How to Save a Constitutional Democracy

Huq, Aziz Z.; Ginsburg, Tom

doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226564418.001.0001

Cited by 96 publications

(76 citation statements)

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“…And one of their most important tools for undermining democracy isparadoxicallylaw and the liberal democratic constitution. 60 Kim Lane Scheppele 61 captivatingly demonstrates in this context how "legalistic autocrats" exploited the inherent tension between a (vulgarized understanding of) democracy and constitutionalism to the detriment of liberal values.…”

Section: Erosion and Decay Arguments For Democratic Regressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Gerschewski

2020

Democratization

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Democratic regression has become a worrying phenomenon in the last years. Social science has provided a variety of explanations why democratic regimes have lost democratic regime quality. Against this backdrop, I take stock of the recent literature by putting forward two important analytical distinctions that we should make more explicit. First, I propose to classify our current explanations along the source where the cause for the malaise originated. By doing so, I introduce a distinction between erosion and decay type of arguments. While the former is a gradual process that is caused exogenouslylike wind or water hitting a stonethe latter is caused endogenouslylike the half-life in nuclear decay processes. Second, I draw a distinction between the endogenous or exogenous roots of the cause and the subsequent causal mechanism that connects the cause with the outcome. I outline the need for dissecting a causal mechanism into its constitutive components and highlight its underlying dimensions of temporality. Throughout the article, I use empirical case material as well as relevant secondary literature to illustrate these points.

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Section: Erosion and Decay Arguments For Democratic Regressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Gerschewski

2020

Democratization

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“…Election is a mainstay feature of democracy (Ginsburg and Huq 2018). Elections are important because they provide the main mechanism by which political leaders are elected and held accountable and through elections also individuals participate in state government (see and type of election.…”

Section: Elections and Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemic at the Polls: An Analysis of the Decision to Continue the 2020 Regional Head Election in the New Normal Era

Rosanti

2020

JIDS

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This article will specifically provide a preliminary assessment of the many risks that the Covid-19 pandemic might pose if elections continue to be held and it is not impossible that elections continued during the pandemic will be far from being fair, honest and transparent even endangering the security and safety of voters at the Polling Stations. The emergence of a new era during the pandemic called New Normal where everyone must behave new in everyday life by prioritizing aspects of health will certainly have a significant influence in the implementation of elections. The method used is the study of literature. The literature used in this study includes all literature, news coverage and reports relating to the holding of the elections including previous books and articles that discuss the holding of elections during a pandemic. This paper begins by explaining why elections are an important part of democracy, and then looks at how the government's response to the pandemic and elections that will be held in the New Normal era will present significant solutions about the future of democracy itself. In this paper, the author also recommends several things related to the holding of elections during the pandemic. The main findings of this paper are: First, the presence of the virus itself can directly prevent voters from casting their votes at the polling stations and even affect the overall level of voter participation. Second, there are consequences of formally delaying the holding of elections which vary by type of regime (national or local). Third, some elements in the electoral cycle can be affected by the pandemic.

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“…23 Ginsburg and Huq note that a central mechanism at the service of those leading the process is formal constitutional amendments: "the first and perhaps most obviously available pathway to democratic erosion uses formal constitutional amendment as a tool to disadvantage or marginalize political opposition and deliberative pluralism." 24 For example, returning to Hungary, the passing of the new Hungarian constitution, on April 25, 2011 that replaced the Communistera constitution (which was amended in 1989 into a liberal-democratic one), facilitated Fidesz to strengthen and establish its control in Hungary. The new constitution served as the basis for an array of measures that allowed Fidesz to pack the Constitutional Court, control the judiciary in various other ways, and curb criticism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic Erosion, Populist Constitutionalism, and the Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments Doctrine

Roznai

Brandes

2020

Law &Amp; Ethics of Human Rights

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The world is experiencing a crisis of constitutional democracies. Populist leaders are abusing constitutional mechanisms, such as formal procedures of constitutional change, in order to erode the democratic order. The changes are, very often, gradual, incremental, and subtle. Each constitutional change, on its own, may not necessarily amount to a serious violation of essential democratic values. Yet, when examined in the context of an ongoing process, such constitutional changes may prove to be part of the incremental, gradual process of democratic erosion in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This Article explores how courts can respond to such constitutional changes. We argue the Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment Doctrine should be adapted to respond to existing constitutional practices that utilize incremental and subtle amendments to dismantle the democratic order. We suggest that an aggregated judicial review should be developed. We must also rethink the automatic immunity – the result of two hundred years of revolutionary constitutional theory – provided to complete constitutional replacement from constitutional restrictions and scrutiny. Finally, as opposed to the instinct to require judicial self-restraint with respect to constitutional changes that concern the judiciary itself, we suggest that this is perhaps the type of changes that require strictest scrutiny.

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How to Save a Constitutional Democracy

Cited by 96 publications

References 0 publications

Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Pandemic at the Polls: An Analysis of the Decision to Continue the 2020 Regional Head Election in the New Normal Era

Democratic Erosion, Populist Constitutionalism, and the Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments Doctrine

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