Constitutional Review and Democratic Consolidation: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the prevalence of constitutional review across the world, and particularly in emerging democracies, during the last two decades. Two major questions should be addressed in this regard. First, why has the judiciary been empowered and what factors affect judicial activism? Second, does constitutional review ensure an effective self-enforcing function? In sum, the literature shows that constitutional review can make democracy self-enforcing if there is sufficient competition among political parties or between the legislature and the executive branch of government. In a more sophisticated case, political balance within the court can also ensure the observance of court decisions.

A mathematical framework for finite strain elastoplastic consolidation. Part 1: Balance laws, variational formulation, and linearization

A mathematical formulation for finite strain elasto plastic consolidation of fully saturated soil media is presented. Strong and weak forms of the boundary-value problem are derived using both the material and spatial descriptions. The algorithmic treatment of finite strain elastoplasticity for the solid phase is based on multiplicative decomposition and is coupled with the algorithm for fluid flow via the Kirchhoff pore water pressure. Balance laws are written for the soil-water mixture following the motion of the soil matrix alone. It is shown that the motion of the fluid phase only affects the Jacobian of the solid phase motion, and therefore can be characterized completely by the motion of the soil matrix. Furthermore, it is shown from energy balance consideration that the effective, or intergranular, stress is the appropriate measure of stress for describing the constitutive response of the soil skeleton since it absorbs all the strain energy generated in the saturated soil-water mixture. Finally, it is shown that the mathematical model is amenable to consistent linearization, and that explicit expressions for the consistent tangent operators can be derived for use in numerical solutions such as those based on the finite element method.

Elastoplastic consolidation at finite strain. Part 2: finite element implementation and numerical examples

A mathematical model for finite strain elastoplastic consolidation of fully saturated soil media is implemented into a finite element program. The algorithmic treatment of finite strain elastoplasticity for the solid phase is based on multiplicative decomposition and is coupled with the algorithm for fluid flow via the Kirchhoff pore water pressure. A two-field mixed finite element formulation is employed in which the nodal solid displacements and the nodal pore water pressures are coupled via the linear momentum and mass balance equations. The constitutive model for the solid phase is represented by modified Cam—Clay theory formulated in the Kirchhoff principal stress space, and return mapping is carried out in the strain space defined by the invariants of the elastic logarithmic principal stretches. The constitutive model for fluid flow is represented by a generalized Darcy's law formulated with respect to the current configuration. The finite element model is fully amenable to exact linearization. Numerical examples with and without finite deformation effects are presented to demonstrate the impact of geometric nonlinearity on the predicted responses. The paper concludes with an assessment of the performance of the finite element consolidation model with respect to accuracy and numerical stability.