Category: re:constitution
re:constitution – Exchange and Analysis on Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe aims to inspire comprehensive discussion about and around questions of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights in Europe. Funded by Stiftung Mercator and co-managed by the Forum Transregionale Studien and Democracy Reporting International, the programme awards Fellowships to early-career scholars and practitioners, offers topical analysis and builds up a growing European network of experts on the rule of law and democracy.
re:constitution Editors: Sonya Ouertani and Julia Türtscher
Meret Plucis completed her legal education at Humboldt University Berlin, Panthéon- Assas University in Paris (LLM), and the University of Amsterdam (LLM). Early on during her studies, she developed a focus on European Union law. With her re:constitution fellowship, Meret Plucis returns to a more applied angle: examining how gender equality is strategically reinterpreted in retirement and labor law, connecting constitutional theory with on-the-ground legal realities. Her professional and personal interests are centered around feminist issues.
By Julia Wand-del-Rey Cani. This post contributes to understanding how Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) has comprehended its democratic role, particularly during the Bolsonaro era, and argues that there is a tension between substantive democratic defense and procedural consistency. More broadly, it distinguishes between constitutional courts balancing democratic substance and democratic procedure, with the aim of answering the following question: to what extent should judicial self-regulation be constrained during periods of democratic erosion?
By Arnisa Tepelija. When can a constitutional court compel a democratically elected parliament to act against its will, or compel it to vote in a certain way? Or, to put it differently, can a parliament ignore the decisions of the constitutional court? These questions lie at the heart ofa protracted standoff between the National Assembly in Albania and its Constitutional Court. The standoff reveals competing visions of democracy: one prioritising majority rule and legislative autonomy, the other emphasising constitutional obligation and political party minority protection.
By Dániel G. Szabó. This blog post summarises and analyses some of the leading scholarship on bureaucrats under illiberal rule and compares leading authors’ taxonomies on government approaches and strategies towards the bureaucracy, and bureaucratic reactions to these actions. It is discussed how governments might try to influence and subdue the public service and how it can fight back or resist. Despite the immense importance of the topic – governments in our societies cannot do anything without the intermediation of an army of bureaucrats – it is relatively understudied.
[HUNGARIAN] By Dániel G. Szabó. Ez a tanulmány az illiberális kormányok mellett működő közigazgatásról szóló szakirodalmat elemezte és összehasonlította, hogy különbőz szerzők hasonló jelenségeket milyen különböző fogalmakkal írnak le. A közigazgatás óriási jelentősége ellenére – hiszen a modern társadalmakat hivatalnokok működtetik – ez továbbra is kevéssé kutatott terület. Záró gondolatként a blogbejegyzés amellett érvelt, hogy a kormány és az apparátus viszonyát kutató szakirodalom általános szervezetszociológiai keretben is értelmezhető, valamint kiemelte a kérdőíves és interjúalapú kutatások megvilágító erejét, valamint – új elemként – a bírósági jegyzőkönyvek forrásértékét.
By Etienne Hanelt. Academic freedom has been significantly curtailed in recent years, albeit in Hungary, not the EU at large. The Hungarian government has done this both through pressure on academic institutions on the one hand and the creation and expansion of illiberal Government-Organised Non-Governmental Organisations (GONGOs). This article looks at Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), an Orbán-linked “think tank” and academy for nurturing illiberal elites. “Experts” from these institutes are often invited in Hungarian public television to present, elaborate and support the government’s positions.
[HUNGARIAN] By Etienne Hanelt. Academic freedom has been significantly curtailed in recent years, albeit in Hungary, not the EU at large. The Hungarian government has done this both through pressure on academic institutions on the one hand and the creation and expansion of illiberal Government-Organised Non-Governmental Organisations (GONGOs). This article looks at Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), an Orbán-linked “think tank” and academy for nurturing illiberal elites. “Experts” from these institutes are often invited in Hungarian public television to present, elaborate and support the government’s positions.
By Rosa Ristawati. This post discusses selected decisions in which the Indonesian Constitutional Court attempted to conceptualize democracy more explicitly. The principles of democracy have included public participation in the open-proportional system of election, the open and fair contest of election (the simultaneous resources elections provide for political legitimacy and free competition), political inclusion (the elimination of threshold and minimum age judgment), and equal access to the political system (anti-discrimination standards for candidates). Ultimately, the Court’s discourse in these decisions leans towards formulating an obligation for democracy to give room and opportunity for all people without exceptions.
By Valentina Golunova. On 12 November 2025, the European Commission presented its long-awaited Communication ‘European Democracy Shield: Empowering Strong and Resilient Democracies’. It promises to ‘reinforce the core elements that allow citizens to live our shared democratic values every day’ (European Commission, 2025c). To that end, the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) puts forward a broad spectrum of measures to strengthen the security and integrity of the European Union’s (EU) information ecosystem, particularly in the face of foreign interference.
By Donatas Murauskas. The issue of civil unions for same-sex couples has long been one of the most contentious and sensitive topics in Lithuanian politics, reflecting deeper societal tensions. This changed on 17th April 2025, when, in a significant development, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court addressed the long-standing issue of legal recognition for same-sex and opposite-sex civil unions. This blog post examines how the Constitutional Court addressed one of the fundamental challenges of deliberative democracy in practice – value pluralism – which had stalled the Parliament for many years.