Public Participation Rarely Raises Constitutional Compliance—Except For Property Rights And Rule Of Law

📌 Why This Question Matters: Many constitutions are ratified by referendum, and public participation in earlier stages of constitution‑making is increasingly common. Participation could increase a constitution's perceived legitimacy and citizens' knowledge of its provisions, which in turn should increase compliance.

📊 How participation and compliance were compared: Data on public participation in constitution‑making and on constitutional compliance were assembled and analyzed. Employing matching methods sought to estimate the effect of participation while accounting for observable differences between cases.

🔎 What was measured:

• Public participation in constitution‑making (including referendums and earlier participatory stages)
• Measures of constitutional compliance across countries
• Compliance with specific constitutional provisions, notably those tied to property rights and the rule of law

🧾 Key findings:

• Little evidence that public participation produces a positive effect on constitutional compliance overall.
• Compelling evidence that participation has a positive effect on compliance for provisions specifically related to property rights and the rule of law.

⚖️ Why it matters: These results suggest that broad public involvement in constitution‑making does not automatically translate into general compliance with constitutional commitments. However, participation appears to strengthen adherence to certain legal domains—especially property rights and rule‑of‑law provisions—highlighting a more targeted benefit of participatory constitution‑making for legal protection and enforcement.