Militant democracy and the pre-emptive constitution

From Party Bans to Hardened Term Limits

Bibliographic Data

ID6252962
AuthorsZachary Elkins (0000-0002-7932-773X, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume29
Issue1
Pages174-198
Publication date2022-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2021.1988929
OpenAlexW3216001680
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited39

I explore the concept of militant democracy in the context of what appear to be persistent threats to the democratic order. I begin with a reconstruction of the concept with the intention of distinguishing and identifying its historical manifestations. I trace and document two constitutional devices that exhibit the pre-emption and illiberalism that characterizes militant democracy. The first device—party restrictions—is the prototypical example of the concept and is designed to pre-empt extremist intimidation. The second example—hardened term limits—is designed to pre-empt executive ambition. The latter form of bullying may be the most relevant threat, at least in modern Latin America and Africa. In one view, term-limit evasion accelerates a pernicious negative cycle in which constitutional non-compliance begets constitutional weakness, which in turn begets subsequent non-compliance. Such a negative feedback loop is a core problem in law. Militant democracy, the logic of which implies the entrenchment and protection of term limits, could potentially disrupt such negative cycles. The concept could also be useful as an intellectual defense of seemingly non-democratic means of protecting democracy

Constitution · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Law and economics · Legislature · Militant · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representative democracy · Sociology · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theology and Sovereignty

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