Substance vs. procedure: Constitutional enforcement and constitutional choice

The constitutional political economy research program established by Nobel Laureate James M. Buchanan provides a rigorous analytical framework for the analysis of constitutional choice. I focus on two issues that have received only limited attention in the CPE literature: the problem of constitutional enforcement and the role of judicial review. I demonstrate that incorporating a concern for enforcement into constitutional analysis has significant implications for the the choice among rules, and suggests that procedural constitutional constraints have significant advantages over constitutional norms that attempt to secure broader, substantive values. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Duke Scholars

Author Georg Vanberg Political Science