This edited collection further expands our knowledge about what comprises a successful constitution in both theory and application. Building on the research and analysis of Vincent Ostrom, who as one of America's leading scholars on constitutions has spent a lifetime writing about constitutions in America and overseas. Each essay shows how particular countries, governments, and organizations devise constitutions to reflect their visions of governance and sets of rules for their leaders. On a higher theoretical level, the contributors emphasize the importance of choosing the rules of the political game in order to determine the nature of the game itself. Extending Ostrom's intellectual quest to solve constitutional dilemmas, the scholars gathered here discuss a wide variety of issues, ranging from the problems of water scarcity and local public economies in Africa to the prospect of a new political order in the European North.

Countries, governments, and organizations devise constitutions to reflect their visions of governance and rules for their leaders. They vary considerably in both formats and consequences. Disputes over constitutions can lead to fights, contests, debates, and more. Vincent Ostrom is one of America's leading scholars on constitutions and has spent a lifetime researching, analyzing, and writing about constitutions in America and overseas. He provides methods to judge and to implement constitutions as citizens struggle with their formulation. In this book, scholars from around the world add to this intellectual quest of massive scholarly and practical importance. Using the research and methodology pioneered by Ostrom, they identify and analyze the criteria for successful constitutions in both theory and practice.

Countries, governments, and organizations devise constitutions to reflect their visions of governance and rules for their leaders. They vary considerably in both formats and consequences. Disputes over constitutions can lead to fights, contests, debates, and more. Vincent Ostrom is one of America's leading scholars on constitutions and has spent a lifetime researching, analyzing, and writing about constitutions in America and overseas. He provides methods to judge and to implement constitutions as citizens struggle with their formulation. In this book, scholars from around the world add to this intellectual quest of massive scholarly and practical importance. Using the research and methodology pioneered by Ostrom, they identify and analyze the criteria for successful constitutions in both theory and practice.

The Great Lakes of North America are one of the world's most important natural resources. Home to more than 33 million Canadians and Americans, and the source of vast quantities of fish, hydroelectric energy, and usable water, they are also increasingly the site of severe environmental degradation and resource contamination. This study analyzes how well governments and other stakeholders are addressing this critical problem. Using original findings from surveys, interviews, and other documents, Mark Sproule-Jones looks at how various levels of government, particularly the bureaucracies of two national, one provincial, and eight state governments, are attempting to restore the environment in the Great Lakes. He examines the modest successes and major failures, identifying the kinds of institutions that promote sound decision making. This analysis demonstrates the need for new rules and institutions to address environmental pollution in the Great Lakes, and should be required reading for policymakers, politicians, businesspeople, and environmentalists.

Taxes are not only a means of raising revenues. Governments also used taxes as instruments to achieve other economic and social policy goals. The role of the user fees to achieve greater efficiency in the production and consumption of publically provided goods and services is the subject of the first paper in this volume. The following two papers discuss the role of the tax system in human capital investment and the feasibility and impact of a carbon/energy tax, addressing an important concern of environmental policy. The final paper identifies and estimates existing tax expenditures in the Ontario tax system and discusses the implications of these tax measures.