Assessing Constitutional Performance

From London to Libya, from Istanbul to Iceland, there is great interest among comparative constitutional scholars and practitioners about when a proposed constitution is likely to succeed. But what does it mean for a constitution to succeed? Are there universal criteria of success, and which apply across the board? Or, is the choice of criteria entirely idiosyncratic? This edited volume takes on the idea of constitutional success and shows the manifold ways in which it can be understood. It collects essays from philosophers, political scientists, empiricists and legal scholars, that approach the definition of constitutional success from many different angles. It also brings together case studies from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. By exploring a varied array of constitutional histories, this book shows how complex ideas of constitutional success play out differently in different contexts and provides examples of how success can be differently defined under different circumstances.

1. Introduction. Assessing constitutional performance Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq; Part I. Defining Constitutional Performance: 2. Hippocratic constitutional design Aziz Huq; 3. What is a good constitution? Assessing the constitutional proposal in the Icelandic experiment Helene Landemore; 4. When is a constitution doing well? The Alberdian test in the Americas Roberto Gargarella; 5. Political parties and constitutional performance Martin Shapiro; Part II. Managing Specific Constitutional Challenges: 6. Constitutions and the transition from military rule Ozal Varol; 7. Constitutional permissiveness, constitutional restrictiveness and religious freedom Hanna Lerner; 8. Transitional provisions and the performance of constitutions Sumit Bisarya; 9. Time and constitutional efficacy: implementation of rights Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg and James Melton; 10. Competitive democracy and the constitutional minimum core Rosalind Dixon and David Landau; Part III. Case Studies: 11. Ambedkar's constitution: promoting inclusion, opposing majority tyranny Martha Nussbaum; 12. Assessing the constitution of Kenya 2010: five years later James Gathii; 13. The Arab Spring constitutions: for whose benefit? Zaid Al-Ali; 14. Stability in flexibility: a British lens on constitutional success Erin Delaney.

Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law at the University of Chicago, where he also holds an appointment in the Political Science Department. He currently co-directs the Comparative Constitutions Project, an NSF-funded data set cataloging the world's constitutions since 1789. His books include Judicial Reputation: A Comparative Theory (2015) (with Nuno Garoupa), The Endurance of National Constitutions (2009) (with Zachary Elkins and James Melton), and Judicial Review in New Democracies (2003). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Aziz Z. Huq is the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His scholarship on constitutional law, criminal procedure, and policing is widely published in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals.