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Pitfalls Of Measuring The Rull Of Law, Tom Ginsburg
Pitfalls Of Measuring The Rull Of Law, Tom Ginsburg
Tom Ginsburg
The recent demand for new measures of the rule of law confronts several meth- odological challenges. This article calls for careful attention to fundamental social science ideas of conceptualization and measurement in approaching the rule of law. Efforts to measure complex social phenomena such as the rule of law are chal- lenging, and thus require that researchers and policy makers pay attention to the cautionary rules of social science in their efforts. Violating these basic rules risks producing measures that are not reliable or valid, and could be a bad basis for policymaking. This paper demonstrates some of the pitfalls …
Citizen As Founder: Public Participation In Constitutional Approval, Tom Ginsburg, Justin Blount, Zachary Elkins
Citizen As Founder: Public Participation In Constitutional Approval, Tom Ginsburg, Justin Blount, Zachary Elkins
Tom Ginsburg
Public involvement in constitution making is increasingly considered to be essential for the legitimacy and effectiveness of the process. It is also becoming more widespread, spurred on by constitutional advisors and the international community. Yet we have remarkably little empirical evidence of the impact of participation on outcomes. This essay examines hypotheses on the effect of one aspect of public participation in the constitution-making process -ratification- and surveys available evidence. We find some limited support for the optimistic view about the impact of ratification on legitimacy, conflict, and constitutional endurance.