Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives and Outcomes

A path-breaking, highly innovative comparative study in state building by a major political scientist, Comparative Constitutional Engineering examines in detail the various forms of democratic government in their merits, failures and attendant problems. This work is highly innovative on three counts: first, it takes structures seriously; second, it perceives structures as systems of rewards and deprivations, arguing that their working is a function of incentives; third, it relies heavily on condition analysis, i.e. on the specification of the conditions under which a structural arrangement performs, or vice-versa cannot perform, as intended.