Populism, Constitutional Democracy, and the Rule of Law. Conceptual Framework, Hypothesis, Proposals for Research

The Research project (anti?) constitutional populism and the Dirpolis Institute of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies gather different experts to discuss contemporary populism. Led by Chief Investigators Adam Czarnota, Martin Krygier, and Wojciech Sadurski, the project addresses contemporary populism and particularly aims to advance knowledge of how such regimes combine majoritarian support with assaults on constraints over state power in (often pseudo)-constitutional forms, subverting legal and constitutional checks upon executive and/or legislative powers, and erosion of protections for individual rights and liberties.

The workshop at the Scuola Sant'Anna constitutes an important step towards one of the objective of the project, that is the identification of the explanatory and normative value of the term 'populism'. Presentations are devoted to both conceptual challenges and case studies concerning contemporary 'constitutional' populists.