The right to democracy in a populist era

Thomas Franck's “emerging” right to democracy seems to be entering turbulent times, as the current global democratic recession has undermined the optimism of the 1990s. The greatest paradox of the current populist wave is that democracy is being subverted by leaders promising more, not less, democracy—but it is a democracy of a different kind. Populists embrace the “form” of democracy and claim to speak for the people themselves. At the same time, however, by undermining its liberal constitutional foundations, they erode the substance of democracy, and gradually transform it into various forms of illiberal and authoritarian regimes.</jats:p

The assault on postcommunist courts

In the last 25 years, constitutional courts have been major players in the governance of Central and Eastern Europe, and were arguably the most important defenders of the rule of law in the region. Yet the last few years have exposed the institutional fragility of constitutional courts in the face of illiberal democracy, as several countries have moved to pack the courts. Without quick and sustained pressure, the dismantling of the hard fought freedoms associated with the rule of law will succeed, and we will again speak of an Eastern Europe that is closer to Russia than to the West