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Intro -- Editor's Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Tables -- 1 Viceregalism -- Introduction -- Global Viceregalism -- Viceregal Rights During Political Crises -- The Right to Rule -- The Right to Uphold -- The Right to Oblige -- Conclusion -- 2 The Crown and Conservative Party Leadership: The Political Crisis of 1963 in Britain -- 3 Sovereigns, Sovereignties and the Scottish Question: Identities and Constitutional Change -- Sovereignty and Make-Believe -- Victoria and Scotland -- EIIR, Coronation, Bombs and Legal Challenges -- The Coronation and Royal Title 1953 -- Elizabethan Age -- Rise of the SNP and Devolution 1970s -- '79 Group -- Devolution from 1999 -- Referendum on Independence -- Attitudes of SNP Members -- Conclusion -- 4 A 'Supreme and Permanent Symbol of Executive Authority': The Crown and the Governorship of Northern Ireland in an Age of 'Troubles' -- The 'Symbolics of Power' -- The Position of the Office of Governor in the Administration of Northern Ireland -- 'Governing Without Consensus'13: The Formative Years of the Governorship -- The Governor, Ceremony and the Exercise of Power -- The Governors and the Reinforcing of the Union at a Time of Continuing Threat -- 5 Viceregal Crises in Nkrumah's Ghana -- [Revised 12 January 2020] -- Governors -- The Governor-General -- High Commissioners -- 6 'A Quaint and Unimportant Anachronism'? The Office of Governor General and Constitutional Controversies in the Commonwealth Caribbean -- Introduction -- Powers of the Head of State in the Commonwealth Caribbean -- Appointment and Dismissal of the Head of State -- Heads of State in Extremis -- Grenada: Revolution, Collapse of Government, Invasion -- Heads of State Assuming Executive Power.

Across first Asia and then Africa new states rose from colonial rule in the post-war era that sought to build New Westminster constitutions. The Westminster model was the transnational trend after 1945 in constitution-making for much of the world emerging from colonial rule and was promoted by the Colonial Office, Indigenous leaders and constitutional advisers such as the ubiquitous Sir Ivor Jennings. However, this flexible and ambiguous regime type caused many political and constitutional crises that questioned the wisdom of applying Westminster to these states. Jennings worked across Africa and Asia including in Ceylon, Nepal, Malaya, Singapore, the Maldives, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It is Pakistan, however, that sticks out as Jennings's most controversial role where he effectively, legally and politically, contentiously defended a "constitutional coup" by the Governor- General against the Constituent Assembly in 1954. The case also serves to demonstrate how the manipulation and divisive interpretations of Westminster conventions and institutions in the first decade of Pakistan led to the breakdown of democracy and laid conspicuous precedents for dictatorship and military rule, which have explanatory value in understanding the country's prevalent fragility in embedding accountability and democracy.

AbstractWhen India gained independence in August 1947 the world watched with excitement as well as trepidation as to what would happen following this unique and major event. The political destiny of the world's largest democracy would lie in the hands of an infinitesimal portion of the population – the political executive. India's new institutions had new operators to act in new conditions. There were few precedents. Within this Westminster system, refounded in India with its emphasis on executive flexibility and ambiguity, the leading political figures often had conflicting opinions and interpretations as to their powers. The relationship between Nehru as Prime Minister and other leading political figures, such as Patel as deputy Prime Minister, Prasad as President, and their definitions of their roles, would forge a new India. This paper revisits those debates and ideas in the first decade following independence, which allow greater understanding of the workings and conventions of today's Indian executive.