Filtering Populist Claims to Fight Populism
The Italian Case in a Comparative Perspective

Exploring Italy as a case study, this book investigates how populists in power manipulate categories and instruments of constitutional law.

Giuseppe Martinico (Author)

9781108791489, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 February 2023

223 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.551 kg

'Is there a populist theory of the constitution? Probably not, but the relationship between populism and constitutionalism is much more complex than we might think at first glance. Filtering Populist Claims to Fight Populism investigates this relationship, offering a fascinating examination of comparative law, in which diachronic and synchronic comparisons are skillfully employed. The subtitle ('The Italian Case in a Comparative Perspective!') should not betray the fact that this is not just a book about Italy. It is, in fact, a volume in which the Italian case is treated as a particular example of the broader trend that is post-totalitarian constitutionalism … this volume is interesting not only for constitutional and comparative lawyers, but also for scholars interested in European Union law.' Matteo Monti, EU Law Live

The new wave of populism that has emerged over the last five years in Europe and in the US urgently needs to be better understood in a comparative and historical context. Using Italy – including the experiment of a self-styled populist coalition government – as a case study, this book investigates how populists in power borrow, use and manipulate categories of constitutional theory and instruments of constitutional law. Giuseppe Martinico goes beyond treating constitutionalism and populism as purely antithetical to dive deeply into the impact of populism on the activity of some instruments of constitutional democracy, endeavoring to explore their role as possible fora of populist claims and targets of populist attacks. Most importantly, he points to ways in which constitutional democracies can channel populist claims without jeopardizing the legacy of post-World War II constitutionalism. This book is aimed at academics and practicing lawyers interested in populism and comparative constitutional law.

1. Populist Constitutionalism: An Oxymoron? 2. Italy and Post-World War II Constitutionalism
3. Mimetism and Parasitism in Action: Sovereignism and Identity Politics versus Post WWII – Constitutional Openness
4. Mimetism and Parasitism in Action: Politics of Immediacy and the Case of The Referendum
5. The Assault on Representative Democracy as the Other Side of the Politics of Immediacy
6. The Return of the Imperative Mandate?
7. Filtering Populist Claims to Fight Populism
Final Remarks.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Comparative law [LAM], Politics & government [JP]