<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The EU lacks the legal ideology as a social instrument that could satisfy the spirit of liberal democracy and would help to consolidate different societies to a solid European demos. Although the existence of an ideological system alone does not guarantee social consensus, it helps to manage dissension within the limits of particular values and norms. It is because a legal ideology provides the structure for social thought that individuals and social groups are able to interpret the nature of emerging conflicts and the interests they support.</p><p>The article demonstrates that the neoliberal way of thinking that prevails in contemporary Europe does not meet the spirit of the constitutionalism of the EU Member States; the article introduces some aspects of Aharon Barak’s legal ideology that could be relevant for the formation and development of European demos and constitutionalism. In order to achieve this aim, the research is focused on issues that emerge in the area of three main pillars of constitutionalism: (1) adherence to the rule of law, (2) limited and accountable government, and (3) protection of fundamental human rights.</p></abstract>

The EU lacks the legal ideology as a social instrument that could satisfy the spirit of liberal democracy and would help to consolidate different societies to a solid European demos. Although the existence of an ideological system alone does not guarantee social consensus, it helps to manage dissension within the limits of particular values and norms. It is because a legal ideology provides the structure for social thought that individuals and social groups are able to interpret the nature of emerging conflicts and the interests they support.The article demonstrates that the neoliberal way of thinking that prevails in contemporary Europe does not meet the spirit of the constitutionalism of the EU Member States; the article introduces some aspects of Aharon Barak’s legal ideology that could be relevant for the formation and development of European demos and constitutionalism. In order to achieve this aim, the research is focused on issues that emerge in the area of three main pillars of constitutionalism: (1) adherence to the rule of law, (2) limited and accountable government, and (3) protection of fundamental human rights.

Aharon Barak’s Legal Ideology in the Context of European Constitutionalism

Baltic Journal of Law & Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Aharon Barak\u2019s Legal Ideology in the Context of European Constitutionalism"}

The EU lacks the legal ideology as a social instrument that could satisfy the spirit of liberal democracy and would help to consolidate different societies to...

Aharon Barak’s Legal Ideology in the Context of European Constitutionalism

Published Online: Oct 25, 2017

Page range: 183 - 204

Received: Nov 21, 2016

Accepted: Jun 22, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2017-0007

Keywords
Constitutionalism, the European Union, Aharon Barak, rule of law, human rights, democracy, liberalism

© 2017 Jolanta Bieliauskaitė et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Aharon Barak’s Legal Ideology in the Context of European Constitutionalism

Published Online: Oct 25, 2017

Page range: 183 - 204

Received: Nov 21, 2016

Accepted: Jun 22, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2017-0007

KeywordsConstitutionalism, the European Union, Aharon Barak, rule of law, human rights, democracy, liberalism

© 2017 Jolanta Bieliauskaitė et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Constitutionalism, the European Union, Aharon Barak, rule of law, human rights, democracy, liberalism