| The
purpose of this volume is to help develop, through a variety of exploratory
essays, the art and science of institutional design. The authors identify
themselves with the New Constitutionalism movement, which aims to
develop and promote the knowledge necessary for institutional reform
and institutional creation through understanding the designer's, creator's,
founder's, or reformer's perspective. They look at a variety of good
societies as artifacts, as products-at least partly-of design, and
consider how such societies can be crafted.
The first part of the volume considers some of the
boundaries of what is humanly possible in politico-economic designs
and the role in them of deliberation and the processes of adapting
to limits. The second part considers different ways of exercising
constitutionalist judgment analyzing a variety of cases, including
general visions of the good society. Looking at whole societies,
and at complexes of institutions, complements and informs the picture
of the institutional microscale. Understanding the microscale, on
the other hand, often makes the difference between empty slogans
and realistic political proposals.
Contents
Introduction:
Imagination, Political Competence, and Institutions Karol Edward
Soltan
Covenants,
Collective Action, and Common-Pool Resources Elinor Ostrom
Constitutional
Choice, Rational Ignorance, and the Limits of Reason Viktor
J. Vanberg and James M. Buchanan
From
Irrationality to Autonomy: Two Sciences of Institutional Design John S. Dryzek
Institution
Building and Human Nature Karol Edward Soltan
How
to Make a Good Society Charles W. Anderson
The
Constitution of a Good Society: The Case of the Commercial Republic Stephen L. Elkin
Speculative
Theory and Regime Alternatives: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism Gar Alperovitz
The
Political Institutions of the Good Society Philip Green
Conclusion:
Judging the Good Society Stephen L. Elkin |
