Abstract

DIOGO, João Francisco. Between law's Scylla and politics' Charybdis: a point of departure for the study of the Constitutional Court's role in the construction of the Portuguese democracy. Relações Internacionais [online]. 2017, n.54, pp.89-100. ISSN 1645-9199.  https://doi.org/10.23906/ri2017.54a07.

The main objetive of this essay is to highlight the contribution of the Portuguese Constitutional Court in the construction of the Portuguese Democratic regime, inaugurated by the Carnation's Revolution of 1974, advocating a new analytical point of departure centred in the discursive contribution that the legal reasoning of this court may bring to the sedimentation of the essential aspects of this regime. Following a general framing of the impact of this kind of courts in the development of democratic regimes, it is presented an abstract analysis of the position of the Portuguese Constitutional Court in the democratic institutional framework in Portugal and of the ways through which it can influence its construction, illustrated by a brief and more concrete analysis of the case-law of this Court regarding referenda.

Keywords : Democracy; Constitutional Court; Constitution of the Portuguese Republic; judicialization.

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