European Constitutional Courts and Transitions to Democracy ASCL Studies in Comparative Law Series

This book brings together research on democratization processes and constitutional justice by examining the role of three generations of European constitutional courts in the transitions to democracy that took place in Europe in the twentieth century. Using a comparative perspective, the author examines how the constitutional courts during that period managed to ensure an initial full implementation of the constitutional provisions, thus contributing - together with other actors and factors - to the positive outcome of the democratization processes. European Constitutional Courts and Transitions to Democracy provides a better understanding of the relationship between transitions to democracy and constitutionalism from the perspective of constitutional courts.

1. Democratic transitions and constitutional courts; 2. The first generation: the case of the Italian Constitutional Court; 3. The second generation: the case of the Spanish Constitutional Court; 4. The third generation: the case of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic; 5. Comparing three generations; Bibliography; Index.

Francesco Biagi is an Adjunct Professor of Comparative Constitutionalism, a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Comparative Public Law at the University of Bologna School of Law, and a Researcher at the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development. From October 2015 to January 2017, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law (Heidelberg), where he now works as a legal consultant. He is the co-editor of Political and Constitutional Transitions in North Africa: Actors and Factors (with Justin O. Frosini, 2015).