexions sinon des contradictions dans la définition de l’égalité sans que
le cœur de la notion semble toutefois avoir été atteint pendant une longue durée du moins. Il
n’en va cependant pas de même à l’époque contemporaine où le principe d’égalité est
concurrencé, sinon méconnu, par des notions nouvelles comme celle de la parité
homme/femme.
Guillaume Glénard est professeur de droit public à l’Université d’Artois. Ses travaux portent
notamment sur l’histoire constitutionnelle de la Révolution française. Il est l’auteur de
L’exécutif et la constitution de 1791, Paris, PUF, coll. Droit fondamental, 2010.
5.
“Comment terminer la Révolution ? l’exemple de la Constitution française de
1795”
Michel Troper, Professeur émérite de l'université de Paris X-Nanterre (sous réserve
de confirmation)
Membre de l'Institut Universitaire de France, Michel Troper a été directeur du Centre de
théorie et analyse du droit. Parmi ses publications, Pour une théorie juridique de l'État, Paris,
PUF (coll. Léviathan), 1995 ; Le droit, la théorie du droit, l'État, Paris, PUF(coll. Léviathan),
2001 ; La philosophie du droit, Paris, PUF (Que Sais-je ?), 2002 ; Droit constitutionnel, Paris,
LGDJ, 2007 (avec Francis Hamon), 30ème édition, Terminer la Révolution : la constitution de
1795, Paris, Fayard, 2006.
6.
“Women in the Revolutionary Era and the Emergence of the Constitution”/
“Les femmes dans l’ère révolutionnaire et l’émergence de la Constitution”
Carol Berkin, Professor of American History, Baruch College/City University of New
York (sous réserve de confirmation)
Spécialiste du rôle des femmes dans le mouvement révolutionnaire américaine ainsi que dans
la construction de la république. Parmi ses publications, Revolutionary Mothers: Women in
the Struggle for America's Independence (NY: Vintage Books, 2004).
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II. La Révolution “pacifique”, ou la Révolution par la Constitution/
The Peaceful Revolution, or Revolution through the Constitution
1.
"Government Regulation of Business in the United States: A History"/
“La régulation par l’Etat du commerce aux Etats-Unis : une histoire”
Glen Gendzel, Associate Professor of U.S. History, San Jose State University
For many Americans, especially businessmen, the words "government regulation" have
acquired a strongly negative connotation due to the pervasive influence of free market
ideology. American political culture tends to cast government regulation as a diabolical
conspiracy to expand the size of government and stifle private initiative with regulatory
burdens that are inevitably counterproductive. In fact, however, government regulation of
business in the United States has a fascinating history of episodic development in response to
popular demand after some kind of scandal, disaster, or market failure has occurred. This
paper will sketch the outlines of that history to make the point that regulation exists for a
reason: free markets in the United States create problems that drive Americans to seek
government solutions.
Glen Gendzel is Associate Professor of History at San José State University. He holds a BA
from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA and PhD from the University of
Wisconsin, Madison. He has taught at five universities in five states and he has published
articles on the history of California, American politics, and business.
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« La "culture de la Constitution" des deux côtés du Rhin : analyse comparative
France-Allemagne »
Jacky Hummel, Professeur de Droit public à l’Université Rennes-I.
Membre de l’Institut Michel Villey / Jus Politicum, Jacky Hummel est spécialiste de l’histoire
des constitutions et du constitutionnalisme et de la pensée juridique allemande du XIXe
siècle. Il est notamment l’auteur d’un ouvrage sur Le constitutionnalisme allemand (18151918), PUF, "Léviathan", 2002 et d’un ouvrage sur Carl Schmitt. L'irréductible réalité du
politique, Michalon (Bien commun), 2005.
3.
“Changement de régime et Petite Constitution en Pologne ou la Révolution par le
droit”
Miroslaw Granat, juge au Tribunal constitutionnel de Pologne et Professeur de Droit
constitutionnel à l’Université du Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński de Varsovie.
4.
“Comparative Interpretative Theory as a Function of the Degree of Formal
Amendability of Constitutions in the United States and Europe”/
“La théorie de l’interprétation comparée, tributaire du degré d’adaptabilité
formelle des Constitutions aux Etats-Unis et en Europe”
Darren Latham, Associate Professor of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law,
Jacksonville.
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Building on his prior published scholarship (1) establishing a framework for assessing the
practical degree of formal amendability of the American constitution, historically and
currently, and (2) theorizing the implications his tentative conclusions about amendability for
American constitutional interpretation, in this work the author compares the actual impact,
explicit or implied, of the degree of formal amendability on interpretation in the United States
and selected European jurisdictions, also assessing the compared jurisdictions against the
normative dictates of the author’s developing “amendability-contingent” theory of
constitutional interpretation.
Darren Latham is Associate Professor of Law at Florida Coastal School of Law. He teaches
Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, International Commercial Arbitration and he has published
articles on comparative and empirical approaches to international commercial law and
arbitration, constitutional theory, and legal theory.
5.
“Le pacte fédératif européen”/
“The European Federative Pact”
Sébastien Roland, Professeur de Droit public à l’Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
Spécialiste de l’Union Européenne et de la théorie de l’Etat et de la séparation des pouvoirs,
Sébastien Roland a notamment publié un ouvrage sur Le triangle décisionnel communautaire
à l'aune de la théorie de la séparation des pouvoirs - Recherches sur la distribution des
pouvoirs législatif et exécutif dans la communauté (Bruylant 2008).
III.
La Révolution “permanente”, ou la Constitution dénaturée/
The Permanent Revolution, or The Denatured Constitution
1.
“The News Room and the Supremes: Broadcasting, Politics, and the Constitution
Since World War II”/
“La salle de presse et les magistrats : l’audiovisuel, la politique et la Constitution
depuis la deuxième guerre mondiale”
Bill Issel, Professor of History Emeritus at San Francisco State University and
Visiting Professor of History at Mills College
This paper explores how since the 1920s, when radio began to play a role in U.S. society,
controversies developed about whether and how the First Amendment should apply to the
content of radio and, later, television news broadcasting. The paper reviews the history of how
the Federal Communications Commission established a Fairness Doctrine in 1959 in order to
monitor and regulate news broadcasting, and how when the U.S. Supreme Court declared it
constitutional in 1969, critics of such federal oversight condemned it. The paper then
describes how, beginning with the Nixon administration, such critics demanded that the
Doctrine be nullified, and it then describes the politics behind its cancellation during the
Reagan years. The paper concludes with a discussion of why, in the context of satellites, cable
television, the internet, and the 24/7 news cycle, it is unlikely that the federal government will
ever again become the constitutionally-mandated guardian of “The Marketplace of Ideas” in
news broadcasting.
Bill Issel is Professor of History Emeritus at San Francisco State University and Visiting
Professor of History at Mills College. He is the author of five books and several dozen articles
on modern American political and social history. He was Fulbright Professor at the University
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of Westminster in London, Distinguished Fulbright Chair in American Studies at the
University of Pécs, Hungary, and he has lectured widely in England, Europe and the United
States. This paper derives from research for a second edition of his 1985 book Social Change
in the United States.
2.
"La réforme de la santé devant la Cour suprême des Etats-Unis : la Constitution
plie mais ne rompt pas”/
“Health Care Reform in the Supreme Court: When the Constitution Bends"
Vincent Michelot, professeur des universités et directeur des relations internationales
à Sciences Po Lyon.
Vincent Michelot est professeur des universités et directeur des relations internationales à
Sciences Po Lyon où il enseigne l'histoire politique des Etats-Unis. Il est l'auteur d'une thèse
sur les nominations à la Cour suprême des Etats-Unis, de deux monographies sur la
présidence américaine (L'Empereur de la Maison Blanche (2004), Le président des Etats-Unis
: un pouvoir impérial ? (2008)), d'une biographie politique à paraître de John Kennedy
(Points Seuil, 2013) et de nombreux articles sur les questions électorales et institutionnelles
aux Etats-Unis.
3.
“Using the Constitution to Limit Revolutions in Morality”/“L’usage de la
Constitution pour limiter les révolutions dans les mœurs”
Nancy C. Unger, Professor of History at Santa Clara University
In 1910, the Congress of the United States passed the Mann Act—a law hailed by many
reformers for its bold attempt to legislate morality. In order to prevent prostitution and
human trafficking, the law prohibited the interstate transport of females for immoral purposes.
In 1913, Drew Caminetti and Maury Diggs, sons of two prominent Sacramento families,
abandoned their wives and children to run off to Reno with two single women (neither of
them prostitutes). The Supreme Court confirmed that the Mann Act applied to even
noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons between adults. Extramarital affairs were legally
deemed "immoral sex." Amended in 1978 and 1986, the Mann Act remains in effect one
hundred years after the arrest of Diggs and Caminetti. There is considerable scholarship on
the Mann Act, especially how it was used against “uppity” African American men from
champion boxer Jack Johnson to rock and roll legend Chuck Berry. However, there is very
little serious examination of the ethics of mandating morality based on the precedent-setting
Diggs-Caminetti case.
Nancy C. Unger is Professor of History at Santa Clara University. She is the author of
Beyond Nature’s Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History (Oxford
University Press, 2012), and the award-winning Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous
Reformer (University of North Carolina Press, 2000; paperback, 2008). She is also the author
of more than two dozen scholarly articles and essays. She is the book review editor for the
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and her op-eds are syndicated by the History
News Service, appearing in newspapers including the Chicago Sun-Times, Miami Herald, San
Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, and Kansas City Star. Her radio appearances include
Wisconsin Public Radio, North Dakota Public Radio, Talking History, The Progressive Radio
Network, and AIR AMERICA, and she has worked as a consultant for Bill Moyers at PBS.
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4.
“La Constitution instrument au service du pouvoir politique en Russie”
Karine Bechet-Golovko, Maître de Conférences en Droit public à l’Université de
Vilnius.
5.
“La Constitution française du 4 octobre 1958 : entre ordre et désordres”
Marie-Elisabeth Baudoin, Maître de Conférences en Droit public à l’Université
d’Auvergne.
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