Constitutionalism, Liberalism, and Political Entrepreneurship

Abstract

I criticize contractarian approaches to political economy that assume the insularity of constitutions from ordinary political exchange. Using tools from market process economics, I outline a theory of the political-entrepreneurial process as applied to constitutions. This theory can help us understand many aspects of real-world constitutional politics, such as the frequent divergence of de facto constitutions from their de jure specification. I also discuss how my proposed framework can help advance classically liberal political economy, with special reference to the conditions that allow societies to develop and retain liberal constitutions.