Prawo i demokracja

The complex and dynamic relationship between law and democracy has been a subject of interest since ancient times. In the contemporary world, the principle of democratic rule of law and the concept of law's legitimacy express the reciprocal and circular links between law and democracy. However, this relationship is not symmetrical. The fundamental task of law consists in controlling and even ‘taming’ democratic government against the possible misuse of power by the political majority. The relationship between law and democracy is increasingly problematic in all relevant dimensions: democratic participation in legislation, social and political subordination to law, and legal control of democratic government in order to protect rights and liberties of citizens. Contemporary challenges have been answered by new developments characterizing law: the growth in the power of the judiciary and the empowerment of citizens. The latter takes the form of the broad interpretation of the nondiscrimination principle and the protection of individual, and more recently also collective, rights. Therefore one can speak about the broadening and deepening of democracy. These new developments have been enhanced by the collapse of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in Europe and elsewhere. However, one observes new phenomena consisting in the growing importance of subnational and international processes and actors. They present a new challenge to both democracy and law, and result in the fragmentation of relations between them