Fragile Democracies
Contested Power in the Era of Constitutional Courts

This book examines how constitutional courts can support weak democratic states in the wake of societal division and authoritarian regimes.

Samuel Issacharoff (Author)

9781107654549, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 June 2015

312 pages, 1 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.39 kg

'Samuel Issacharoff's new book is a major contribution to a burgeoning literature on the ways in which courts can protect and improve what the author calls 'fragile democracies' … an ambitious and wide-ranging achievement, and one that will guide the direction of work on judicial role in non-consolidated democracies for years to come.' David E. Landau, International Journal of Constitutional Law

Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the democratic ascendency of the post-Soviet era is under severe challenge. While fragile democracies in Eastern Europe, Africa, and East Asia face renewed threats, the world has witnessed the failed democratic promises of the Arab Spring. What lessons can be drawn from these struggles? What conditions or institutions are needed to prevent the collapse of democracy? This book argues that the most significant antidote to authoritarianism is the presence of strong constitutional courts. Distinct in the third wave of democratization, these courts serve as a bulwark against vulnerability to external threats as well as internal consolidation of power. Particular attention is given to societies riven by deep divisions of race, religion, or national background, for which the courts have become pivotal actors in allowing democracy to take root.

Introduction: the burden of modern democracy
Part I. Militant Democracy: 1. The American paradox
2. The boundaries of democracy
3. Types of threats
4. Responses to antidemocratic threats
5. Judging militant democracy
Part II. Competitive Democracy: 6. Giving up power
7. The promise of constitutional democracy
8. Transition in South Africa
9. The era of constitutional courts
10. The constitutional bargain
11. Can law protect democracy?
12. Constitutionalism in the time of fragile democracies
Epilogue: democratic objectives.

Subject Areas: Comparative law [LAM]