Constitutional Populism beyond the Liberal Framework. Adam Czarnota's Program for Sociology of Constitutions

The text explores Adam Czarnota’s distinctive approach to constitutional populism, which diverges from the dominant liberal paradigm. Czarnota’s work stresses the need to understand populism not merely as a threat to liberal democracy but as a movement rooted in genuine social grievances and democratic aspirations. His critique of liberal and legal constitutionalism highlights its reliance on strong normative and ideological assumptions and its marginalisation of ‘the people’, which populism seeks to reclaim. While Czarnota’s approach offers a valuable sociological perspective on constitutions, his framework risks legitimising populist movements by treating them as valid responses to liberal exclusion without sufficiently addressing their potential to undermine democratic norms. Nevertheless, Czarnota’s shift from evaluative judgments to descriptive analysis provides a promising perspective for those seeking the democratisation of constitutional discourse.