Understanding constitutional democracy

In 1989, we longed for freedom and democracy. In the years that followed, we therefore began to adopt a number of democratic and constitutionalist institutions and principles from our Western neighbours, which gradually became part of our legal system. However, these principles and institutions were often adopted without deeper societal debate, and we did not always fully understand their significance. This book returns to the very foundations of constitutional democracy and seeks to clarify the meaning of its key constitutionalist elements. The author, a political theorist with ten years of practical experience working at the Constitutional Court, asks a number of fundamental questions: Why do we often speak of contemporary democracy as constitutional or liberal? What are the limits of this political regime? What exactly does the term constitutionalism mean? How does constitutional justice transform the nature of democratic governance? What ideas and values lie behind the principle of the separation of powers? How did human rights originate and what is their fundamental importance? And why has human dignity become the central value of modern constitutionalism? The publication represents an exceptionally valuable contribution to contemporary scholarship, especially thanks to the depth of its theoretical reflection on the fundamental building blocks on which constitutional democracy rests.