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Self-Enforcing Constitutions: With an Application to Democratic Stability In America's First Century

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  • Sonia Mittal
  • Barry R. Weingast

Abstract

Most students of constitutions focus on normative questions or study the effects of particular constitutional provisions. This article falls into a third and much smaller tradition that attempts to study what makes some constitutions more likely to survive. This article develops a theory of self-enforcing constitutions and then applies it to the early United States. But for the issue of slavery, constitutional democracy in the United States was self-enforcing by about 1800. Nonetheless, crises over slavery threatened the nation on numerous occasions. The civil war decisively ended slavery as a source of political division, allowing self-enforcing democracy (for white males) to reemerge following the Compromise of 1877. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Mittal & Barry R. Weingast, 2013. "Self-Enforcing Constitutions: With an Application to Democratic Stability In America's First Century," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 278-302, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:29:y:2013:i:2:p:278-302
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewr017
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    Cited by:

    1. Leeson, Peter T. & Suarez, Paola A., 2016. "An economic analysis of Magna Carta," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(S), pages 40-46.
    2. Weingast, Barry R., 2014. "Second Generation Fiscal Federalism: Political Aspects of Decentralization and Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 14-25.
    3. Sonin, Konstantin & Acemoglu, Daron & Egorov, Georgy, 2020. "Institutional Change and Institutional Persistence," CEPR Discussion Papers 15295, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Apolte, Thomas, 2013. "The supply of democracy explaining voluntary democratic transition," CIW Discussion Papers 6/2013, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    5. Rajagopalan, Shruti, 2016. "Magna Carta revisited: parchment, guns, and constitutional order," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(S), pages 53-59.

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