Although nine out of ten countries have emergency provisions written into their constitutions, the nature of these provisions remains poorly understood. We therefore aim at providing first answers to two straightforward questions: (1) which factors cause the inclusion of emergency provisions into constitutions? and (2) given that emergency provisions are constitutionalized – which factors determine the type of emergency provisions enacted? We find that the way in which a country’s constitution is produced has important consequences for its emergency provisions: constitutional assemblies dominated by legislators are loath to grant the executive many extra powers. Further, emergency constitutions in countries with stronger veto institutions and higher average income allow more discretionary power. This also holds for countries that recently experienced a coup. Interestingly, countries prone to natural disasters and countries far from the equator allow less power.