Interactions between International and National Norms: Towards an Internationalized Concept of Militant Democracy

Abstract

The protection of human rights has become one of the main characteristics of international law of the post-World War II era and with the breakdown of the Soviet empire democracy itself is gradually moving into the focus of international legal analysis. Hence, it is necessary to conceive the concept of militant democracy also from an international legal perspective, which raises several fundamental questions: Do international human rights pose constraints on national constitutional norms designed to defend democracy, and if so, how do these limits look like? And conversely: can human rights be used as an argument in favor of militant democracy? Are there other international legal norms designed to preserve democracy? The Chapter, first, analyzes the impact that international human rights standards on the concept of militant democracy. In a second step, other forms of internationalized militant democracy, notably the mechanisms established by Article 7 of Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, are being looked into. The analysis leads to the conclusion that militant democracy is currently being internationalized as a legal and political concept.