"In this iconoclastic and provocative book, Adrian Vermeule brings a sharp understanding of institutional dynamics and processes to bear on central issues in constitutional analysis. In doing so he unsettles much received wisdom and shows how many arguments in constitutional theory have relied on static or fallacious models of how actors respond in ongoing constitutional systems. This is clarifying and important work at the intersection of political science andlaw, and deserves to be widely read in both fields."--Jacob T. Levy, McGill University