Creating a Constitution : Law, Democracy, and Growth in Ancient Athens / Federica Carugati.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carugati, Federica, Author.

Series:

Princeton scholarship online.

Princeton scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional history--Greece--Athens--To 146 B.C.

Constitutional history.

Athens (Greece)--Politics and government.

Athens (Greece).

Greece--Politics and government--To 146 B.C.

Greece.

Greece--Athens.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A comprehensive account of how the Athenian constitution was created-with lessons for contemporary constitution-buildingWe live in an era of constitution-making. More than half of the world's constitutions have been drafted in the past half-century. Yet, one question still eludes theorists and practitioners alike: how do stable, growth-enhancing constitutional structures emerge and endure? In Creating a Constitution, Federica Carugati argues that ancient Athens offers a unique laboratory for exploring this question. Because the city-state was reasonably well-documented, smaller than most modern nations, and simpler in its institutional makeup, the case of Athens reveals key factors of successful constitution-making that are hard to flesh out in more complex settings.Carugati demonstrates that the institutional changes Athens undertook in the late fifth century BCE, after a period of war and internal strife, amounted to a de facto constitution. The constitution restored stability and allowed the democracy to flourish anew. The analysis of Athens's case reveals the importance of three factors for creating a successful constitution: first, a consensus on a set of shared values capable of commanding long-term support; second, a self-enforcing institutional structure that reflects those values; and, third, regulatory mechanisms for policymaking that enable tradeoffs of inclusion to foster growth without jeopardizing stability.Uniquely combining institutional analysis, political economy, and history, Creating a Constitution is a compelling account of how political and economic goals that we normally associate with Western developed countries were once achieved through different institutional arrangements.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Athens before the Crisis

2. Constitution and Consensus

3. Stability and Innovation in Athenian Policy

4. The Institutional Foundations of Prosperity

5. The Paths Not Taken

Conclusion

Appendix A. Piraeus' Geography

Appendix B. Piraeus' History

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780691198712

0691198713

OCLC:

1105199284