Entrenchment means past decision makers asymmetrically constrain future political choices.

Evidence

Another intuitive understanding of entrenchment emphasizes the asymmetrical difficulty of reversing prior political decisions and, as a consequence, the disproportionate influence of past decision makers over present and future ones. Thus, political entrenchment is thought to arise when “a temporary political majority (in the society and in the legislature) … extend[s] its hold on power into the future,” or when a political action “limits the policy choices available to future governments.” — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 486

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines political entrenchment as past decision makers constraining future options.
• XREF: connects to: Entrenchment is intentional creation of legal impediments to change — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 39; Political entrenchment means making political change more difficult than it otherwise would be — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 47; Entrenchment is defined only as obstacles blocking present majority will — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 57 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Decisions are historically conditioned, so past choices constrain current ones #expands (0.88) — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 11
• Political entrenchment means making political change more difficult than it otherwise would be #expands (0.85) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 47
• Entrenchment is defined only as obstacles blocking present majority will #qualifies (0.82) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 57
• Entrenchment also works by relocating decision authority to insulated actors #expands (0.80) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 325
• Entrenchment works by capturing politics’ basic ground rules. #expands (0.78) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 117
• Entrenchment analysis must bracket preference formation and judge only barriers to present majority will #qualifies (0.78) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 57
• Entrenchment can serve public ends like precommitment and stability, not just self-serving power #complicates (0.74)
• Entrenchment is not unusual but a defining feature of all extended democracy #complicates (0.72) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 502