Ethno-Nationalized States of Eastern Europe: Is There a Constitutional Alternative?

In: Studies in East European thought, Band 54, Heft 4, S. 245-269

Abstract

Examines the matter of democratic stability in multinational East European states & the debate over "appropriate" majority-minority relations & normative standards. Rather than discarding the strategic viability of liberalism for postcommunist states, it is here demonstrated that liberal constitutionalism is indeed a proper approach because of its inclusiveness & its sensitivity to context. The first section of the essay illustrates the fundamentally illiberal nature of postcommunist southeastern European constitutionalism. The second section suggests other options & puts forth a model for liberal constitutionalism suitable for plural societies. K. Coddon