Creating a Constitution : : Law, Democracy, and Growth in Ancient Athens / / Federica Carugati.

A comprehensive account of how the Athenian constitution was created-with lessons for contemporary constitution-buildingWe live in an era of constitution-making. More than half of the world's constitutions have been drafted in the past half-century. Yet, one question still eludes theorists and...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2019 English
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Place / Publishing House:Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2019]
©2019
Year of Publication:2019
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (248 p.) :; 16 b/w illus. 1 map.
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Figures --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction --
1. Athens before the Crisis --
2. Constitution and Consensus --
3. Stability and Innovation in Athenian Policy --
4. The Institutional Foundations of Prosperity --
5. The Paths Not Taken --
Conclusion --
Appendix A. Piraeus' Geography --
Appendix B. Piraeus' History --
Bibliography --
Index
Summary:A comprehensive account of how the Athenian constitution was created-with lessons for contemporary constitution-buildingWe live in an era of constitution-making. More than half of the world's constitutions have been drafted in the past half-century. Yet, one question still eludes theorists and practitioners alike: how do stable, growth-enhancing constitutional structures emerge and endure? In Creating a Constitution, Federica Carugati argues that ancient Athens offers a unique laboratory for exploring this question. Because the city-state was reasonably well-documented, smaller than most modern nations, and simpler in its institutional makeup, the case of Athens reveals key factors of successful constitution-making that are hard to flesh out in more complex settings.Carugati demonstrates that the institutional changes Athens undertook in the late fifth century BCE, after a period of war and internal strife, amounted to a de facto constitution. The constitution restored stability and allowed the democracy to flourish anew. The analysis of Athens's case reveals the importance of three factors for creating a successful constitution: first, a consensus on a set of shared values capable of commanding long-term support; second, a self-enforcing institutional structure that reflects those values; and, third, regulatory mechanisms for policymaking that enable tradeoffs of inclusion to foster growth without jeopardizing stability.Uniquely combining institutional analysis, political economy, and history, Creating a Constitution is a compelling account of how political and economic goals that we normally associate with Western developed countries were once achieved through different institutional arrangements.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780691198712
9783110610765
9783110664232
9783110610093
9783110605945
DOI:10.1515/9780691198712?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Federica Carugati.