The Role of Constitutional Change in Postcommunist Regime Dynamics

Scholars remain divided over the role of constitutions in societies where the rule of law is widely recognized to be weak. Some treat them as important drivers of regime dynamics, with greater presidential powers typically associated with greater authoritarianism and  stronger parliaments linked with stronger democracy. Others argue that constitutions primarily reflect and codify preexisting power arrangements, having no independent effect on levels of democracy. The proposed paper draws on a new dataset that captures changes over time in constitutionally allocated presidential powers in postcommunist countries since independence in order to shed new light on this debate. By considering how constitutions change over time, we gain new leverage on the degree to which constitutions influence levels of democracy and levels of democracy influence constitutions. Quantitative findings are supplemented by carefully selected case studies from among postcommunist countries.