Verfassungsordnungen sind einem dauernden Wandel unterworfen, um sich ihren wandelnden Umwelten anzupassen und den demokratischen Verfassungsstaat dauerhaft lebensfähig zu erhalten. Wie dieser Prozess in Kanada und den USA am Beispiel der institutionellen Struktur der Regierung, des Föderalismus und der Finanzverfassung sowie individueller Grundrechte vonstatten geht, war Thema einer Konferenz im Oktober 1999 an der Universität Augsburg mit dem Titel "Constitutional Reform and Constitutional Jurisprudence in Canada and the United States", aus der dieser Band hervorgegangen ist. Inhalt: I. Constitutional Reform - Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives: Rainer-Olaf Schultze: Constitutional Reform as Process (11-31); Petra Dobner: Constitutionalism and the Transformation of the State (33-44). II. Constitutional Governance - Institutional Structures, Actors and Policy Fields: 1. Changes in the Legislative and Executive Branches: R. Kent Weaver: The Politics of Institutional Reform in Canada and the United States (47-81); Steffen Schneider: Parliamentary Government in Canada: Institutional Stability and Constitutional Reform in the Legislative and Executive Branches (83-116). 2. Trends in Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations: Roland Sturm: Federalism and Constitutional Politics: A Theoretical Perspective (117-128); Timothy J. Conlan: Courting Devolution: The U. S. Supreme Court and Contemporary American Federalism (129-148); Harvey Lazar / John McLean: Non-Constitutional Reform and the Canadian Federation: The Only Game in Town (149-175). 3. Budgeting and Constitutional Politics: Markus M. Müller: Regulation, Taxation or Inaction? Budgetary Politics, Institutional Reform and American "Judicialism" (177-186); Allan Maslove: Canadian Federal Budgeting: Imaginative Responses and Troublesome Confusions (187-200). 4. Minorities and Constitutional Politics: Michael Dreyer: Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation - Minorities and the Supreme Court (201-225); Peter H. Russell: Canada - A Pioneer in the Management of Constitutional Politics in a Multi-national Society (227-234). III. Constitutional Jurisprudence - Does it Stimulate or Prevent Reform? Martin Edelman: Change is a Sometimes Thing: Constitutional Jurisprudence in the United States (237-254); Martin Thunert: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Product and Catalyst of Socio-Political Change in Canada (255-272); Roland Sturm: Conclusion (273-279).