Abstrakt
The intense engagement of populists with constitutionalism-a phenomenon originally related to experiences in Latin America-is increasingly evident in some of the new European Union member states. But the populist phenomenon is clearly not confined to more recently established democracies.
Populist constitutionalism stands for a number of distinctive tendencies in constitutional politics and practices which frequently are in tension with-and may even threaten-fundamental values, human rights, representative democracy, and the rule of law. The relation between populism and constitutionalism is, however, not necessarily one of anti-thesis, but rather manifests itself in distinctive ways, depending on specific contexts and variations.
In this special issue, we argue that populist constitutionalism is best analyzed in a comparative, and historically and contextually attuned manner. The special issue wants to contribute to understandings of populist constitutionalism, which are both theoretically more robust and able to comparatively reflect on a diversity of "really existing" cases.
The various contributions discuss central dimensions to the populist phenomenon. These pertain in particular to: (a) The varieties of populist engagement with constitutionalism; (b) a deeper understanding of the populist mindset; (c) the position-taking and reaction of constitutional scholars to populism; (d) the complex relation and overlap of populism with illiberalism and authoritarianism; and (e) the central nature of constituent power in populist projects.