KDK Repository

Kreko, Peter

Orosz, Gábor

Faragó, Laura

Paskuj, Benedek

Building an Immune System Against Fake News - Intervention Toolkit to Spot Disinformation

Vujovits, Júlia

Polyák, Gábor

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Wing - Background information and lesson plans for the online game

Boda, Zsolt

Gorczeski, Vinicius

DEMOS-ANNUAL REPORT, 2021/2022

A kutatási adat fókusza az intézményi bizalom, a politikai részvétel, az oltással, koronavírussal kapcsolatos intézkedésekkel szembeni állampolgári attitűdök. A kutatást 1000 fős mintán a Závecz Research készítette. A minta nemi hovatartozás, iskolázottság, életkor és települési elhelyezkedés szerint reprezentálja a magyar felnőtt lakosságot

Mikecz, Dániel

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Mechtenberg, Lydia

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Detecting arguments and their positions in

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Constitutional Changes in Populist Times

Simonelli, Marco Antonio

“To Watch and Control the Government”. ‘Rediscovering’ Parliaments’ Oversight Function

Groppi, Tania

Josep Maria Castellà!Andreu  
Marco Antonio Simonelli
Editors
Populism and 
Contemporary 
Democracy in Europe
Old Problems and!New Challenges
ISBN 978-3-030-92883-4    ISBN 978-3-030-92884-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92884-1
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer 
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the 
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speci"cally the rights of 
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on 
micro"lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, 
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now 
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this 
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci"c statement, that such names are 
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information 
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the 
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect 
to the material contained herein or for any errors or- omissions that may have been made. 
The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and 
institutional af"liations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature 
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Editors
Josep Maria Castellà!Andreu
University of Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
Marco Antonio Simonelli
University of Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
v
What is populism? Like many “isms” (fascism, communism, Islamism...), 
especially when they are taken in the wrong way, we tend to point out eas-
ily what is unpleasant in order to denounce it as inadmissible, 
unacceptable.
This book, which brings together academics and other high-level spe-
cialists, will help make progress in de"ning the concept—which is dif"cult. 
Pierre Rosanvallon, in his book Le siècle du populisme, mentions three cen-
tral elements of democracy as conceived by populists: it is direct, polarised 
and immediate. In my opinion, it is the third element, immediacy, which 
is the most decisive, and also the most worrying. Democracy can be pola-
rised, but neither direct nor immediate: this is the British system. It can be 
direct, but neither polarised nor immediate: this is the Swiss system. These 
systems have their weaknesses and their slippages, but they have the merit 
of having established some of the oldest and most stable world democra-
cies. A direct and polarised democracy instead would tend more towards 
the exclusion of the other. The most worrying thing, however, would be 
the shift to a so-called immediate democracy. The unthinking exercise 
of power.
What is done in Parliament? Talks, deliberations, and this is often what 
fuels anti-parliamentarianism. And yet, this is the essence of democracy. It 
is debate with arguments, not spontaneity, which is often a euphemism for 
thoughtlessness, incompetence and even manipulation. Firstly, with regard 
to voting on an issue. The Venice Commission therefore insists that 
FOREWORD
vi FOREWORD
referendums should be the outcome of a deliberative process involving 
parliament. This is the opposite of an immediate decision by the people. 
The citizens’ assemblies that have appeared in some countries should be 
understood in the same sense. Their aim, far from being to let average citi-
zens express themselves on a subject they do not know, is to involve them 
in public affairs and to enable them to debate these affairs.
Democracy does not have to be immediate either in terms of elections, 
including elections to an assembly. It is not enough to return to the slo-
gan: “who loves me follows me!” This is why the Venice Commission, like 
other international organisations, does not (or no longer) judge an elec-
tion on the basis of election day alone (including the count). On the con-
trary, the importance of equality of opportunity in the pre-election phase 
and of the free formation of the elector’s will is regularly stressed. It can-
not be achieved without debate, and in particular without access to the 
media. Hence, for example, the rules on speaking time on radio and televi-
sion. But what about social networks? The question may sometimes arise 
as to whether they are deliberative spaces, and this is a question that would 
deserve further attention.
As for the populists’ demand for direct democracy, the danger is above 
all the use of a so-called direct democracy of a plebiscitary nature, strength-
ening the power of the executive. Or to consider that the people decide on 
the truth, somewhat in the manner of Rousseau. Or rather the truth of the 
majority of the people, understood as a compact and homogeneous 
entity—capable of identifying the general truth. Direct democracy and 
referendums are an element, a complement to the representative and 
deliberative system, and are themselves the result of deliberation, even in 
states where they are commonly practised. According to the principle of 
the rule of law, the people can only express themselves within the frame-
work of procedures de"ned by the legal order.
Finally, a word about polarised democracy. Democratic States are con-
ceived with a majority and an opposition, and therefore with a certain 
degree of polarisation. What should be avoided here again is the logic of 
“us” and “them”, of truth versus error, of friend and enemy à la Carl 
Schmitt. There is a majority and an opposition, not good and evil, and the 
opposition must be given rights as well as duties, as the Venice Commission 
pointed out.
vii FOREWORD 
In two words, democracy is not the dictatorship of the majority, but a 
system where everyone has a say, and where the exchange of ideas and 
opinions is essential. It is the opposite of a system where some hold the 
truth in the name of the people.
President Emeritus Gianni!Buquicchio
European Commission for Democracy  
through Law 
Strasbourg, France

ix
ABOUT THIS BOOK
When this edited volume was "rst conceived, in December 2019, the world was on 
the verge of entering the worst crisis in terms of human lives since the end of 
World War II.!The pandemic, with its lockdowns and curfews, the social- distancing 
and the remote-working, had an impact on social and economic life that was sim-
ply unimaginable a couple of years ago. Also our publishing project, si parva licet, 
was signi"cantly affected. It took us more than one year to organise the sympo-
sium, which constitutes the basis of this edited volume, and compelling reasons 
convinced us to broaden the scope of the project to cover the legal responses to 
the crisis, its consequences for democracy, and the opportunities it offered to 
populists.
The symposium, organised by the research group GEDECO (Grupo de Estudios 
sobre Democracia y Constitucionalismo) of the University of Barcelona, was "nally 
celebrated online on 25 and 26 February 2021. Albeit not physically in Barcelona, 
the event gathered scholars from different parts of Europe to discuss the relation-
ship between populism and constitutional democracy, and thanks to the partner-
ship with the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council 
of Europe (best known as Venice Commission), it saw the interventions of its 
President, whom we shall thank for his foreword to this book, of the Secretary, and 
of some individual members; several of them also contributed to this volume.
The very idea of this book, its structure, and themes re#ect almost three years 
of research work carried out in the context of the H2020 project 
‘DEMOS.!Democratic Ef"cacy and Varieties of Populism in Europe’.1 During this 
period, we had the opportunity to cooperate with the legal teams of the Centre for 
European and Comparative Legal Studies of the University of Copenhagen, the 
1 This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research 
and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 822590, DEMOS.
x ABOUT THIS BOOK
Institute of Legal Studies of the Budapest Center for Social Sciences, and the 
DIPEC of the University of Siena, coordinated respectively by Helle Krunke, 
Fruzsina Gárdos Orosz with Zoltán Szente, and Tania Groppi. Their participation 
in this book simply attests to our common effort in investigating populism and its 
remedies.
Besides, our participation, through the GEDECO, in a project funded by the 
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation2 allowed a deeper investigation of 
themes common to the European project in the Spanish system, whose results are 
visible in this book.
Systematically, the book is divided into four parts, preceded by an introduction 
setting the background of the book and identifying the main points of frictions 
between populism and constitutional democracy (Castellà and Simonelli).
Part I provides the theoretical framework of the book, illustrating the reasons 
for the con#ict between populism and constitutional democracy. As a starting 
point, the emergence of populism as an ideology that exploited the failures of 
representative democracy in answering societal and economic challenges is anal-
ysed (Tudela Aranda). Then, the fundamental tension between the populist ideol-
ogy and constitutionalism is explained and revisited (de Ghantuz Cubbe). Lastly, 
the very idea of democracy according to populist parties is investigated through an 
analysis of the discourse of the French Rassemblement National (Debras).
Part II assesses the practical effects of populism on the institutions of constitu-
tional democracy and the rule of law. Contributions in this part are mainly con-
cerned with the impact of populism on the judiciary and constitutional courts, as 
these are the bodies that should enforce compliance with the rule of law in a 
democracy. The "rst two chapters offer a wide-ranging comparative overview of 
the effects of populism on European democracies, assessed from the standpoint of 
the Venice Commission opinions on judicial reforms (Granata-Menghini), and 
through an empirical analysis of normative data obtained with a comparative sur-
vey (Gárdos-Orosz and Szente). The other chapters of the part instead adopt a 
country-focused perspective: Granat takes the example of the Polish Constitutional 
Tribunal to illustrate the paradoxical role of a constitutional court in a populist- 
ruled state, and González Campañá shows the various forms through which popu-
lism is eroding constitutional democracy in Spain.
Part III adopts a European perspective, analysing the causes and effects of the 
populist malaise towards Bruxelles and the European Union reactions to the 
spread of illiberal values. Contributions in this part provide a critical analysis of the 
reasons why the EU actions have been largely ineffective against populism (Pinelli) 
and show what are the responsibilities of the EU institutions in the spread of popu-
lism in Europe (Guerra). The chapter by Krunke, Tornøe and Wegener instead 
2 Project ‘Instrumentos Contramayoritarios en el Estado Constitucional’ (PID2019- 
104414GB-C32).
xi ABOUT THIS BOOK 
turns the picture around and analyses the effects of populism on the EU legal 
order whilst the chapter by Sáenz Pérez contains an assessment of the European 
Court of Justice’s role in upholding the rule of law in Europe via the dialogue with 
national judges.
Finally, Part IV contains a preliminary analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 
pandemic on European democracies. The contributions of this part "rst  investigate 
how constitutional democracy should be equipped to face future emergencies 
through an analysis of the position of the Venice Commission (Castellà) and how 
the emergency situation was managed at the state level, taking Spain as a case study 
(Dueñas Castrillo). Other contributions re#ect upon the long-term effects of the 
pandemic: on populist politics (Rubio Nuñez) and on the institutional equilibrium 
of constitutional democracy (Simonelli). Finally, the chapter by Groppi tries to "nd 
the silver lining in the pandemic by pointing at the lessons that can be learnt from 
the pandemic to strengthen constitutional democracy.
Last but not least, we would like to thank all the persons working in the 
management team of DEMOS at the Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest for 
their support in the organisation of the symposium and in the publishing process.


Might COVID-19 Help Strengthening European Democracies?

Oross, Dániel

Nahr, Hendrik

Lironi, Elisa

Kavrakova, Assya

Does Deliberative Democracy Wane

Populist Sentiments?

Measuring democratic efficacy at citizens’ assemblies in

Eastern and Western Europe

Lipiński, Artur

Szabó, Gabriella

Heroisation and victimisation: populism, commemorative narratives and National Days in Hungary and Poland

Centre for Social Sciences

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