Dorjana BOJANOVSKA POPOVSKA
While in Hungary and Poland the road towards illiberal democracy was paved with constitutional change, the case of North Macedonia shows us that snap elections are another way of reinforcing the populist notion of electoral legitimacy, and buying the time needed to re-shape state institutions
Read MoreBeatrice MONCIUNSKAITE
Although strong-willed populist parties similar to Hungry’s Fidesz party or PiS in Poland have not yet captured government in Latvia or Lithuania, structural democratic deficiencies such as pervasive corruption and ethnic inquality leave the stage open for such parties to take hold
Read MoreJohn STANTON
Amidst serious concerns about democratic decay in Malta, especially concerning inadequate separation of powers and deep-seated corruption, attempts at reform are underway to address the system’s flaws. However, more is needed to achieve democratic renewal
Read MoreAtagün Mert KEJANLIOGLU
Last year, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered the most significant electoral blow of his political career. Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the political control of the municipalities of Turkey’s two biggest cities: Istanbul and Ankara
Read MoreDarshan DATAR
In India, the USA, and France, judges are assisting a move toward instituting militantly secular policies that radically police religious conduct in the private sphere, but which ultimately undermine secularism by privileging the majority faith
Read MoreNurhafilah MUSA
This blog post documents Malaysia’s experience in maintaining democracy and public order during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a brief snapshot of the Malaysian political scenario, how the response has operated within the constitutional framework, and some brief thoughts on how Malaysia should move forward
Read MoreDian A H SHAH
In Malaysia and Indonesia, despite “surges” in democratic development in recent years raising hopes of fuller democratisation, ongoing political competition and struggles have triggered various assaults against, and corruption of, constitutional democracy
Read MoreIain PAYNE & George VARUGHESE
Nepal’s trajectory of political reform — which has been achieved by popular movements since 1990 — has been flattened by a personalized politics, organised around particular party leaders, and is being forced downward by society-wide networks of kleptocrats
Read MoreLeighann SPENCER
With entrenched executive control via judicial appointments, the judiciaries of Turkey and Cameroon cannot be considered effective. This post, by looking at the origins of executive control, and how and why a judicial system becomes constrained by the ruling regime, offers a number of potential solutions
Read MoreUgochukwu EZEH
Can courts help to address electoral malpractices? This blogpost uses a series of vignettes from several African presidential election petitions to frame several discussion points, insights, and key questions on democratic decline and the role of municipal courts in the electoral processes of nascent democracies.
Read MoreJuha TUOVINEN
The Protection of State Information Bill, which seeks to replace the apartheid era Protection of Information Act, 1982 with a new system for classifying, protecting and disseminating state information, presents a necessary revision of the clearly unconstitutional 1982 Act but it has also been called the greatest threat to democracy in South Africa.
Read MoreOsayd AWAWADA
Reviewing many Arab states’ responses to COVID-19 Pandemic reveals that respecting human rights, limiting exceptional powers of the executive, and deploying an efficient system of checks and balances are still far from becoming realities in many Arab states.
Read MoreZHOU Han-Ru
As the Québec Bill 21 case finally proceeds to be heard on the merits, it is the first Charter challenge involving the notwithstanding clause in more than 30 years. The end result in this latest round of the power struggle between the government and the judiciary has the potential to recast the longstanding role of Canadian courts as the self-appointed guardians of the Constitution
Read MoreMonica CASTILLEJOS-ARAGÓN
The recent behavior of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court in El Salvador suggests a different account to understand and assess judicial behavior in times of emergency. Despite President Nayib Bukele’s minority government showing persistent hostility to the Legislative Assembly and Supreme Court, Salvadorian justices have exercised their authority and independence
Read MoreKatya KOZICKI & Rick PIANARO
In Brazil, a proposed constitutional amendment to reverse a prior amendment of 2015 to increase the judicial retirement age violates basic principles of the Constitution, such as the security of judicial tenure and life-time tenure and bears concerning similarities to recent measures in Poland
Read MoreTatiana CARDOSO SQUEFF & Lúcia SOUZA D’AQUINO
This post argues that the limitations imposed by the recent constitutional amendment enshrining austerity measures, exacerbating inequalities in the country, combined with federal government inaction on COVID-19, attests to the breakdown of Brazilian democracy
Read MoreJorge CONTESSE
This post assesses Chile’s unique constitution-making moment and constituent process as a distinctive case of democratic renewal: where decay is democratic, as when the normal (but imperfect) functioning of the constitutional system may lead to its own destruction (a sort of institutional implosion) followed by a moment of constitutional creation
Read MoreNigam NUGGEHALI
I argue for a re-evaluation of the liberal idea that the bulk of the governance must be left to the politicians. One can deny that politics (the practice in which the politicians are involved) is a force for the good and at the same time accept that politics can bring about good outcomes.
Read MoreOreste POLLICINO & Giovanni DE GREGORIO
The rise of digital private powers challenges the traditional characteristics of constitutional powers, thus, encouraging reflection on how constitutional law could evolve to face the challenges brought by the emergence of new forms of powers in the algorithmic society.
Read MoreTamar HOSTOVSKY BRANDES & Yaniv ROZNAI
Has COVID-19 affected the challenges populism poses to democracy? The most obvious concern is that the pandemic will be used by populist leaders as an excuse to grab power. However, in this post, we sketch out four broad topics, under which COVID-19 may affect existing populist tends in different - and potentially conflicting - manners.
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