Bibliograph

The shapeshifting crown, locating the state in postcolonial New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK, edited by Cris Shore, David V. Williams

Type

Label

The shapeshifting crown, locating the state in postcolonial New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK, edited by Cris Shore, David V. Williams

Language

eng

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The shapeshifting crown

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

edited by Cris Shore, David V. Williams

Sub title

locating the state in postcolonial New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK

Summary

The Crown stands at the heart of the New Zealand, British, Australian and Canadian constitutions as the ultimate source of legal authority and embodiment of state power. A familiar icon of the Westminster model of government, it is also an enigma. Even constitutional experts struggle to define its attributes and boundaries: who or what is the Crown and how is it embodied? Is it the Queen, the state, the government, a corporation sole or aggregate, a relic of feudal England, a metaphor, or a mask for the operation of executive power? How are its powers exercised? How have the Crowns of different Commonwealth countries developed? The Shapeshifting Crown combines legal and anthropological perspectives to provide novel insights into the Crown's changing nature and its multiple, ambiguous and contradictory meanings. It sheds new light onto the development of the state in postcolonial societies and constitutional monarchy as a cultural system

Table Of Contents

A shapeshifting enigma: the crown in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom / Cris Shore -- Genealogies of the modern crown: From St Edward to Queen Elizabeth II / David V. Williams -- The crown as metonym for the state? The human face of leviathan / Cris Shore -- Indigenous peoples and the crown: the sacred duty / Sally Raudon -- The rituals of crown and state in New Zealand / Jai Patel -- Locating the crown in Australia: the swag of Camp Gallipoli / Sally Raudon -- Localising the crown: royals and (re)patriation / Jai Patel and Sally Raudon -- The republican move: cutting colonial ties / Jai Patel -- Constitutional reform and the politics of public engagement / Cris Shore and David V. Williams -- Crown prerogative: reining in the powers / David V. Williams -- The queen is dead, long live the king? / Sally Raudon -- Conclusion: the future of the crown in an age of uncertainty: sempiternal or crumbling foundation? / Cris Shore, David V. Williams and Sally Raudon

Classification