TFL Vsebine / Revija Revus

Avtor analizira temeljno spremembo v teoriji in praksi demokracije, tj. spremembo, ki jo je sprožila uveljavitev ustavniške paradigme. Formalna pojmovanja demokracije se izkažejo kot neustrezna, takoj ko jih soočimo z dejstvom, da se je zakonodajna pravna država preobrazila v ustavno pravno državo. Vsebinski elementi demokracije tako niso zgolj slučajni dodatki postopkovnim pojmovanjem demokracije, ampak so temeljni pogoji za vzdrževanje demokracije kot načina za doseganje političnih odločitev, temelječih na vladavini večine in splošnih volitvah. Te spremembe vodijo v štiridimenzionalni model sodobne ustavne demokracije, ki temelji na štirih vrstah pravic, prisotnih v sodobnih ustavah: to so politične pravice, državljanske pravice, pravice-svoboščine in socialne pravice. Vsebinsko razsežnost demokracije je najbolje opazovati v pozitivnih in negativnih ustavnih garancijah, ki zagotavljajo togost ustave. Avtor v tem članku oriše razloge za sodobno krizo ustavniške paradigme in oriše, na kakšne načine se ji da izogniti, pri čemer jemlje v obzir razvoj kritiške pravne znanosti.

The author analyses a key change in the theory and practice of democracy induced by the introduction of the constitutional paradigm. The formal conceptions of democracy present themselves as incurably wrong when confronted with the fact that the legislative state of law has been transformed into the constitutional state of law. The substantive elements of democracy are therefore not just contingent additions to procedural notions of democracy, but rather the basic conditions for the maintenance of democracy as a way for reaching political decisions based on the majority rule and universal suffrage. These changes lead to a four-dimensional model of the contemporary constitutional democracy based on the four kinds of rights protected by contemporary constitutions: political, civic, freedom rights and social rights. The substantive dimension of democracy is best observed in positive and negative constitutional guarantees that guarantee the rigidity of the constitution. The paper sketches the reasons behind the contemporary crisis of the constitutional paradigm and hints at ways for averting it, taking into consideration the development of a critical legal science.