The word ‘Constitutionalism’ refers to the basic ideology of creating a set of principles while establishing a structure, which on one hand restricts the powers given to the State by the people of a nation, which can be referred to as ‘Negative Constitutionalism’, as well as to enable the State to function for the welfare of the people of the nation in an optimal manner which can be referred to as ‘Positive Constitutionalism’.
Now one may ask a question ‘What is the need for Constitutionalism in the first place?’.
It is utopian to run the affairs of a society/nation by the consensus of its people where everyone or at least a majority of them in that society are satisfied by the decisions being taken by them. However, such governance by consensus becomes really hard when the society grows and involves a large number of people. It is where the need of a State arises which can take crucial decisions for the development and benefit of that society where certain special authorities and powers are given to a State in order to enable it to reach the goals for which it is created. But it comes with a possibility for a State to misuse the powers which would defy the very motive of forming a State in the first place, i.e., development and welfare of a society/nation which is why a mechanism is required to keep a check on the powers given to the State and furthermore to provide it institutions for its optimal functioning.
In the initial stages of the development of the ideology of Constitutionalism, its purpose was considered to be merely keeping a check on the State, so that the State could not misuse the special powers given to it by consensus among the people of a nation. It was considered that a judicial system is created to supervise the decisions of legislature as well as the executive bodies in a society which are run by the State. Such a narrow interpretation of constitutionalism initiated from a narrow definition given to the State by Max Weber and many other scholars in the first place wherein the State is considered merely as “a human community which successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a given territory”. Such narrow interpretation of Constitutionalism involved the creation of institutions to prevent or obstruct the State from using its powers.
However, while talking about the separation of powers, such a narrow interpretation ignores the other set of principles in the ideology of constitutionalism which involves sovereignty, democracy, rule of law, etc., which is why the idea of Constitutionalism being a Negative ideology is criticized by several authors in the past.
With the development in the meaning of a State, the doctrine of Constitutionalism further grew up. The work of Charles Howard McIlwain thoroughly discusses the development of the ideas of Constitutionalism from its very beginning to the way it is interpreted at present. From ancient era, where Constitutionalism was merely considered to be a restrictive ideology, it grew up to the ideology of Positive Constitutionalism in an era where people realized that the Government should be made by the people, for the people, to the people of that society, wherein the doctrine of Constitutionalism suggested creating a structure which can further enable the State to function in an efficient manner to reach the ideal goals of a society. With the passage of time, it was even realized that the State requires a set of institutions to function optimally which was further included in the ideology of the Constitutionalism.
Nick Barber suggests three key aspects while relating the State and its people by saying “the State’s authority is grounded in its people, that the State acts for their benefit, and that the people exercise control over the State.”
A very important aspect of Constitutionalism is that it cannot be interchanged with the moral principles such as the demand of justice in a society. Constitutionalism suggests the principles which provides the State with the powers that it has, provides the State with a mechanism to function those powers for reaching the ideal goals of a nation, supervises the use of such powers and most importantly prevents the misuse of those powers. Constitutionalism is a doctrine which was created from the idea of State and it also includes the principles which are necessary for a State to exist in the first place, therefore it would not be wrong to say that the Constitutionalism created the State and the idea of a State created Constitutionalism, which makes both of them to be inseparable parts of each other while completing both of them at the same time.
This doctrine of Constitutionalism guided the makers of Constitution of India after India was declared independent in the year 1947 where a temporary government was created to function while the Constitution of India was being drafted which took almost two and half years to get completed and which was declared to be functional in early 1950. It was these principles of Constitutionalism which was adopted in the formation of Articles of the Constitution of India.