Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
7-6-2015
College/Unit
Chambers College of Business and Economics
Document Number
15-27
Department/Program/Center
Economics
Abstract
According to the incremental reform hypothesis, constitutions are rarely adopted whole cloth; thus the starting point, scope for bargaining, and number of reforms, jointly determine the trajectory of constitutional history. We test the relevance of this theory for Africa by analyzing the formation and reform of the independence constitutions negotiated and adopted during the 1950s and early 1960s. We find historical evidence that independence occurred incrementally and that the African countries that experienced the fewest constitutional moments and narrowest domain of bargaining after independence have better contemporary institutions than states that began with less restrictive constitutional rules and experienced more constitutional moments.
Digital Commons Citation
Congleton, Roger D. and Yoo, Dongwoo, "Constitutional Bargaining, Eminent Domain, and the Quality of Contemporary African Institutions: A Test of the Incremental Reform Hypothesis" (2015). Economics Faculty Working Papers Series. 160.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/econ_working-papers/160
