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, Dr Bill Kissane of LSE examines the Turkish referendum on the most ambitious changes to the Turkish constitution yet seen, which was called in the aftermath of the failed military coup of 2016.

If passed, the referendum will allow President Erdoğan to dissolve the parliament and to declare a state of emergency.

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.

In this policy brief, human rights and criminal lawyer Mikołaj Pietrzak argues that Poland's ruling party is implementing a programme of deep constitutional, social, and political change, including limitations on the role of the judiciary, which poses a threat to the constitutionally enshrined separation of powers in the fledgling democracy.