Hans Kelsen on Constitutional Democracy: Genesis, Theory, Legacies

Author: Sandrine Baume; David Ragazzoni
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009230377
Published In: February 2026
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

List Price: HKD 1,495.00

HKD 1,450.15 Save HKD 44.85 (3%)

Download Order Form

Add to Wishlist
| Add to Compare

Description
Contents

Details

This volume challenges conventional interpretations by demonstrating that Hans Kelsen was far from being a purely formalist thinker. Instead, it highlights his profound and enduring engagement with the threats facing constitutional democracies. The political and institutional upheavals of interwar Europe significantly influenced Kelsen's evolving vision of democracy, as this volume shows. His contributions to 20th-century democratic theory include groundbreaking insights into multiparty systems, mechanisms of moderation, minority protections, and judicial review. Furthermore, Kelsen's reflections on the crises and collapses of democracies during the 1930s remain strikingly relevant, offering valuable perspectives on contemporary challenges such as polarization and populism.

This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Introduction

Sandrine Baume and David Ragazzoni

Part I. Genesis:

1. The forgotten beginnings of Kelsen as a political and legal theorist: 'Dante Alighieri's philosophy of the state' (1905)

David Ragazzoni

2. The making of Kelsen's concept of democracy

Matthias Jestaedt

3. The origins of the fragility of interwar democracies

Kelsen and Neumann Peter Langford

4. Ideal and real democracy in Hans Kelsen's political work (1918–1955)

Sara Lagi

Part II. Theory: