Under what circumstances do new constitutions promote democracy? Between 1974 and 2011, the level of democracy increased in 62 countries following the adoption of a new constitution, but decreased or stayed the same in 70 others. Using data covering all 138 new constitutions in 118 countries during that period, we explain this divergence through empirical tests showing that overall increased participation during the process of making the constitution positively impacts postpromulgation levels of democracy. Then, after disaggregating constitution-making into three stages (drafting, debating, and ratification) we find compelling evidence through robust statistical tests that the degree of citizen participation in the drafting stage has a much greater impact on the resulting regime. This lends support to some core principles of “deliberative” theories of democracy. We conclude that constitutional reformers should focus more on generating public “buy in” at the front end of the constitution-making process, rather than concentrating on ratification and referendums at the “back end” that are unlikely to correct for an “original sin” of limited citizen deliberation during drafting.

Indigenous people around the world have been particularly vocal about climate change as a challenge to their cosmovision—or traditional worldview—resulting in demands for protection of the earth as part of their core beliefs. Is this because indigenous people are the most vulnerable, and feel the impact of climate change more directly? Or is it because of the centrality of the earth to their traditional beliefs? Using survey evidence from Ecuador, we examine how indigenous cosmovision, science, and vulnerability influence the belief that climate change exists. On the basis of one-on-one interviews with indigenous leaders in Ecuador, we argue that both traditional beliefs and Western science inform citizen views of climate change. We discuss the implications of these findings, arguing that rather than competing with science, the Kichwa-based cosmovision complements Western scientific efforts to combat climate change. We also find that proximity to oil extraction is an important determinant of belief in climate change in Ecuador, suggesting that conceptualizations of vulnerability should be tailored to the particular experiences of individuals.

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The study of party finance is underdeveloped. Unlike many areas of parties and elections, the financial aspects have tended to escape extensive academic analysis. This omission is odd since party finance matters for all sorts of reasons. The study of political finance is fundamental to the study of the workings of representative democracy. For Alexander (1989: 10-12) money is an element of political power, because it buys what is not or cannot be volunteered. Moreover, money is the most important constituent because finance also dominates the organizational and electoral aspects of political life. The importance of money in politics then is fundamental, for it affects political spending (Johnston, 1985: 256-77) and contributes to debates concerning political equality (Fisher, 1999;Oliver, 1992). A consensus exists in the US-based scholarship, and perhaps elsewhere, that while there may be a threshold beyond which the importance of fundraising diminishes, incumbent politicians cannot even hope to get elected if they do not meet minimum fundraising requirements. Some claim that money distorts political equality and work from the premise that greater financial means will lead to greater political influence (Adamany and Agree, 1975: 2-3; Ewing, 1992). It is argued that since all citizens have an equal right to political participation, so all interests should receive financial support in proportion to their adherents. The reality is, however, that wealthy groups are often represented beyond the proportion of their number. And, as a result, inequalities in money are greater than any other inequalities of the resources that go into political life, because money can buy virtually any of the resources that are given directly by citizens (Adamany and Agree, 1975;Paltiel, 1981).This increasing concentration of wealth in fewer parties' and candidates' hands may be accompanied by government deregulation, in established and new democracies alike. The normative implications of this tendency in themselves would justify a special issue of Party Politics comparing systems

Drawing on an original survey of more than 5,000 respondents, this book argues that, contrary to claims by the 1994 Zapatista insurgency, indigenous and non-indigenous respondents in southern Mexico have been united by socioeconomic conditions and land tenure institutions as well as by ethnic identity. It concludes that - contrary to many analyses of Chiapas's 1994 indigenous rebellion - external influences can trump ideology in framing social movements. Rural Chiapas's prevalent communitarian attitudes resulted partly from external land tenure institutions, rather than from indigenous identities alone. The book further points to recent indigenous rights movements in neighboring Oaxaca, Mexico, as examples of bottom-up multicultural institutions that might be emulated in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America.