1: Anti-Constitutional Populist Backsliding
2: Before the Breakdown: 1989-2015
3: Dismantling of Checks and Balances (I): The Remaking of the
Constitutional Tribunal
4: Dismantling Checks and Balances (II): Judges and Prosecutors
5: Undoing the Institutions of the Democratic State
6: Assault on Individual Rights
7: Why Did It Happen?
8: Europe to the Rescue
9: Illiberal Democracy or Populist Authoritarianism?
Wojciech Sadurski is Challis Professor of Jurisprudence at the
University of Sydney and Professor at the University of Warsaw
Centre for Europe.
He has written extensively on the philosophy of law, political
philosophy, and comparative constitutional law. His most recent
books include Constitutionalism and the Enlargement of Europe (OUP
2012) and quality and Legitimacy (OUP 2008).
We cannot tell the future, but Sadurskis compelling book
underscores that fear is not the same as fatalism, and accurate
anatomisation of constitutional breakdown is the surest foundation
for contemplating remedial action. He has shown the real value of
providing a book-length country case-study in a research field
dominated by theoretical and comparative accounts. This landmark
work will itself spur further theoretical and comparative enquiry,
and will assist in the formulation of practical policy solutions.
It is a quick read but will stay with you long after you have
reached the last page. Read it. Reflect on it. Respond to it.
*Tom Gerald Daly, European Constitutional Law Review*
Sadurski's monograph is remarkable from both the informative and
research perspectives. Undoubtedly, scholarship in constitutional
law and theory of law has received an extraordinarily valuable
volume. It is indeed a must-read.
*Piotr Mikuli, I-CONnect Blog*
These 271 pages (excluding List of Abbreviations, Bibliography,
Index) may not make for the most hopeful of (bedtime) reading; but
it does enlighten the reader as to the fraught and slightly
inflammatory intricacies of the current Polish constitution.
*David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews*
An indispensable look at the disheartening illiberal assault on
democracy. Sadurski illuminates how Poland, once the great success
story of the post-1989 new world order, has been brought to the
brink of authoritarianism. Without tanks in the streets or
dissidents imprisoned, Poland's legal institutions are being
commandeered to crush the democratic opposition. This is the most
careful account of how democracy is undermined from within, by the
most insightful constitutional scholar on contemporary Eastern
Europe. A must-read contribution.
*Samuel Issacharoff, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of
Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law*
A magnificent achievement! Sadurski's close reading of the Polish
case sheds light on many theoretical and empirical debates in the
growing literature on democratic backsliding. As he shows, Poland
calls into question many of our assumptions about both the rise and
fall of democracy. Not quite yet an autopsy, this more like a
stage-four diagnosis that will remind democrats of what needs to be
defended.
*Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, Ludwig and
Hilde Wolf Research Scholar, Professor of Political Science, The
University of Chicago*
Wojciech Sadurski has written the kind of legal thriller you might
wish were fiction ... In just a few years, Poland has been
transformed from a model state to a pariah and Sadurski's account
shows how and why, in ethnographic and legal detail. Ever the legal
theorist, Sadurski rises above the specificity of the case to offer
general reflection, substantial analysis, and a series of important
lessons we can learn from the collapse of a constitutional
democracy. This book is a haunting cautionary tale of our populist
moment.
*Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology
and International Affairs, Princeton University*
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