Anti-Constitutional Populism

Explores a range of anti-constitutionalist populist regimes, identifying and analysing their causes, characteristics and consequences.

Martin Krygier (Edited by), Adam Czarnota (Edited by), Wojciech Sadurski (Edited by)

9781009013802, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 March 2022

350 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.8 cm, 0.841 kg

'The book's scope allows it to canvas most of the major issues, and it will be a welcome resource for scholars. … Recommended.' M. Blitz, CHOICE

Around the world, populist parties have sprung up in formerly and formally liberal-democratic polities, challenging their existing political parties and leaders, and frequently overwhelming them. These challenges and successes were rarely predicted, arriving so soon after the wave of liberal democratic and constitutional enthusiasms, proclamations and institution-building which peaked in the 1990s. Bringing together scholars from law, political science and philosophy, this collection explores the character of contemporary populisms and their relationships to constitutional democracy. With contributors from around the world, it offers a diverse range of nuanced perspectives on populism as a global phenomenon. Using comparative and multi-disciplinary techniques, this book considers the specifics and similarities of populisms, and raises general questions about their nature and potential futures.

Introduction: anti-constitutional populism Martin Krygier
Part I. Populisms: 1. Populist constitutionalism – between democracy and authoritarianism Bojan Bugari?
2. Anti-elitism and the constitution – some reflections on populist constitutionalism Lucia Corso
3. Constitutional populism in South Africa Theunis Roux
4. Subaltern populism – Dutertismo and the war on constitutional democracy Richard Javad Heydarian
Part II. Courts: 5. Populism, Constitutional democracy, and high courts – lessons from the Venezuelan Case Raul A. Sánchez Urribarrí
6. When Bolsonaro and the judges go shopping – how Brazil's legal elites opened the door for Bolsonaro's bad populism Alexandre Fleck Soares Brandao
7. Disarming the guardians – the transformation of the Hungarian Constitutional Court after 2010 Eszter Bodnár
Part III. Anti-Constitutionalism After Post-Communism: 8. Conservative populism in defiance of anti-totalitarian constitutional democracy Paul Blokker
9. Constitutional populism and the rule of law in Poland Micha? Stambulski
10. Populism or authoritarianism? A plaidoyer against illiberal or authoritarian constitutionalism Gábor Halmai
Part IV. EU Responses: 11. Populism and the crisis of constitutional pluralism Julian Scholtes
12. Populist constitutional grammar – between manipulative borrowing and bad (judicial) masters Oreste Pollicino
Constitutional populism versus EU law: a much more complex story than you imagined Dimitry Vladimirovich Kochenov and Barbara Grabowska-Moroz
V. Concluding Reflections: 14. Sources of constitutional populism – democracy, identity, and economic exclusion Adam Czarnota
15. Institutional populism, courts and the European Union Wojciech Sadurski.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND]