Replication Data for: Public Participation and Constitutional Compliance

Many Constitutions are ratified by referendum; and public participation in earlier stages of Constitution-making is increasingly common. Participation may aid in “overcoming sub-optimal political conditions” and “increase the legitimacy of the constitution” (Hudson 2021, p. 502). If this is true, one expects participation to lead to greater constitutional compliance. We explore this hypothesis using Eisenstadt, LeVan, and Maboudi (2015, 2017) data on public participation and the Gutmann, Metelska-Szaniawska, and Voigt (2023, 2024a) data on compliance. Employing matching methods, we find little evidence of a positive effect of participation on compliance generally. However, there is compelling evidence of a positive effect on provisions specific to property rights and the rule of law.