Title: Constitutional defence of democracy: from non-exportability to undetermined polymorphism

Authors: Otto Pfersmann

Addresses: Lier-FYT, Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France

Abstract: Democracy is increasingly protected through ever complex constitutional design, but complexity adds to paradoxically weaken the protection as its standards become ever more undetermined and vague. The paper proceeds in reconstructing the steps of this evolution from constitutional criminal law to constitutional formalisation and the introduction of higher order constitutional law. It then appears that what most strengthens democracy may also weaken its working and promote ideological instead of legal scholarship.

Keywords: constitutional democracy; constitutional formalisation; hierarchy of norms; higher constitutional law; constitutional polymorphism; constitutional review; constitutional adjudication; legal scholarship as ideology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2020.111516

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2020 Vol.7 No.4, pp.311 - 322

Received: 11 May 2020
Accepted: 25 May 2020
Published online: 30 Nov 2020 *

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