Constitutional Traditions and Constitutional Transitions

Edited by Martin Belov, Professor of Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Bulgaria and Monika Florczak-Wątor, Professor of Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law Department and Director, Centre for Interdisciplinary Constitutional Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

‘This collection of chapters offers original interdisciplinary perspectives of core themes and problems related to the temporal dynamics between constitutional structures and agencies at both national and transnational level. Constitutional lawyers, political scholars and social scientists will find sophisticated conceptualisations and comparative analyses of different constitutional systems in transition, their historical, political and ideological context and often contingent ways of societal development. The volume includes detailed case studies offering invaluable information to anyone working in the fields of comparative constitutionalism, constitutional theory and interdisciplinary studies of constitutions.’

• ContentsIntroduction 1Martin Belov and Monika Florczak-WątorPART I IMAGINARIES OF CONSTITUTIONALTRADITIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSITIONS1 Constitutional transitions and transitional imaginaries:bridging legacies of the constitutional past and aspirationsfor the constitutional future 13Martin Belov2 Shifting constitutional imaginaries: is the liberal-legalimaginary unsettled by populism? 35Paul BlokkerPART II CONSTITUTIONAL TRADITIONS ANDCONSTITUTIONAL TRANSITIONS INPOST-AUTHORITARIAN SOCIETIES3 The legitimacy of transitions: lessons from South Africaand Hungary 57Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy4 The resurgence of nationalist-populism in post-communistEurope: a longue durée perspective 84Bojan Bugaric and Ivan T. Berend5 The role of constitutional justice in constitutionaltransition in the Baltic region 111Anita Rodiņa and Kristiāna Pētersone6 The implementation of the rule-of-law principle inpost-Soviet states: myth or reality 133Kristina TrykhlibPART III THE ROLE OF CONSTITUTIONALTRADITIONS IN THE COMPLEXCONSTITUTIONAL ORDER OF THE EU7 From diversity to unity: Central and Eastern Europeanconstitutional traditions in the mosaic of the Europeanconstitutional heritage 161Monika Florczak-Wątor8 Reference to common constitutional traditions or nationallaw in the practice of the General Court of the European Union 184Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk9 The role of constitutional traditions of the Member Statesin shaping a common system of liability for breaches of EU law 206Monika Kawczyńska10 Constitutional traditions and the fundamental rightsprotection in the EU: coupling the common effort andEuropean values regarding solidarity and social rights 235Lucia Mokrá