Comparative Constitutions Project

What Comparative Constitutions Project does

Comparative Constitutions Project (CCP), founded in 2005 at the University of Illinois by Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg, and James Melton, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic research organization that produces the world's most comprehensive longitudinal dataset on national constitutions. It systematically codes and tracks constitutional provisions, events, and adoption patterns for every independent state since 1789, covering 200+ countries, 20,600+ country-years, 330+ topics, and 3,500+ documented constitutional events. Primary outputs include the Constitute platform (a searchable database of 200+ constitutional texts in English, Arabic, and Spanish), the Chronology of Constitutional Events dataset, the Characteristics of National Constitutions survey (650+ questions), and the Sartori Suite of open-source concept analysis tools built on Multilingual E5 semantic embeddings and the open-access Constitutional Studies journal.

CCP's underlying technology combines custom constitutional coding survey software with open-source natural language processing tools, including the Constitution Comparison Tool, Domain Comparison Tool, and Segments-as-Topics Tool, plus the Sartori.network concept repository mapping 2,010 concepts across 10 ontologies via t-SNE projection and cosine similarity. Unlike commercial enterprises, CCP operates an open-access distribution model with no pricing tiers, subscriptions, or licensing fees; all data, tools, publications, and platforms are provided free of charge. Revenue is derived entirely from grants (notably National Science Foundation Award No. 2315189) and institutional support from partner universities (University of Illinois, University of Chicago, UT Austin, University College London) and foundations (Google Ideas, International IDEA, Indigo Trust, United States Institute of Peace, Thomas J. Reinhart Foundation). The customer base spans academic researchers, constitutional drafters and policymakers, educators and students (grade 5 through university, including IB History curricula), and the general public.

Name

Comparative Constitutions Project

Legal name

Comparative Constitutions Project

Website

https://comparativeconstitutionsproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Comparative Constitutions Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic research initiative that produces the world's most comprehensive longitudinal dataset on national constitutions, serving academic researchers, constitutional drafters, and educators through open-access digital platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Constitutional Research Data and Analytics

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Public Administration (92), Legislative Bodies (92112)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance) (EDAGAGAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

International & Comparative Education Policy Organizations (EDADADAL), Open Textbooks (Open-licensed core texts) (EDAGAJAA)

Keywords

• Constitutional data research
• Comparative constitutional law
• Open-access academic datasets
• Constitution analysis tools
• Legal text analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Primary funding from academic and institutional grants including National Science Foundation Award No. 2315189, with additional support from Google Ideas, Indigo Trust, International IDEA, Thomas J Reinhart Foundation, and United States Institute of Peace.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Comparative Constitutions Project produces and disseminates systematic data about the world's constitutions, offering searchable platforms (Constitute), downloadable datasets (Chronology of Constitutional Events, Characteristics of National Constitutions), and open-source concept analysis tools (Sartori.network, Constitution Comparison Tool, Domain Comparison Tool, Segments-as-Topics Tool). It also publishes the Constitutional Studies journal and educational lesson plans for classroom use. All resources are provided free of charge under an open-access model.

Product overview

The Comparative Constitutions Project operates as a research organization offering a suite of interconnected digital platforms and data products centered on constitutional analysis. The core offerings include the Constitute platform (a searchable database of 200+ constitutional texts available in English, Arabic, and Spanish), the Constitutional Timeline visualization, and downloadable CCP Data datasets (Chronology of Constitutional Events and Characteristics of National Constitutions). Supporting these core products is the Sartori Suite of Concept Analysis Tools, which includes the Sartori.network concept repository, the Constitution Comparison Tool, Domain Comparison Tool, and Segments-as-Topics Tool. The project also publishes the open-access Constitutional Studies journal and provides educational resources through Constitute Lesson Plans. The products are designed for comparative constitutional scholars, policymakers, and citizens seeking to understand constitutional design worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Constitute: Search and compare more than 200 constitutional texts by topic or provision with a comprehensive platform. Available in English (232 constitutions), Arabic (54 constitutions), and Spanish (61 constitutions).
• Sartori.network
• Constitutional Studies

Products and services

• Constitute Platform A searchable database and analysis platform enabling users to search and compare more than 200 constitutional texts by topic or provision. Offers full-text search, topic filtering by region and time period, and side-by-side constitution comparison. Available in English (232 constitutions), Arabic (54 constitutions), and Spanish (61 constitutions).
• CCP Data Downloads Downloadable datasets including the Chronology of Constitutional Events (v6.0, covering 1789-2025 with over 20,600 country-years) and Characteristics of National Constitutions (v5.0, covering 200+ countries). Also includes 18 replication datasets for published research.
• Sartori.network An interactive platform for exploring and connecting concepts across the social sciences. Features 2,010 concepts mapped from 10 ontologies using Multilingual E5 embeddings, projected to 2D via t-SNE and connected via cosine similarity. Developed by the Concept Integration Lab for comparative law research.
• Constitutional Timeline An interactive timeline visualization tracking constitutional changes and patterns worldwide, based on the Chronology of Constitutional Events dataset.
• Constitution Comparison Tool An open-source tool to systematically assess the similarity of constitutions through two lenses: textual alignment (whether drafters use the same language) and thematic alignment (whether constitutions address similar topics regardless of wording). Available via GitHub repository.
• Domain Comparison Tool An open-source tool to expand and improve topics tracked in texts by drawing from multiple ontologies and identifying these topics in a corpus. Available via GitHub repository.
• Segments-as-Topics Tool An open-source tool allowing users to formulate new topics using segments from their corpus, producing more accurate automated matching with human intervention at key points. Uses a four-stage framework: Generation, Expansion, Review, and Integration.
• Constitutional Studies Journal An international multilingual open-access journal published jointly by CCP and the International Association of Constitutional Law. Relaunched in 2025 as a biannual publication (June and December) accepting manuscripts in English, French, Spanish, and 29 other languages.
• Constitute Lesson Plans Educational curriculum materials for Grades 5 and up, developed in partnership with the American Bar Association Division for Public Education. Includes lesson plans for exploring world constitutions, drafting constitutional amendments, and IB World History diploma research.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ countries covered with constitutional data
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• DejusticiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Collaborated with Dejusticia and University of Los Andes to develop Constitute en español, launched in 2024, providing Spanish-language access to constitutional texts.
• Concept Integration LabcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Research team developing and maintaining Sartori.network platform and concept analysis tools. Led by Andrés Cruz (design and implementation), with team including Zachary Elkins, Roy Gardner, Matthew Martin, Ashley Moran, and Guillermo Pérez.
• National Constitution Center (NCC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015NCC partnered with CCP in 2015 for the Constitute exhibition featuring interactive tablets and the Google Drafting Lab, bringing constitutional knowledge to museum visitors through hands-on experiences.
• Google Drafting LabcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2015Co-sponsored physical collaboration space at NCC where school groups and visitors research constitutional ideas using collaborative technologies and Google Docs.
• International IDEAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014International IDEA provided significant intellectual material and support for Arabic Constitute platform launched in 2014, enabling constitutional content access for Arabic-speaking audiences.
• Google IdeascoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Google Ideas co-sponsored the Constitute platform launch in 2013 and the Google Drafting Lab at the National Constitution Center. Provided financial support and collaborative technology resources for constitutional research and drafting tools.
• University of IllinoiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Original institutional home where CCP began with Zachary Elkins and Tom Ginsburg as faculty and James Melton as PhD student. Home of Cline Center for Advanced Social Research.
• University of ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Partner institution where Tom Ginsburg serves at the Law School as Leo Spitz Professor of Law.
• University of Texas at AustincoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Partner institution where Zachary Elkins serves as Professor in the Department of Government, and Ashley Moran as Co-director of the Center for Law and Democracy.
• University College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Partner institution where James Melton served as Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics (2012-2015).
• Cline Center for Advanced Social ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Initial administrative and intellectual home of CCP at University of Illinois. Under founding director Peter Nardulli and current director Scott Althaus, continues to support and collaborate with CCP.
• HeinOnlinecoreOthers · 1 January 2005Provider of World Constitutions Illustrated database used extensively for constitutional text sourcing and research.
• Oxford University PresscoreOthers · 1 January 2005Publisher of Constitutions of the World used as a source for constitutional documents and research materials.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Freedom House: Produces Freedom in the World and related governance indices tracking political rights and civil liberties across countries. Competes for the same institutional research and democracy-funding budgets and addresses overlapping audiences of comparative governance scholars and policymakers.
• World Justice Project: Publisher of the Rule of Law Index, a global comparative dataset on rule-of-law dimensions. Comparable as a research-organization-produced, publicly available comparative governance dataset used by academics, governments, and NGOs.
• International IDEA: Intergovernmental organization supporting democratic constitutional design globally. Direct partner of CCP for the Arabic Constitute launch (2014) and for the relaunch of Constitutional Studies journal; both share a mission of democratizing constitutional knowledge for practitioners and scholars.
• Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem): University of Gothenburg–led project producing the premier global dataset on democratic institutions, including constitutional dimensions. Most directly comparable peer operating a large-scale, openly available comparative-regime dataset consumed by the same scholars and policy users as CCP.
• Polity Project (Polity5): Long-running academic project producing the Polity dataset characterizing political regimes globally. Comparable as a foundational, openly distributed comparative politics dataset cited alongside CCP in empirical constitutional research.
• Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI): Bertelsmann Stiftung project systematically assessing political and economic transformation in 137 developing and transition countries. Comparable dataset-driven comparative governance research product oriented to international policy users.

Regional players

• National Constitution Center: Philadelphia-based civic education organization operating the physical Constitute exhibition in partnership with CCP. Closely allied peer in the constitutional literacy and public-education segment; its work is U.S.-centric rather than comparative, but it shares CCP's mission of making constitutional content accessible to non-specialists.

Emerging players

• Center for Constitutional Transitions (CCT): Academic initiative supporting evidence-based constitutional design in countries undergoing constitutional transitions. Smaller, more directly policy-intervention-oriented peer than CCP, but operates in the same comparative constitutional design space and serves overlapping scholar/practitioner users.

Broad incumbents

• Oxford University Press (Constitutions of the World): Publisher of the Constitutions of the World reference series, a commercial counterpart to CCP's open-access Constitute platform. Listed as a data source partner for constitutional documents; a broader incumbent that competes for institutional subscription dollars in the same space.
• HeinOnline (World Constitutions Illustrated): Subscription-based legal database aggregator that provides World Constitutions Illustrated, a major commercial source of constitutional texts. Listed as a data source partner of CCP; a broader incumbent in legal-reference publishing that partially overlaps with CCP's comparative text offerings behind a paywall.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ccpconstitute
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCfkk5Lqx5i2jUHpWcA9ai6g
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/comparative-constitutions-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Comparative Constitutions Project