Thema: Autoritarismus & Populismus

Verfassungserosion, demokratischer Rückschritt, verfassungsrechtliche Herausforderungen demokratischer Regierungsführung, populistischer Konstitutionalismus und verfassungsrechtliche Antworten auf Autoritarismus. Umfasst wehrhafte Demokratie, verfassungsrechtliche Selbstverteidigung und verfassungsrechtliche Mechanismen gegen demokratische Erosion.

Wer ist das Volk?

Der Begriff des Volkes ist zentral für unser Grundgesetz – und ist es auch seit jeher für rechte Parteien und Bewegungen. Auch die Funktionär*innen, Mitglieder und Anhänger*innen der „Alternative für Deutschland“ (AfD) beziehen sich immer wieder positiv auf den Begriff des Volkes und legen nahe, dass es ein „eigentliches“, über die Gemeinschaft aller Staatsangehörigen hinaus gehendes Volk gebe, das es zu erhalten gelte. Das Grundgesetz zieht dem Volksbegriff allerdings Grenzen.

26. August 2024

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Wen es trifft

Diesen Sonntag finden die Landtagswahlen in Thüringen und Sachsen statt. Stärkste Kraft könnte in beiden Ländern eine autoritär-populistische Partei werden, die gegen Menschenwürde und Demokratieprinzip verstößt und die rechtliche Gleichheit der Staatsangehörigen in Frage stellt. Welche Szenarien der Diskriminierung könnten auf Thüringen und Deutschland zukommen, wenn die AfD in Regierungsverantwortung versuchen würde, diese politischen Bestrebungen umzusetzen?

26. August 2024

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An Inconvenient Truth? Fascism and Ethno-Nationalism

India’s modern history has been profoundly shaped by a concern that nationalism can lead to mass violence and atrocity, if not genocide. This preoccupation was also shaped by the experience of World War II. Indian politicians and thinkers often referred to the experience of Nazism in making the case for India to intervene and prevent an impending genocide in what was then East Pakistan. While the intervention led to the creation of an independent state of Bangladesh, it was also a case in which invocation of the holocaust and “Never Again” was apt.

30. Juli 2024

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A Democratic Mandate to Overhaul Mexico’s Judiciary?

It is time to take the present threat as what it is: the most serious threat to Mexico’s constitutional democracy at least since the slow start of the democratic transition in the late 1970’s. The constitutional amendment to the judiciary will translate into an incommensurable retrocession in terms of professionalization and judicial independence building. The day after the amendment is passed, Mexico will officially be less democratic and more authoritarian in that the scrutiny of the exercise of public power would have been put at great risk.

24. Juli 2024

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Aristotle in the Commission

Today, the European Commission issued its fifth Annual Rule of Law Report (ARoLR). While this monitoring exercise has come a long way and has been significantly improved, the rule of law backsliding remains one of the most pressing issues of the EU. In the following I present seven recommendations how to improve the Commission’s monitoring exercise. At the core lies a differentiation between a democracy and a hybrid regime. Once a Member State qualifies as the latter, it must be treated accordingly.

24. Juli 2024

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Never Again. And Not Quite.

Those who build new public law act with the past hovering over their shoulders. Rejecting regimes of horror explains much of the content of new constitutions. Aversive constitutionalism – in which constitutionalists overtly steer away from a country’s appalling pasts – guides how they understand these new texts. On balance, even among those who disagree over precisely how the past is memorialized as “never again” in new constitutions, evidence shows that the horrors of the past influence public law in the present much more than do the dreams of some ideal future.

23. Juli 2024

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The French Fifth Republic Enters Uncharted Waters

After yesterday's elections, the French Fifth Republic steps into uncharted waters. In the short term, France’s role at the heart of EU integration and as a key supporter of Ukraine remains steadfast. This stability is impressive, given most predictions. However, this new phase of French politics will be fragmented and fluid, demanding a recalibration to find a stable equilibrium while countering the far right. French moderate parties face a tough road ahead. Their success or failure will not only shape France’s future but also reverberate beyond its borders.

8. Juli 2024

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The Limits of Contemporary French Constitutionalism

French President Emmanuel Macron’s dissolution of France’s National Assembly (its lower house of parliament) on June 9th took many by surprise.  The results of the snap election’s first round suggest that Macron’s risky gamble—an attempt at turning the tide after his party suffered a major blow in the European Parliament elections—backfired majestically. However, more than a political setback for Macron, and outside of the many (highly warranted) concerns as to what harmful policies a new far-right-dominated parliament could pass, the move also raises many interesting constitutional law questions. Whatever the outcome of the second round on Sunday, July 7, France will face unprecedented circumstances that are likely to put the country’s 1958 constitution to the test.

5. Juli 2024

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