Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concept covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to make a case for recognising that inclusiveness and popular involvement in constitution-making and in constitutional law-making in constitutional moments matters for democratic consolidation in post-communist societies. It defines the concept of democratic constitutionalism and to turn it into a workable framework for discussing the politics of constitutional law-making and constitution-making in Poland. And then discusses the impact of international and European pressures and conditionality on Polish democratic and constitutional development. The fall of one party-states in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries was precipitated by events that mobilised the people of these countries into political action on an unprecedented scale. The book analyses the contribution of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT) to achieving the constitutionalism-democracy balance. The reason for such a focus comes from liberal constitutional theory that places Constitutional Tribunals at the centre of constitutional democracy.