1st Edition
Rule of Law in Crisis Constitutionalism in a State of Flux
This book addresses the current crisis that threatens the rule of law and has led to the need for its adjustment as normative concept, legal principle and pragmatic guideline for the behaviour of political players. Rule of law is a pillar of the constitutional orders and a key principle of national, international and EU law. Yet, rule of law is subject to pressure for change in the face of emergency, crisis and transition. This book explores how constitutional crisis, emergency constitutionalism and constitutional polycrisis assert pressures for the transformation of rule of law and thus produce a state of flux. It examines the rule of law from the viewpoint of constitutional imaginaries, memory politics and identity politics. It critically assesses the responses given by the EU and its member states to the current crisis. The work also provides an analysis of the most important challenges to rule of law stemming from the performance of constitutional courts, including the risks of judicial activism, politicization of the courts and judicialization of politics. The book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of Constitutional Law and Political Science.
Introduction
PART I Rule of Law, Emergency Constitutionalism and Constitutional Polycrisis
1 Rule of law and democracy in times of transitory constitutionalism, constitutional polycrisis and emergency constitutionalism: Towards a global algorithmic technocracy?
MARTIN BELOV
2 Rule of law and balance of rights in the COVID-19 pandemic
TANJA CERRUTI
PART II Rule of Law as Dynamic Concept Dependent on Constitutional Imaginaries, Memory Politics and Identity Politics
3 Imaginary of the rule of law as a force of societal transition: Central and East European lessons from European (dis)integration
JIŘI PŘIBAŇ
4 Rule of law and constitutionalisation of memory politics in Hungary and Russia
ULADZISLAU BELAVUSAU
5 Rule of law, populism and “state–religion” relations in South-Eastern Europe: Comparative research with particular attention to the Bulgarian post-communist secularism
SIMEON GROYSMAN
PART III EU Perspectives on the Rule of Law Crisis
6 The institutional politics of the European Union’s rule of law crisis
THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN AND DORA HEGEDUS
7 Rule of law crisis and the constitutional ‘awareness’ of the EU
ANGELA DI GREGORIO
8 Rule of law in the EU and its crisis: Central and Eastern European experiences
HRISTO HRISTEV
PART IV Constitutional Courts and Constitutional Review: Safeguards or Challenge for Rule of Law?
9 Constitutional limits on legal interpretation
MARTIN BOROWSKI
10 Material justice and formal-procedural rule of law: Conceptual asymmetries
STILIAN YOTOV
11 The constitutional review in a state pretending to be ruled by law
MONIKA FLORCZAK-WĄTOR
12 The Bulgarian Constitutional Court as a positive legislator
ALEKSANDAR TSEKOV
Conclusion
Biography
Martin Belov is professor in Constitutional and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Bulgaria.
