The two panels deal with the future of liberal constitutionalism amid the emergence of populist constitutionalism. The first panel will explore the possible reasons of both left‐ and right‐wing populism, and their relationship to liberal constitutionalism. The second panel concentrates on case studies in Europe and beyond (Israel, Brazil). Here, particular attention will be paid...
Is there such a thing as ‘populist constitutionalism‘?
The paper deals with recent deviations from the shared values of constitutionalism towards a kind of ‘populist, illiberal constitutionalism‘, particularly in East-Central Europe. The theoretical question that these backslidings raise is whether populism and illiberalism are reconcilable with constitutionalism at all. The paper concentrates on a particular version of populism, which is nationalist and illiberal,...
Populism and losing constitutional democracy
Populism is now a major global force, challenging our vision of constitutionalism but not upending it completely. By reasserting the importance of a political community, populism in our era provides an important corrective to globalism. Drawing on a forthcoming book with Aziz Huq, this paper argues that populism can fit in the framework of liberal...
Populism and social welfare constitutionalism
There seem to be left-wing and right-wing versions of populism. Most academic writing has focused on the right-wing versions. Both right-wing and left-wing populist movements are antiliberal and anticosmopolitan, with right-wing movements more comprehensive in their anticosmopolitanism than some left-wing movements. Right-wing populism is a movement of democracy against all versions of liberalism considered as...
Populism and legal fundamentalism
In this paper, I argue that the contemporary conservative, populist engagement with the law in a number of East-Central European societies is – at least in part – a reaction to what is portrayed as legal fundamentalism or an excessive juridification of society. Populism is to an important extent driven by the opposite idea, that...
The party‘s over
In the new political world in which left and right are no longer the meaningful anchor points they once were, cosmopolitans have a completely different set of political interests than the localists. From trade and immigration to universal values and tolerance of difference, cosmopolitans throw open the boundaries of cozy and closed groups while localists...