2 - Democratizing the Parchments

Summary

Using an original worldwide data on 195 constitutions adopted in 118 countries from 1974 to 2015 as well as an original dataset of all constitutions in the Middle East and North Africa from 1861 to 2020, this chapter studies the impact of the process of drafting constitutions on their democratic content. It suggests that both individual-level participation and group-level inclusion improve the democratic content of constitutions by guaranteeing more rights. Particularly, this chapter builds on participatory and deliberative theories of democracy, first to conceptualize and operationalize democratic processes and democratic constitutions, and second to emphasizes the importance of constitution-making processes for democracy. Differentiating between individual-level participation and group-level inclusion as two democratic, albeit distinct, forms of democratic processes, this chapter offers robust statistical evidence that greater inclusion and participation are associated with an increased number of democratic provisions in constitutions, specifically de jure constitutional rights, indicating that broad participatory and inclusive processes can improve the democratic content of constitutions.