In this policy brief, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser takes a comparative approach to challenge the conventional wisdom that populism, by virtue of its ambivalent relationship with constitutionalism, represents a threat to democracy.

This paper advances a conception of quasi-constitutionalism, consisting of far-reaching but legally unenforceable constraints and limits on the power of political majorities in areas such as economic policy, foreign relations, and social policy.

The paper argues that European Union accession has strengthened quasi-constitutional constraints on the political process in Bulgaria.

One of the driving principles behind the contemporary populist vision of democracy is to no longer respect legal boundaries and constitutional constraints to the so-called ‘will of the people’.

Through analysis of the contemporary Italian political situation, this policy brief addresses a number of critical constitutional strains caused by populism, including:

In this policy brief, constitutional law and human rights expert Gábor Tóth examines the changing face of authoritarianism, warning that this could become known as the century of authoritarianism as a result of the institutional erosion of democracies around the world.