ABSTRACT
Drawing exclusively on these three examples, the effects of broad popular participation in constitutional choice seem mixed at best. But three examples taken at random do not make for convincing empirical evidence. In this paper, we will try to deal a bit more systematically with two aspects of popular participation in constitutional choice: the first is concerned with the consequences of popular participation: does it have a discernible effect on the contents of the constitution, does it influence its legitimacy, will constitutions be more successful when broad participation in its genesis has taken place? The second aspect is concerned with the preconditions for popular participation: can we identify conditions under which it is more likely that popular input will be solicited?
