<P> A constituent assembly or constitutional assembly is a body or assembly of popularly elected representatives composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution . The constituent assembly is a subset of a constitutional convention elected entirely by popular vote; that is, all constituent assemblies are constitutional conventions, but a constitutional convention is not necessarily a constituent assembly . As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures; instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution, must be set up . A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose, which it carries out in a relatively short time, after which the assembly is dissolved . A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy . </P> <P> Unlike forms of constitution - making in which a constitution is unilaterally imposed by a sovereign lawmaker, the constituent assembly creates a constitution through "internally imposed" actions, in that members of the constituent assembly are themselves citizens, but not necessarily the rulers, of the country for which they are creating a constitution . As described by Columbia University Social Sciences Professor Jon Elster: </P> <P> Constitutions arise in a number of different ways . At the non-democratic extreme of the spectrum, we may imagine a sovereign lawgiver laying down the constitution for all later generations . At the democratic extreme, we may imagine a constituent assembly elected by universal suffrage for the sole task of writing a new constitution . And there are all sorts of intermediate arrangements . </P> <P> Right after the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War that overthrow Rafael Angel Calderón Government, the leaders of the victorious side call for an election of a Constituent Assembly in the same year . The Assembly successfully drafted and approved the current Costa Rican Constitution . </P>

What is the difference between constituent assembly and legislative assembly