Public participation is widely considered to be an indispensable part of contemporary constitution-making processes, largely because it is thought to create a sense of public ownership of the new constitution. However, as recent research has shown that public participation has little actual impact on the content of the constitution, this supposed link is puzzling. How can ineffective participation contribute to public support for the constitution? We address this puzzle by subjecting it to experimental tests. In two recontact survey experiments conducted across six countries, we empirically tested the effects of various forms of participation at the constitution drafting stage and their concrete impact on public support for the constitution. We found that the act of participating in itself has little effect on support for the constitution but that broader cues that give the impressions of a fair process can have significant positive effects. This indicates that participation in constitution drafting can increase public support for a constitution regardless of the extent to which it has an impact on the constitutional text and that the appearance of a fair process is the link between participation and support.

中文翻译：

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公平程序很重要：公众参与与宪法合法性之间的关系

公众参与被广泛认为是当代宪法制定过程中不可或缺的一部分，很大程度上是因为它被认为可以营造一种新宪法的公共所有权感。然而，最近的研究表明，公众参与对宪法内容几乎没有实际影响，这种假设的联系令人费解。无效的参与如何促进公众对宪法的支持？我们通过实验测试来解决这个难题。我们在六个国家进行了两次再接触调查实验，实证检验了宪法起草阶段各种形式参与的效果及其对公众支持宪法的具体影响。我们发现，参与行为本身对宪法的支持影响不大，但给人留下公平过程印象的更广泛线索可以产生显着的积极影响。这表明，无论对宪法文本的影响有多大，参与制宪都可以增加公众对宪法的支持，而公平过程的出现是参与与支持之间的纽带。