Shai Dothan (University of Copenhagen - iCourts - Centre of Excellence for International Courts) has posted From the Temptation to Freeride to the Need for Legitimacy: A Comment on How Constitutional Rights Matter (Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper is a comment on the book How Constitutional Rights Matter by Adam Chilton and Mila Versteeg. Chilton and Versteeg find that the protection of the freedom of religion, the right to unionize, and the right to form political parties in national constitutions increases the chances that governments will respect these rights. In contrast, protecting other human rights in the constitution does not make any difference in terms of respecting these rights by the government. The theoretical explanation provided by Chilton and Versteeg for these findings is based on a world-view that relies on the work of Mancur Olson, in particular the idea that interest groups that can give exclusive benefits to their members prevent free-riding and can therefore fight effectively for their constitutional rights. The paper challenges this theoretical explanation based on the qualitative evidence that Chilton and Versteeg provide themselves. Instead of this explanation, the paper offers a more refined analysis of collective action recently published by Gunnar Trumbull. This view focuses on the ability of organizations to form coalitions with the government rather than to challenge it through initiating demonstrations. It also suggests that interest groups can gain from spreading their benefits to wide segments of society because this makes them appear more legitimate.
