Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2026
Journal Title
Public Choice
ISSN
0048-5829
DOI
10.1007/s11127-026-01447-w
Abstract
Several recent constitution-making processes have been celebrated for being participatory, inclusive, and representative. However, many of these processes also failed. We theorize that aspects of these kinds of constitutional drafting processes could reduce the probability of constitutional success. To show why, we construct a “Constitution Drafting game” (CD game) in which representatives from different interest groups must draft a constitution. We consider the case where the probability of constitutional success is single peaked, but the value from successful adoption is increasing in the degree of issue protection chosen. The drafting process then leads to protection choices that are above those which maximize the odds of constitutional success. Moreover, when the CD game is equivalent to a “nice aggregative game”, as in Acemoglu and Jensen (2013), the maximum and minimum equilibrium probabilities of constitutional success are decreasing in the number of representatives. Within a more specific game structure, we show that the symmetric equilibrium degree of protection chosen by each representative is decreasing in the number of interest groups represented, while the total degree of protection is increasing in it, leading to lower probabilities of constitutional success. We explain how optimism can exacerbate the degree of protection chosen by each party.
Publisher
Springer
Notes
This article was published online before being assigned final volume and pagination.
Recommended Citation
Adam Chilton, Murat C. Mungan & Mila Versteeg,
Constitutional drafting processes and constitutional success,
Pub. Choice
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/2449
File Type
Included in
Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, Law and Society Commons