Changing the Rules

George Tsebelis is the Anatol Rapoport Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan where he works on political institutions. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honorary degrees from the Universities of Athens, Crete and Milan. He is the author (among other books) of Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics (1991) and Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work (2002).

• Foreword; Introduction; 1. The landscape of constitutional amendments; 2. An institutional approach to constitutional rigidity; 3. Cultural theories of constitutional amendments; 4. Cases of failed amendments: Italy and Chile; 5. A case of successful amendments: Mexico; 6. Constitutional rigidity and amendment rate; 7. Time inconsistency and other correlates of constitutional length; 8. Constitutional rigidity and judicial independence; Conclusions; Bibliography; Appendices.

'Constitutional amendment processes matter — for the legitimacy and stability of constitutional systems. But they also vary widely in design and difficulty. Changing the Rules offers a magisterial account of this variation — and of how amendment rules, and 'veto players,' influence the rigidity of written constitutions across the globe. Drawing together quantitative and qualitative insights, it makes a compelling case for the importance of institutions and institutional design, but also for how constitutional rigidity can promote values such as judicial independence. This book should be considered compulsory reading for all lawyers and political scientists interested in the importance and dynamics of constitutional change.' Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales, Sydney