Political conflict and constitutional reform

Abstract

The objective of the thesis is to construct an analysis which places much greater attention on group formation, how heterogeneous group members choose leaders and the effect these factors have upon the nature and outcomes of political competition, than would normally be the case in the public choice literature. The thesis has both positive and normative components. The positive component attempts to analyze political outcomes given the assumptions that are made about the political environment and the motivational nature of group members. The normative component asks whether we can judge certain outcomes of the political process to be inferior and if so, can we design a constitution that contains institutions that would reduce political inefficiency.

In chapter 3 titled Group Formation and Competition: Instrumental and Expressive Approaches models are built to provide a positive theory of group formation under different assumptions regarding individual motivation and the form of group competition that may arise. The analysis contains normative implications as it suggests that high-cost conflict may exist under expressive motivation that would not exist if instrumental motivation were the only motivational assumption.

In chapter 4 titled Political Leadership and Political Competition groups are taken as exogenous and the issue under investigation is how group members choose a leader from within their own groups. This has implications for the nature and outcomes of political competition in all societies. However, particular attention is focused on societies which are constitutionally unstable, within which the selection of certain types of leaders will be more likely to give rise to violent conflict. Motivational assumptions play a crucial role in determining the sorts of leaders that are selected and as a result the sort of political process and/or political outcomes that emerge.

In chapter 5 titled Political Leadership, Political Conflict and the Prospects for Constitutional Peace focuses on the extent to which an expressive theory of group politics may reduce optimism that peace agreements can be made in conflictual societies. This leads to the further question, that if such an agreement could be found, would the expressive perspective alter the conventional instrument perspective on the sort of constitutional reform that should be undertaken?

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