Populism and Law

This chapter's main objective is to present a state of the art of existing literature on this topic, with particular attention paid to three domains: The first regards constitutionalism and the rule of law. The relationship between constitutional democracy and populism is scrutinized based on both theoretical reflections and empirical analysis (Mudde 2013; Müller 2018). The second aspect is the relationship between politicians, parties and citizens, and judicial power in the context of the so- called judicialization of politics (e.g. Hirschl 2011). The third aspect is the specific dimension of "law and order," in particular criminal law, in which a distinctive emphasis is placed on the concepts of populist punitiveness and penal populism as framed by criminologists. The chapter is organized on the basis of these three aspects and highlights contributions from political science, sociology, constitutional law, and criminology.