The Constitution of Risk
by Adrian Vermeule (Author)
The Constitution of Risk is the first book to combine
constitutional theory with the theory of risk regulation. It argues that
constitutional rulemaking is best understood as a means of managing political
risks. Constitutional law structures and regulates the risks that arise in and
from political life, such as an executive coup or military putsch, political
abuse of ideological or ethnic minorities, or corrupt self-dealing by
officials. The book claims that the best way to manage political risks is an
approach it calls 'optimizing constitutionalism' - in contrast to the
worst-case thinking that underpins 'precautionary constitutionalism', a
mainstay of liberal constitutional theory. Drawing on a broad range of disciplines
such as decision theory, game theory, welfare economics, political science and
psychology, this book advocates constitutional rulemaking undertaken in a
spirit of welfare maximization, and offers a corrective to the pervasive and
frequently irrational distrust of official power that is so prominent in
American constitutional history and discourse.
