Reports
Discussion Papers
No.164 Constitutions around the World: A View from Latin America
by Jose Luis CORDEIRO
July 2008
ABSTRACT
This
paper
gives
a
global
summary
of
the
number
of
constitutions
and
the
number
of
articles
in
each
constitution
for
many
representative
countries
around
the
world.
Several
works
have
already
been
written
comparing
different
legal
systems
and
different
constitutional
traditions
around
the
world;
the
purpose
of
this
paper
is
just
to
compare
the
numbers
of
constitutions
and
articles
in
the
diverse
regions
of
the
world,
namely:
North
America,
Latin
America,
Europe,
Oceania,
Middle
East,
Asia
and
Africa.
Around
the
world,
on
average,
Latin
America
has
had
the
most
convoluted
constitutional
history.
The
Dominican
Republic
has
had
a
total
of
32
constitutions,
the
largest
number
of
constitutions
of
any
country,
since
its
independence
in
1844.
Three
other
countries
have
also
had
20
or
more
constitutions
throughout
their
history,
all
of
them
in
Latin
America:
Venezuela
(26),
Haiti
(24)
and
Ecuador
(20).
On
the
other
hand,
there
are
economies
and
societies
that
do
not
even
have
codified
constitutions,
like
the
United
Kingdom
in
Europe,
Hong
Kong
in
Asia
and
New
Zealand
in
Oceania.
The
United
States
has
had
only
one
constitution,
even
if
it
has
been
amended
several
times.
There
are
also
the
special
cases
of
Israel
and
Saudi
Arabia,
both
in
the
Middle
East,
that
do
not
have
official
written
constitutions
for
historical
and
religious
reasons.
Comparative
constitutional
numbers
and
history
help
explain
several
things
about
the
stability
of
political
systems,
but
not
necessarily
about
their
quality.
Keywords:
constitutions,
law
and
economics,
Latin
America
JEL
classification:
K00,
K10,
K40
Please note that discussion papers are works in various stages of progress and most have not been edited and proofread and may contain errors of fact or judgment. Revised versions of these papers may subsequently appear in more formal publication series. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). The IDE does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included and accepts no responsibility for any consequences arising from its use.