Table Of Contenti
Constituent Assemblies
Comparative constitutional law has a long pedigree, but the comparative study of consti-
tution making has emerged and taken form only in the last quarter- century. While much
of the initial impetus came from the study of the American and French constituent
assemblies in the late eighteenth century, this volume exemplifi es the large comparative
scope of current research. The contributors discuss constituent assemblies in South Asia,
North Africa and the Middle East, Latin America, and in Nordic countries. Among the
new insights they provide is a better understanding of how constituent assemblies may
fail, either by not producing a document at all or by adopting a constitution that fails to
serve as a neutral framework for ordinary politics. In a theoretical afterword, Jon Elster,
one of the inspirators of current interest in the topic, offers an analysis of the micro-
foundations of constitution making, with special emphasis on the role of crisis- generated
passions.
Jon Elster is Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Department of Political
Science at Columbia University. He has authored more than twenty monographs, trans-
lated into eighteen languages, and edited or coedited more than twenty other books. He
has received nine honorary doctorates from universities on three continents, has been
elected member of fi ve scientifi c academies, and is the 2016 recipient of the Skytte Prize,
generally viewed as the most prestigious award in Political Science.
Roberto Gargarella has written and edited more than twenty books, including L atin
American Constitutionalism (2013) and T he Legal Foundations of Inequality (Cambridge
University Press, 2010). He has been awarded a John Guggenheim Foundation grant, a
Harry Frank Guggenheim grant, and a Fulbright grant. He has been a visiting professor
with universities in Latin America, Europe, and the United States.
Vatsal Naresh is a PhD student in Political Science at Yale University. His research
interests lie in democratic theory, political violence, and constitution making.
Bj ø rn Erik Rasch is Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. He has
written or edited thirteen books, most recently Parliaments and Government Formation:
Unpacking Investiture Rules (2015), and numerous journal articles in comparative poli-
tics and political economy.
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COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND POLICY
Series Editors
Tom Ginsburg
University of Chicago
Zachary Elkins
University of Texas at Austin
Ran Hirschl
University of Toronto
Comparative constitutional law is an intellectually vibrant fi eld that encompasses an
increasingly broad array of approaches and methodologies. This series collects analyti-
cally innovative and empirically grounded work from scholars of comparative constitu-
tionalism across academic disciplines. Books in the series include theoretically informed
studies of single constitutional jurisdictions, comparative studies of constitutional law
and institutions, and edited collections of original essays that respond to challenging
theoretical and empirical questions in the fi eld.
Books in the Series
Judicial Review in Norway
Anine Kierulf
The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America: Politics, Governance, and
Judicial Design
Daniel M. Brinks and Abby Blass
Engaging with Social Rights: Procedure, Participation and Democracy in South Africa’s
Second Wave
Brian Ray
Constitutions, Religion and Politics in Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka
Dian A. H. Shah
Proportionality: New Frontiers, New Challenges
edited by Vicki Jackson and Mark Tushnet
Constituents Before Assembly: Participation, Deliberation, and Representation in the
Crafting of New Constitutions
Todd A. Eisenstadt, A. Carl LeVan, and Tofi gh Maboudi
Assessing Constitutional Performance
Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq
Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law: The Pyrrhic Constitutionalism of Sri Lanka
Benjamin Schonthal
(continued after Index)
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Constituent Assemblies
Edited by
JON ELSTER
Columbia University
ROBERTO GARGARELLA
CONICET (Argentina)/CMI (Norway)
VATSAL NARESH
Yale University
BJ Ø RN ERIK RASCH
University of Oslo
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Contents
List of Contributors page ix
Introduction 1
Jon Elster, Roberto Gargarella, Vatsal Naresh, and Bj ø rn Erik Rasch
1 C onstitution Making in the Context of Plural Societies: The
“Accumulation Strategy” 13
Roberto Gargarella
2 Constituent Assemblies in Democratic Regimes: The Problem
of a Legally Limited Convention 31
Gabriel L. Negretto
3 Constituent Assemblies and Political Continuity in
Divided Societies 57
Hanna Lerner
4 C onstituent Assembly Failure in Pakistan and Nepal 79
Mara Malagodi
5 Precautions in a Democratic Experiment: The Nexus between
Political Power and Competence 109
Udit Bhatia
6 A Race against Time: The Making of the Norwegian
Constitution of 1814 138
Jon Elster
7 Chain of Legitimacy: Constitution Making in Iceland 161
Thorvaldur Gylfason
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viii Contents
8 Constitution Making and Legislative Involvement in
Government Formation 186
Cristina Bucur, Jos é Antonio Cheibub, Shane Martin, and
Bjø rn Erik Rasch
9 The Political Psychology of Constitution Making 207
Jon Elster
Index 2 47
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Contributors
Udit Bhatia is Lecturer in Political Theory at Lady Margaret Hall, University of
Oxford. He is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International
Relations at Oxford, and his research interests lie at the intersections of democratic
theory, political representation, and social epistemology. He is the editor of The
Indian Constituent Assembly: Deliberations on Democracy (2018).
Cristina Bucur is Lecturer/ Assistant Professor in the School of Politics and
International Relations at University College Dublin. Her research interests focus
on executive– legislative relations and party politics in parliamentary and semi-
presidential democracies. Her recent work has been published in journals such
as Party Politics , Political Research Quarterly , C omparative European Politics , and
French Politics.
Jos é Antonio Cheibub is the Mary Thomas Marshall Professor in Liberal Arts at
Texas A&M University. He has most recently coedited Parliaments and Government
Formation: Unpacking Investiture Rules (2015) and is working on a manuscript
titled Constitutional Parliamentarism: Executive– Legislative Relations in Early and
Contemporary Parliamentary Regimes. Among his other books are Presidentialism,
Parliamentarism, and Democracy (2007) and Democracy and Development: Political
Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990 (co-author, 2000).
Jon Elster is Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Department of Political
Science at Columbia University. He has authored more than twenty monographs,
translated into eighteen languages, and edited or coedited more than twenty
other books. He has received nine honorary doctorates from universities on three
continents, has been elected member of fi ve scientifi c academies, and is the 2016
recipient of the Skytte Prize, generally viewed as the most prestigious award in
Political Science.
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