Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes

This volume explores the form and function of constitutions in countries without the fully articulated institutions of limited government.

Tom Ginsburg (Edited by), Alberto Simpser (Edited by)

9781107663947, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 December 2013

282 pages, 9 b/w illus. 18 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.39 kg

Constitutions in authoritarian regimes are often denigrated as meaningless exercises in political theater. Yet the burgeoning literature on authoritarian regimes more broadly has produced a wealth of insights into particular institutions such as legislatures, courts and elections; into regime practices such as co-optation and repression; and into non-democratic sources of accountability. In this vein, this volume explores the form and function of constitutions in countries without the fully articulated institutions of limited government. The chapters utilize a wide range of methods and focus on a broad set of cases, representing many different types of authoritarian regimes. The book offers an exploration into the constitutions of authoritarian regimes, generating broader insights into the study of constitutions and their functions more generally.

1. Introduction Tom Ginsburg and Alberto Simpser
Part I. The Category: 2. Ruling against rules Adam Przeworski
3. Authoritarian constitutionalism: some conceptual considerations Mark Tushnet
Part II. Constitutional Design in Authoritarian Regimes: 4. The political economy of autocratic constitutions Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo
5. Authoritarian constitution making: the role of the military in Latin America Gabriel Negretto
6. Constitutions in authoritarian regimes: the Egyptian constitution of 1971 Kristen Stilt
Part III. Contents of Authoritarian Constitutions: 7. The content of authoritarian constitutions Tom Ginsburg, Zachary Elkins and James Melton
8. Constitutional variation among strains of authoritarianism David S. Law and Mila Versteeg
Part IV. Consequences of Authoritarian Constitutions: 9. The role of presidential power in authoritarian elections Jennifer Gandhi
10. The informal politics of formal constitutions: rethinking the effects of 'presidentialism' and 'parliamentarism' in the cases of Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Ukraine Henry E. Hale
11. The Party's leadership as a living constitution in China He Xin.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Law [L], Comparative politics [JPB]