Formal Characteristics of National Constitutions: A Cross-National Historical Dataset

摘要：我们的目标是通过开发一个记录大多数独立国家当代和历史宪法特征的综合数据集，来提高宪法设计的科学水平。宪法文件的内容、规定和结构没有系统的资料。这种空白阻碍了学者对宪法的起源和后果的理解，并限制了参与宪法起草工作的从业人员。我们特别的理论兴趣在于解决三组问题：(1)宪法起源：宪法设计的扩散和过程。我们感兴趣的是了解宪法的制定过程，特别是宪法设计者如何以及在多大程度上将外国宪法作为模式。宪法行为者在某种程度上参与和利用外国来源的材料是扩散理论的一个基本假设，这是两位作者长期关注的理论问题。我们的数据将使我们能够制定出世界各地和不同时期宪法之间相似性的衡量标准。将这些相似性与相关数据（例如，地理、文化、经济和政治联系）相匹配，将使我们能够检验有关制度形式传播的假设。(2)实施：法律与事实宪法。宪法承诺对实际实践的忠诚对民主的表现有着重要的影响。通过比较我们关于法律形式特征的数据和关于法律实践的数据，我们打算评估宪法条款对政府行为的约束程度。(3)宪法期限。宪法的稳定性对制度的有效性具有潜在的重大影响。在为我们的数据制定抽样计划时，我们制定了宪法变更的年表（即更换，修改，暂停或恢复）。这种年表，加上我们收集到的关于宪法内容的实际数据，使我们能够检验有关制度安排的假设，这些制度安排导致了或多或少稳定的宪法体系。除了这些研究问题之外，我们提出的数据集承诺在宪法结构的概念化和描述方面支付重大红利。我们设想这样的贡献将在两个重要方面为研究和教学提供宝贵的资源。首先，我们将记录的宪法特征将使治理机构的许多中心特征得以完善和阐述。这种改进将允许对重要的制度理论进行更可靠的测试，这些理论援引了行政-立法关系、联邦制和司法审查等结构。其次，该数据集将极大地增强我们对宪法文本如何随时间、地域、文化和政治制度而变化的理解。最后，我们致力于确保我们的数据有助于那些从事宪法设计的人。一般来说，宪法改革往往是在精心挑选的专家的帮助下进行的，这些专家在最好的情况下具有广泛的比较知识和经验。但是，如果没有一个中央资源来记录其他国家采取的各种选择，设计过程就会效率低下。除了我们将向研究人员提供的微观数据外，我们还将为非技术用户提供一个用户友好的数据版本。

Formal Characteristics of National Constitutions: A Cross-National Historical Dataset (1) Zachary Elkins, Department of Political Science, University of Illinois (2) Thomas Ginsburg, College of Law and Department of Political Science, University of Illinois ABSTRACT: Our objective is to improve the science of constitutional design by developing a comprehensive dataset that records the characteristics of constitutions, both contemporary and historical, across most independent states. No systematic data exist on the content, provisions, and structure of constitutional documents. Such a lacuna impedes scholars' understanding of the origins and consequences of constitutions and limits practitioners involved in constitutional drafting exercises. Our particular theoretical interest lies in addressing three sets of questions: (1) Constitutional origins: diffusion and process of constitutional design. We are interested in understanding the constitutional process and, in particular, how, and to what extent, constitutional designers incorporate foreign constitutions as models. That constitutional actors engage with and utilize material from foreign sources at some level is a fundamental assumption of theories of diffusion, an enduring theoretical concern for both authors. Our data will allow us to develop measures of similarity between constitutions across the world and across time. Matching these similarities with relational data (e.g., geographic, cultural, economic, and political ties) will allow us to test hypotheses about the spread of institutional form. (2) Implementation: De Jure versus De Facto Constitutional Law. The fidelity of constitutional commitments to actual practice has important implications for the performance of democracy. Through the comparison of our data on the formal characteristics of the law with data on its practice, we intend to assess the degree to which constitutional provisions constrain the behavior of governments. (3) Constitutional Duration. The stability of constitutions has potentially significant effects on the effectiveness of institutions. In producing the sampling plan for our data, we have developed a chronology of constitutional changes (i.e., replacements, amendments, suspensions, or reinstatements). This chronology, together with actual data we gather on the content of constitutions, allows us to test hypotheses about the kinds of institutional arrangements that lead to more or less stable constitutional systems. Apart from these research questions, the dataset we propose promises to pay significant dividends with respect to the conceptualization and description of constitutional structures. We envision that such a contribution will be an invaluable resource for both research and teaching in two important ways. First, the constitutional characteristics that we will record will allow for the refinement and elaboration of many of central features of governing institutions. Such refinement will allow for the more reliable test of important institutional theories that invoke constructs such as executive-legislative relations, federalism, and judicial review. Second, the dataset will dramatically enhance our understanding of how constitutional texts vary over time and across regions, cultures, and political systems. Finally, we are committed to ensuring that our data assists those engaged in constitutional design. In general, constitutional reform tends to proceed with the help of carefully selected experts, who in the best of circumstances have broad comparative knowledge and experience. But without a central resource documenting the various options taken by other countries, design processes are inefficient. In addition to the micro-data that we will make available to researchers, we will also provide a user-friendly version of the data for non-technical users.