24 July 2025
The Great Recall Movement
Confronted with lawmakers they themselves elected just eighteen months ago, Taiwanese citizens have creatively repurposed the antiquated mechanism of "recall" as a last-resort check on a runaway legislature. Sparked by a year of legislative overreach and erosion of constitutional checks, this unprecedented campaign reflects Taiwan's spirit of civic constitutionalism, and its determination to defend its democratic institutions. Continue reading >>
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09 May 2025
“Only a Vigilant Democracy Can Be a Resilient Democracy”
Five Questions to Kyrill-Alexander Schwarz Continue reading >>
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30 April 2025
Popular Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia
In Indonesia, newly elected President Prabowo Subianto is facing nationwide protests against his democracy-eroding policies. As institutional checks and balances are gradually being dismantled from within and the executive continues to accumulate power, the “Dark Indonesia” protest movement highlights the importance of a critical civil society in safeguarding a country’s democracy. Continue reading >>
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07 April 2025
Enforcing the Law of Democracy
It was a political bombshell. On Monday, 31 March 2025, Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right party Rassemblement National (National Rally) in France, was convicted of misappropriation of public funds in the so-called “parliamentary assistants” case. The judgment is marked by an unusual degree of judicial creativity, particularly in its underlying conception of democracy, which may be understood through the lens of militant democracy. Although it does not constitute a political judgment in the traditional, partisan sense, its constitutional and symbolic significance is substantial—and the backlash it has provoked against the judiciary is a cause for concern. Continue reading >>01 April 2025
Romanian Militant Democracy in Action
On March 11, 2025, the Romanian Constitutional Court definitively barred far-right extremist Călin Georgescu from running as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. This decision represents the culmination of a series of landmark decisions through which the Court has strengthened the principle of militant democracy. Moreover, the Court has affirmed the EU and NATO membership as a central component of Romania’s democracy and rule of law, shielding it from subversion by the principles of non-regression and militant democracy. Continue reading >>13 March 2025
Romanian Militant Democracy and the Time Machine
Romania was recently rocked by the annulment of presidential elections in December 2024, a crisis stifled by the March 2025 invalidation of Georgescu’s candidacy in do-over elections. Mr. Georgescu, an ultranationalist firebrand, presents himself in a MAGA-style as the tribune of “the People” and a warrior against a “Soros-driven” elite conspiracy. Europhile opponents present the invalidations as valiant examples of militant democracy and rule of law in action. I argue that the story is both simpler and more complex, partly a local variant of “authoritarian liberalism”, partly an example of idiosyncratic Eastern traditions of the RoL in Euro-friendly attire. Continue reading >>10 December 2024
A Troubling Triumph in Romania
The annulment of Romania’s presidential election results by its Constitutional Court is, at first glance, a triumph for democracy. By nullifying the first round – narrowly won by far-right candidate Calin Georgescu amid allegations of Russian-backed interference – the Court sent a clear message: electoral integrity is not up for debate. But is this really a victory? In truth, this decision reflects a troubling pattern in how democracies respond to crises: after the fact. The annulment is not so much a defence of democracy as a stark reminder of the limits of judicial power. Continue reading >>
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25 October 2024
On a Knife’s Edge
Launching our Series on the 2024 US Elections Continue reading >>
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06 April 2024
Why Party Bans Often Don’t Work
In July 2008, in an intensely debated and enormously consequential case, Turkey’s Constitutional Court weighed whether to close the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and ban its 71 leading members, including then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Six of the eleven justices voted in favor – falling just one vote short of the super-majority required to dissolve the AKP and bar its leaders from politics for five years. More than 15 years after the AKP closure case, Turkey has experienced significant democratic backsliding, and Erdoğan has secured a third term as president, extending his tenure in office into 2028. Although the tools of “militant democracy” may be useful, the Turkish case suggests that targeted legal interventions, rather than sweeping party bans, may be more effective at safeguarding democracy. Continue reading >>
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05 April 2024
Still Alive?
Party banning was developed in Spain in 2002, with the aim of combating the terrorism of ETA (1958-2018), an extreme left-wing and separatist Basque organisation that murdered more than 800 people. This instrument proved useful in defeating the terrorist group and its network of support organisations, including several parties. Today, there are strong separatist or pro-independence movements in Catalonia, the Basque Country and, to a lesser extent, Galicia, and other regions. Faced with this, there are parties that have proposed using the mechanism of banning parties. But is this viable, and would it be useful? Continue reading >>
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