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TLDR version: my 🆕 @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org, The Social Foundations of Constitutional Innovation (w/ @josephfcozza.bsky.social & Dave Armstrong) finds social capital facilitates constitutional amendment by mitigating amendment rules. Free to read until 8/3/26 w/ link below!

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Politics and International Relations

We want thank @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org for a smooth editorial process and series editors @anjaneundorf.bsky.social , Raymond Duch, and Randy Stevenson for including us! Have a project that is > an article but < a full book? Consider a Cambridge Element! 10/12 www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

Welcome to Cambridge Core

We hope to spur more research on how trust affects constitutional hardball, how to leverage citizens' assemblies in other contexts, how social capital affects amendments to non-democratic constitutions & whether social capital tends to spur reforms that improve democracy. 9/12

'Transparency and fairness': Irish readers on why the Citizens' Assembly worked

The abortion rights amendment received more support in a referendum than experts predicted because voters liked that the issue had been handled by ordinary people, not politicians. So adding a veto point to the amendment process actually made it easier. 🤯 8/12 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Irish voters tells us why a citizens’ assembly brought about consensus – a model that could help Brexit

Yes, political trust is ⬇️, but social trust is often ⬆️. We detail how Ireland leveraged social trust over political distrust via a Citizens’ Assembly—99 people who proposed an abortion rights constitutional amendment after lots of deliberation. 7/12

Are hardball tactics (executive order or vote in Congress) seen as procedurally fair ways to ratify either a generic amendment or the ERA? We find procedural attitudes vary by support for the ERA & political trust. I.e., trusters agree w/ elites who justify hardball as legitimate. 😳 6/12

The Person Who Changes the Constitution

Elites often use hardball tactics to push amendments. E.g., some scholars believe the Equal Rights Amendment can be adopted by executive order, some want Congress to act & some favor restarting the process--the hardest but most legitimate option. 5/12 www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

theatlantic.com

One civil servant will determine whether the ERA gets added to America’s founding document—the question is which authority he’ll turn to for guidance.

We find more amendments in democracies with ⬆️civic activity & ⬆️ trust in executives, legislatures, parties, people in general, foreigners, & religious outgroups. W/in nations, it happens at times when social capital is ⬆️ (e.g., Progressive Era US versus the US today). 4/12

Political elites seek to maximize the security of policy reforms. Whether they seek a statute, new judges, or a constitutional amendment depends on the rigidity of the corresponding rules. Trust ⬇️ transaction costs & risk aversion by ⬆️ citizen participation & reciprocity. 3/12

Building on our @apsrjournal w/ @amandafriesen.bsky.social (open access: cup.org/3RS57Gt), we argue social capital--political + social trust & civic activity--spurs constitutional amendment. We test our theory across democracies w/ quantitative, qualitative & experimental data. 2/12