Includes bibliographical references and index.

Ch. 1. Introduction: constitutions in authoritarian regimes / Tom Ginsburg and Alberto Simpser -- Pt. 1. The Category Ch. 2. Ruling against rules / Adam Przeworski -- Ch. 3. Authoritarian constitutionalism: some conceptual considerations / Mark Tushnet -- Pt. 2. Constitutional Design in Authoritarian Regimes -- Ch. 4. The political economy of autocratic constitutions / Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo -- Ch. 5. Authoritarian constitution making: the role of the military in Latin America / Gabriel Negretto -- Ch. 6. Constitutions in authoritarian regimes: the Egyptian constitution of 1971 / Kristen Stilt -- Pt. 3. Contents of Authoritarian Constitutions -- Ch. 7. The content of authoritarian constitutions / Tom Ginsburg, Zachary Elkins and James Melton -- Ch. 8. Constitutional variation among strains of authoritarianism / David S. Law and Mila Versteeg -- Pt. 4. Consequences of Authoritarian Constitutions -- Ch. 9. The role of presidential power in authoritarian elections / Jennifer Gandhi -- Ch. 10. The informal politics of formal constitutions : rethinking the effects of 'presidentialism' and 'parliamentarism' in the cases of Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Ukraine / Henry E. Hale -- Ch. 11. The Party's leadership as a living constitution in China / Xin He.

Constitutions in authoritarian regimes are often denigrated as meaningless exercises in political theater. Yet the burgeoning literature on authoritarian regimes more broadly has produced a wealth of insights into particular institutions such as legislatures, courts and elections; into regime practices such as cooptation and repression; and into non-democratic sources of accountability. In this vein, this volume explores the form and function of constitutions in countries without the fully articulated institutions of limited government. The chapters utilize a wide range of methods and focus on a broad set of cases, representing many different types of authoritarian regimes. The book offers an exploration into the constitutions of authoritarian regimes, generating broader insights into the study of constitutions and their functions more generally.