Democracy despite Itself: Liberal Constitutionalism and Militant Democracy

Recent developments, including anti-democratic moves by governments in Hungary, India, and Turkey and the rise of populist leaders, demonstrate the threat posed to democratic values by legal revolution and other acts committed within the confines of the system. Militant democracy, a form of constitutional entrenchment, can protect these values from the harmful influence of illiberal regimes. However, critics and proponents alike wonder whether these tactics risk undermining democracy in the process of trying to save it. Democracy despite Itself advances a liberal normative theory of militant democracy by combining American philosopher John Rawls' political liberalism with German jurist Carl Schmitt's state theory. It argues for the adoption of three constitutional mechanisms of militant democracy-explicit unamendability, political rights restrictions, and the guardianship of a constitutional court-to prevent the subversion and erosion of democracy by the abuse of legal measures. Rawls' thought provides the substantive democratic content of this theory, establishing basic liberal rights as a precondition for legitimate government. Schmitt's thought provides the militant political form, justifying the state's use of proactive militant measures to preserve the political identity of its constitution. This blending of works by two thinkers rarely regarded as complementary is a novel approach that offers a compelling vision for how liberal democracy can be protected from anti-democratic actors.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: 'Illiberal Democracy' and Militant Democracy Part I 1: Democracy's Problem of Legal Revolution 2: Militant Democracy Part II 3: Liberalism and Modern Constitutionalism 4: Depoliticization and State Authority Part III 5: Unamendability 6: Political Rights Restrictions 7: The Guardian of the Constitution Conclusion

About the Author :
Benjamin A. Schupmann is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Sciences (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, where he has worked since August 2020. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor at Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan, China. He obtained his PhD in Political Science (Political Theory) from Columbia University in the City of New York in 2015. He is the author of Carl Schmitt's State and Constitutional Theory: A Critical Analysis, published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

Review :
How can democracies defend themselves against actors who use perfectly legal means such as elections to destroy democracy? This question has become urgent, and this important book gives a bold and unashamedly liberal answer to it. Anyone concerned with democratic self-defence should consider its claims. [T]imely and important ... The menacing enemies of democracy are not the barbarians at the gate but those within who share none of the democratic values ... but seek to exploit the openness of electoral mobilization ... In the tradition of militant democracy, Schupmann seeks to merge modern concerns over antidemocratic subversion from within with the broad strokes of political liberalism. As ambitious as it is current. Schupmann ingeniously grafts Schmittian insights onto Rawls's political liberalism in a brilliant argument on how democracy can best protect itself from inside subversion without betraying its spirit. Democracy is in peril across the globe. But there is widespread trepidation about how to respond ... Benjamin Schupmann's new book offers a bracing response ... Democracy despite Itself argues that liberal values justify the active, even militant defence of constitutional democracy. Expertly engaging a range of thinkers and thorny real-world political dilemmas, Schupmann's book is a must-read for anyone interested in the fate of constitutional democracy. Democracy despite Itself systematically and innovatively unpacks the problem of "democratic cannibalism" and proposes strategies to confront various anti-democratic challengers, making it essential reading for undergraduate and graduate courses in democracy theory and normative IR theory. While classical liberals in the Kelsenian tradition, including this reviewer, may raise eyebrows-especially regarding the book's Schmittian approach-and argue that countering anti-democratic forces should primarily occur through political rather than legal means, this debate revolves around relative priorities. The book is particularly interesting for its attempt to offer a new founding rationale for some essential tools for the defense of democracy. This text makes an important contribution to a vital issue facing democratic societies today. It is a sophisticated argument, but it is clearly set out, and the writing should be accessible to advanced undergraduate students. It will certainly be of interest to graduate students, faculty, and educated citizens concerned about the stability and effectiveness of democracy at this time. Schupmann's book counts as a major contribution to the debateon militant democracy. It confronts the existing literature in interesting ways. Schupmann mobilizes his work in interesting and novel ways. The argument in favor of a more comprehensive toolkit for militant democracy and, particularly, the focus on unamendability is refreshing. The book as it stands is an important contribution to the debate and a stepping stone for further research. Benjamin Schupmann bets on militant Democracy... Schupmann offers a much needed justification of militant democracy, based on liberal political philosophy. He combines John Rawls' ideas with certain critical concerns of Carl Schmitt...[T]his encounter results in creative tension. If you thought militant democracy was dead, think again. Ben Schupmann's new proposal seems capable of reviving its wrinkled old corpse... Full disclosure: Schupmann's criticism of my own historicist approach...is devastating... [H]e has managed to provide some bold justifications and to fix key intuitions for the coming battles. Democracy despite Itself is commendable on many grounds. The book is rigorous, accessible, and comprehensive, above all in articulating its reservations about prevailing tendencies within militant democracy and democratic theory scholarship. In addition, it features frequent and well-chosen empirical examples that help clarify the political stakes of the theoretical argument. Schupmann is also attentive and fair in presenting counterarguments, meaning that critics of militant democracy will find his account both generative and difficult to dismiss. Finally, Schupmann's prioritization of liberalbasic rights to resolve militant democracy's normativeparadoxes is creative and constitutes a clear as well aspolitically salient contribution to scholarship on thesubject. Democracy Despite Itself will be mandatory reading for students of militant democracy for a long time to come. Democracy despite Itself presents a bold and uncompromising vision of militant democracy, one that seeks to meet the urgency of contemporary threats with an equally forceful institutional response. Schupmann's theory offers valuable insights, especially his critique of procedural neutrality and the need for early intervention.