This is a summary of three articles. The first with the title above, published on September, 2010. At the http://www.citizenshipeducation.net/. The second with the title of, "The role of the constitution and the law in a free society." Published at http://www.ourcivilisation.com/. The third with the title of, "The 'rule of law' as an Australian constitutionalist promise." Published at the http://www.murdoch.edu.au/ .
Government departments are set up to ensure that policies decided by the government are professionaly developed, implemented, and assessed. In this relationship the public servant is the "agent" of the minister and required to faithfully implement ministerial decisions. Because establishing this impartiality and effectiveness and identifying the common interest is no easy, many countries identify basic principles and establish both laws and codes of conduct as guidance. The first principle is often that public servants conduct their activity with professionalism and integrity. This requires public servants to be politically neutral. This principle allow the government have trust in its public servants, trust that government`s programs are adequately scoped, and conducted. A professional response requires the setting aside of personal preferences, and giving full support to the government`s programs. At the same time, the public servant requires from government some guarantees that the provision of full, free, and frank advise will not jeopardize their livelihood. In recent times, the trend has been "assess to information" legislation. The advantages of these more open regimes are that public servants will be less included anonymous "whistle-blowing" activities and at the same time the public servant knows that the public may have assess to records. At election times, most public servants continue to support of government in neutral roles. They may, for instance, be involved in electoral administration. There are too, public servants who wish to nominate as candidates for election, and this situation can be considered from a number of perspectives. An additional concern is that a public servant who who decided to stand as a candidate will use public resources, whether time, money, or other types of access, to promote their personal agenda, this is not just, and indeed illegal. Clearly, in considering the relationship between public servants and political candidature, several interests must be balanced : the rights of citizens in the political process, irrespective of their employment, and the collective rights of the population to a fully neutral public service. Societies throughout the ages have had to consider what to do when one freedom has to be balanced against another freedom. Interested parties may feel that they need to take the matter to court to interpret the law, consider the conflict between particular laws, particular principles. Citizens have an interest in the policy options being fairly considered, in services being accessible and fairly provided. They can be aware laws and codes require public servants to carry out the decisions of government. Public servants and political parties are different.
The essential characteristic of the liberal theory of the state is the idea that the authority and power of the state are limited. The role of a constitution is to provide scope for good government, while at the same time placing limitations on the powers of the governors. The doctrine of the separation of powers, involving a system of checks and balances, is basic to liberal constitutionalism. The system begins with the separation through a constitution of judicial, executive and legislative powers. However, it goes much further. It operates also within each branch of the state, in the division of powers between state and federal government and the distribution of powers between the state, other institutions and individuals in the community. In a democracy, the electoral system, free expression and criticism, the investigative media and the existence of countless and not so strong independent institutions operate as a system of checks on those powers exercising private and public power.
Constitutional law has two main functions. It seeks to provide a stable and secure basis for the exrecise of governmental power, and also seeks to limit that power. "Impose substantive and procedural limitations upon the powers of all three organs of government." The importance of the rule of law as a potential constitutional promise must not be underestimated. The rule of law centrally comprises the values of regularity and restraint, embodied in the government of laws, not men. It sustains much more than constitutionalism. It means, in the first place, the absolute supremacy of regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power.
