The Concept of democracy as safeguarded by the Constitution: regional and national challenges
ENAs it can be seen from the challenges, democracy, including direct democracy, consists of more elements than majority rule; it is not only voting and adopting decisions by the majority. It also requires the democratic procedures of decision making with due deliberation and pluralistic debate based on verifiable information. As Tomáš Masaryk stated already in 1928, we should be convinced democrats and accept the given difficulties of democratism; ‘there is no State form without defects, and this is in the nature of things. Our difficulties arise from the high demands of democracy which requires a body of citizens who are truly educated in the political sense and an intelligent electorate, both men and women.’ I believe constitutional courts can, within the limits of their competence, effectively respond to the challenges arising to democracy, by defending democratic constitutional values, provided that they are able to identify those challenges and stick to the concept of the self-defending democratic constitutional order.
