Adam Sulikowski. Postliberal Constitutionalism: The Challenge of Right Wing Populism in Central and Eastern Europe

The volume of academic literature analyzing the phenomenon of so-called right-wing populism, also known as illiberalism, in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is growing exponentially. Political scientists, sociologists, political philosophers, and jurists (among them both constitutionalists and legal theorists) seem to be working day and night to understand this phenomenon, which openly challenges the constitutional status quo. In fact, putting together even a selected bibliography would far exceed the length of this book review. Yet, against the background of this burgeoning literature, Adam Sulikowski’s monograph stands out as unique, and this for two reasons. First, the author is a critical legal theorist and therefore approaches the problem from a double perspective: internal (as an academic jurist, especially given his primary academic qualifications in constitutional law)1 and external (as a critical theorist, and more specifically as a philosopher of law inspired by French Theory, i.e., postmodernism). Moreover, although the volume of literature on CEE illiberalism is growing, much of it continues to be produced by scholars from outside the region, often lacking the necessary firsthand knowledge of the nuances of CEE legal and political cultures, not to mention the local languages. In fact, Sulikowski’s book is only the second monograph written in English, for an international audience, by a Polish scholar with a direct understanding of the phenomenon in question.2 Additionally, in contrast to most authors, Sulikowski deliberately adopts a properly philosophical, distanced position toward the phenomenon under investigation, rather than directly taking sides in political struggles thinly cloaked in juridical garments. This also means that changes in constitutional norms and their operative interpretation, although important for his analysis, are not its primary object. Sulikowski’s book seeks to provide a juridico-philosophical, rather than a positivist legal, analysis of postliberal constitutionalism.