Patterns of Constitutional Design: The Role of Citizens and Elites in Constitution-Making

To what extent does the constitution-making process matter? By focusing on three central aspects of constitution-making; the nature of the constitution-making body, how it reaches decisions and the way in which a new constitution is legitimized and by examining a wide range of case studies, this international collection from expert contributors provides answers to this crucial question. Bridging the gap between law and political science this book draws together divergent research on the role of constitution making in conflict resolution, constitutional law and democratization and employs a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to unfold and explore the political frameworks of the states affected. Comparative analysis is used to investigate potential causal chains between constitution-making processes and their outcomes in terms of stability, conflict resolution and democracy. By focusing on both procedure and context, the book explores the impact of constitution-making procedures in new and established states and unions in Europe, South America and Africa.

Dr Jonathan Wheatley is a senior researcher at the Centre for Research on Direct Democracy. He is also lecturer at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich. Dr Wheatley’s research interests include democratization, state-building, parties and party systems in developing democracies and the impact of new forms of media and information communication technologies on party systems in established democracies. In addition to publishing a number of scholarly articles, Wheatley has also published a book entitled Georgia from National Awakening to Rose Revolution: Delayed Transition in the Former Soviet Union (Ashgate, 2005), Dr Fernando Mendez is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Research on Direct Democracy and Director of the e-Democracy centre, both based at the University of Zurich. He has been a Lecturer in Political Science on the Masters Programme at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology since 2007. Dr. Mendez holds a PhD in Political Science from the European University Institute, Florence. He has led various projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation on aspects of direct democracy and constitutional change. Dr. Mendez’s academic interests include direct democracy, comparative federalism, European integration, and comparative public policy.