Conference on Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes
University of Chicago Law School
Co-sponsored by the Chicago Initiative on Regime Practices
and the Center for Latin American Studies

October 21-22, 2011

Constitutions, it is conventionally believed, are institutions that define and limit the boundaries of government.  Yet the formal constitution is an institution adopted by virtually every modern political regime, including many that would appear to have no interest in codifying any form of limitation on government power. We have very little understanding of the logics and dynamics of constitutional design and practice in countries that have “constitutions without constitutionalism”. This conference will explore the roles that constitutions play in authoritarian regimes, drawing on a wide range of cases to try to produce some general conclusions.

All sessions will take place in Law School Classroom V.

Friday, October 21, 2011

9:00-10:40 a.m.        Session I  (audio)

• Welcome by Tom Ginsburg and Dan Slater (audio)
  
• Paper: Adam Przeworski, New York University, “Ruling Against Rules”
  • Commentator: Alberto Simpser, University of Chicago
• Paper: Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School, “Authoritarian Constitutionalism: Some Conceptual Issues”
  • Commentator: Eric Posner, University of Chicago

10:40 a.m.                Coffee Break

11:00-12:30 p.m.     Session II (audio)

• Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago, James Melton, IMT Institute, Lucca Italy, and Zachary Elkins, University of Texas, “The Contents of Authoritarian Constitutions” 
  • Commentator: Milan Svolik, University of Illinois 
• Paper: Michael Albertus, University of Chicago and Victor Menaldo, University of Washington, “Dictators as Founding Fathers? The Role of Constitutions Under Autocracy”
  • Commentator: Steven Levitsky, Harvard University

12:30-1:30 p.m.        Lunch Break

2:00-3:30 p.m.         Session III (audio)

• Paper: Mila Versteeg, University of Virginia and David Law, Washington University, “Sham Constitutions”
  • Commentator: James Melton, IMT Institute, Lucca Italy
• Paper: Gabriel Negretto, CIDE Mexico City, “Authoritarian Constitution-Making in Latin America: The Role of the Military”
  • Commentator:  Jose Cheibub, University of Illinois

3:30 p.m.                  Coffee Break

3:50-5:20 p.m.         Session IV (audio)

• Paper: Jennifer Gandhi, Emory University, “The Role of Presidential Power in Authoritarian Elections”
  • Commentator: Scott Gehlbach, University of Wisconsin
• Paper: Edmund Malesky, University of California, San Diego, “The Adverse Effects of Sunshine:  Evidence from a Field Experiment on Legislative Transparency in an Authoritarian Assembly”
  • Commentator: Dan Slater, University of Chicago

Saturday, October 22, 2011

9:00-10:30 a.m.           Session V (audio)

• Paper: Kristen Stilt, Northwestern University, “The Birth, Life, and Death of the 1971 Egyptian Constitution”
  • Commentator: Nathan Brown, The George Washington University
• Paper: Henry Hale, George Washington University, "Formal Constitutions in Informal Politics: Institutions and Democratization in Post-Soviet Eurasia"
  • Commentator: Jordan Gans-Morse, Northwestern University

10:30 a.m.                Coffee Break

10:50-12:20 p.m.     Session VI (audio)

• Paper: Randall Peerenboom, La Trobe University, “Social Foundations of China’s Living Constitution”
  • Commentator: Dali Yang, University of Chicago
• Paper: He Xin, City University of Hong Kong, “The Party’s Leadership as Living Constitution in Reform China”
  • Commentator: Nicholas Howson, University of Michigan