http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/921e251632bb685b https://verfassungsblog.de/hungary-constitutionalism/ Beyond Legal Restoration - Post-Formalist Constitutionalism for Democratic Reconstruction Drinóczi, Tímea eng 2025-06-17 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Authoritarian Populism Formalism Hungary Poland Polen. Sa̜d Najwyższy Rule of Law Ungarn. Kúria | Budapest democracy institutional independence Polen. Sa̜d Najwyższy Ungarn. Kúria | Budapest Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 A recently published proposal by former Constitutional Court judge Béla Pokol suggests introducing a new emergency regime designed to defend Hungary’s illiberal system against potential re-democratization efforts by a future government. Together with international criticism of Poland’s judicial reform in its process of democratic renewal, this provokes a profound reckoning: traditional legal formalism may no longer serve the needs of constitutional recovery. It is time for a post-formalist approach to democratic reconstruction.