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Constitutions Unentrenched: Toward an Alternative Theory of Constitutional Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2016

MILA VERSTEEG  and
EMILY ZACKIN
MILA VERSTEEG*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
EMILY ZACKIN*
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University
*
Mila Versteeg is a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law (versteeg@virginia.edu). University of Virginia School of Law, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.
Emily Zackin is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University (ezackin1@jhu.edu). Department of Political, Science 338 Mergenthaler Hall, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.
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Abstract

T his article highlights a gap between a great deal of constitutional theory and a great deal of the practice of democratic constitution-making. Drawing on data from democratic national and state constitutions, we challenge the consensus among constitutional theorists that a central purpose of constitutionalism is the entrenchment (the fortification against future change) of broad principles. The empirical reality is that the majority of democratic constitutions today are subject to frequent revision, and are therefore ill-equipped to facilitate the entrenchment of their contents. To explore the logic of these unentrenched documents, we identify the historical periods in which different geographic regions moved away from highly entrenched constitutions, and we examine the political contexts of these transformations. We find that, in each context, constitution-makers were attempting to limit the discretion of constitutional interpreters and implementers by drafting highly specific texts and by updating them in response to continually changing circumstances.

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Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 657 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

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