Law, Populism and the Political in Central and Eastern Europe

This book addresses the variety of right-wing illiberal populism which has emerged in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).   Against the backdrop of weak institutional traditions, frequent and profound transformations, and deep historical traumas affecting the law, politics, economy and society in the region, the book critically examines  the entanglements of legality in the region’s transformation from state socialism to neoliberalism and Western-style democracy. Drawing on critical legal theory, as well as legal history, legal theory, sociology of law, history of ideas, anthropology of law, comparative law, and constitutional theory, the book goes beyond conventional analyses to offer an in-depth account of this important contemporary phenomenon.   This book will be of interest to legal researchers, especially of a critical or socio-legal perspective, political scientists, sociologists and (legal) historians, as well as policy makers seeking to understand the regional specificity and deeper roots of Central and Eastern European illiberal populism.

Introduction: Law, Populism and the Political in Semi-Peripheral Central and Eastern Europe  Rafal Manko, Przemyslaw Tacik and Cosmin Cercel  1. Populism, Legal Studies and CEE: Some Meta-Reflections  Przemyslaw Tacik  2. Against ‘Populism’: Critical Legal Studies and Authoritarian Politics in Central and Eastern Europe  Cosmin Cercel  3. The Polish Constitutional Court in the Grip of Neo-liberalism  Adam Sulikowski  4. Populism and the Politics of Human Rights: The Case of Poland  Karolina Kocemba and Michal Stambulski  5. Exceptio Popularis: Resisting Illiberal Legality  Rafal Manko  6. Constitutional Signalling in Neoliberal Times: A Romanian Perspective  Alexandra Mercescu  7. “Law Is Not Politics” – the Role of the Liberal View on Law in the Rise of ‘New Populism’  Mátyás Bencze  8. Who Stands In The Mirror And Who Stares Back – Traditions Of Populism In Slovakia  Peter Curoš  9. Judicializing Communism: Transitional Justice and Nationalist Populism in the Uneven Time-Space of Eastern Europe  Saygun Gökariksel  10. Russian Conservatism and Populism: Between the Legal and the Political  Mikhail Antonov  Conclusions: Post-communism, Neoliberalism and Populism in the Semi-Periphery  Adam Sulikowski and Rafal Manko

Rafal Manko is Research Affiliate at the Central European University Democracy Institute, Budapest (Hungary) and Legal Researcher at the European Parliamentary Research Service, Brussels (Belgium). Adam Sulikowski is Full Professor of Legal Theory and Philosophy of Law at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wroclaw, Poland. Przemyslaw Tacik is Assistant Professor at the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, Poland, and Director of the Nomos: Centre for International Research on Law, Culture and Power. Cosmin Cercel is Associate Professor in Law at Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland.