Populism, Constituent Power and Constitutional Imagination

Academic interest in the relation between populist movements/parties and constitutions, as well as more broadly in the relationship between forms of populism, illiberalism, and authoritarianism, on one hand, and (domestic and international) law and constitutionalism on the other, is rapidly increasing. A significant part of the debate is focussing on how to diagnose, and prevent, so-called ‘backsliding’ and on how to save constitutional democracy. There is, in this, much less engagement with the question of how the populist challenge might equally challenge core dimensions of taken-for-granted notions of constitutionalism and how it might reveal problematic dimensions.