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13 Const. Pol. Econ. 3 (2002)

handle is hein.journals/constpe13 and id is 1 raw text is: Constitutional Political Economy, 13, 3-24, 2002. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in The Netherlands. Are 'Western' Constitutions Relevant to Anything Other than the Countries they Serve?' PETER C. ORDESHOOK* ordeshook@hss.caltech.edu California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Science, Pasadena, California 91125, USA Abstract. This essay argues the universal relevance of the Western constitutional experience. It does so, however, not with reference to the commonalities of historical circumstance or the experience of specific states. Instead, we argue that just as events in the natural world must follow universal laws, the same it true about stable democracy, whether we are concerned with parliamentary or presidential systems, economically developed or undeveloped states, or whatever. We take as given that there necessarily exists universal principles of democratic constitutional design, even if those principles remain largely undiscovered. We argue further that discovery is more likely if we conceptualize constitutions as equilibrium selection devices and if we take as our starting point whatever understanding we possess about coordination and equilibrium selection in complex social processes, including the evolution and character of social norms and conventions. JEL classification: H1, K10. 1. Introduction In the most recent period of democratization we have once again come to appreciate the paucity of our knowledge about what we assume is essential to the process of erecting a modern democratic state - designing national constitutions. Anyone participating, however obliquely, in the recent spate of constitutional design enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe, or who has observed the revolving-door nature of those documents in Latin America, appreciates the vast array of questions for which there are no universally accepted answers. To what extent can and should a democratic constitution accommodate a society's history, culture, and uniqueness? Indeed, what features of history, culture and current circumstance are relevant to constitutional design and how precisely, in specific wording and provision, can we accommodate these things? Are there essential components of any democratic constitution, regardless of how that document tries to accommodate local tastes and circumstances; and if so, what are those components? Did the USSR's communist experience yield a constellation of countries that require constitutional docu- ments that differ fundamentally from the Western - in fact, has the general history of the region rendered the West's experience with constitutionalism irrelevant to those who seek to implant democracy there? Can the same be said about Latin America, Africa, or Asia? Should constitutions be drafted as far removed as possible from the day-to-day pressures of political forces and interests; or are they more likely to be stable if there is broad and * Tel No: +1(818) 395 - 4228; Fax No.: +1(626) 405 - 9841.

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