{"title":"Existing Evidence","authors":"Adam Chilton, Mila Versteeg","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter reviews the existing body of evidence on constitutional rights effectiveness. Although the debate over whether constitutional rights change government behavior extends back at least to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, there is remarkably little empirical research that focuses specifically on this question. However, there are several academic literatures that are relevant to the topic. Because most legal scholars operate under the assumption that rights matter, it begins by very briefly reviewing some of the normative arguments for including rights. It then proceeds to discuss existing qualitative and quantitative studies on rights effectiveness. Finally, it discusses some of the core findings from a related literature on human rights treaty effectiveness.","PeriodicalId":230562,"journal":{"name":"How Constitutional Rights Matter","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126960927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social Rights","authors":"Adam Chilton, Mila Versteeg","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter analyzes two social rights that are practiced on an individual basis: (1) the right to education and (2) the right to healthcare. It first describes the doctrinal nature of these rights, as well as how these relate to organizations’ ability to secure their enforcement. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that countries that constitutionalize the right to education and the right to healthcare do not dedicate more public funds to education and healthcare than countries without the right. In addition, this chapter presents a case study on the right to healthcare in Colombia, which reveals the difficulties inherent in enforcing the right to healthcare, even in the face of a highly activist judiciary.","PeriodicalId":230562,"journal":{"name":"How Constitutional Rights Matter","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125391564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Research Methods","authors":"Adam Chilton, Mila Versteeg","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter describes the methodological challenges involved in answering the question whether constitutional rights matter. While there is no easy way to overcome these challenges, the approach of this book is to use a range of methods to study this topic. This book’s primary method is large-N statistical analysis. But because no single quantitative research design is likely to isolate the causal effects of constitutional rights, it supplements large-N analysis with case studies and survey experiments. By using a range of methods, we can triangulate onto a more accurate understanding of the effect of constitutional rights than any single method could provide. This chapter also reflects upon the challenges involved in measuring human rights violations and describes the data we use to capture rights violations.","PeriodicalId":230562,"journal":{"name":"How Constitutional Rights Matter","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122783508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"Adam Chilton, Mila Versteeg","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter concludes by reflecting on the questions this book has left unanswered and by pointing at avenues for future research. It begins by discussing research showing that constitutional design choices of American Indian Tribal Constitutions have had profound impact on long-term economic outcomes. Specifically, tribes that adopted constitutions that provided for the indirect elections of executives have higher income per capita and greater participation in the labor force decades later. This suggests that constitutions can matter. So although our research has found that the adoption of constitutional rights may have limited impact on the protection of rights, future research should look for the effects of constitutional design choices in other ways. This chapter also highlights some more specific lessons for human rights advocacy that flow from our case studies.","PeriodicalId":230562,"journal":{"name":"How Constitutional Rights Matter","volume":"80 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129493883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Civil and Political Rights","authors":"Adam Chilton, Mila Versteeg","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871451.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter analyzes three civil and political rights that are practiced on an individual basis: (1) free speech, (2) the prohibition of torture, and (3) the freedom of movement. The chapter first describes the doctrinal aspects of these rights, as well as how these relate to organizations’ ability to secure their enforcement. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutionalizing these rights is not associated with better rights practices. In addition to presenting global data, this chapter present the results from a case study on free speech in Poland, which documents how the newly elected right-wing Law and Justice Party was able to take control of the country’s public media, even though both free speech and the independence of public media were guaranteed in the constitution.","PeriodicalId":230562,"journal":{"name":"How Constitutional Rights Matter","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121567717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}