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Constitutions for New Democracies: Reflections of Turmoil or Agents of Stability?

Ordeshook, Peter C. (1995) Constitutions for New Democracies: Reflections of Turmoil or Agents of Stability? Social Science Working Paper, 924. California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA. (Unpublished) https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170818-140301070

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Abstract

Despite the widely held view in newly emerging democracies that constitutions are mere words on paper or that parchment barriers cannot render a state stable or democratic, those who draft such documents commonly act as if words ARE of consequence. The difficulty, however, is that contemporaneous conflicts too easily intervene so as to corrupt the drafting process and to preclude optimal constitutional design. The specific principle of design most likely to be violated is the proposition that we treat all parts of the constitution as an interconnected whole and that we not try to assess the consequences of one part without appreciating the full meaning of all other parts. This essay illustrates this violation by looking at the new Russian Constitution, ratified by direct popular vote in December 1993, with special attention paid to that document's treatment of federalism. We offer the additional argument, however, that even contemporary research in political institutional design pays insufficient heed to this principle.


Item Type:Report or Paper (Working Paper)
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http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170829-132725337Related ItemPublished Version
Additional Information:This essay was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development under cooperative agreement DHR-0015-A-0-0031-00 to the Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector of the University of Maryland. Published as Ordeshook, Peter C. "Constitutions for new democracies: Reflections of turmoil or agents of stability?." Public Choice 90, no. 1 (1997): 55-72.
Group:Social Science Working Papers
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U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentDHR-0015-A-0-0031-00
University of MarylandUNSPECIFIED
Series Name:Social Science Working Paper
Issue or Number:924
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20170818-140301070
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170818-140301070
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:80624
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Jacquelyn Bussone
Deposited On:18 Aug 2017 21:21
Last Modified:03 Oct 2019 18:33

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