„Constitutions are chains with which men bind themselves in their sane moments that they may not die by a suicidal hand in the day of their frenzy. We bind ourselves with constitutional rules to guard against future temptation. ..Like Odysseus, we…seek to manipulate future experience in our own lives…Communities also agree to bind themselves, and constitutions are the (more or less) written evidence both of the binding and of the rules that bind.“
(J.E. Finn, Constitutions in crisis: political violence and the rule of law, 1991.)
„...a constitution is a tie imposed by Peter when sober on Peter when drunk...Constitutional precommitment strategies might serve to overcome myopia or weakness of will on the part of the collectivity.“
(Jon Elster, Ulysses unbound: studies in rationality, precommitment, and constraints, 2000.)