Cut off the King's Head? Constitutional Democracy and the State Against Arbitrariness

Abstract

Constitutional democracies are increasingly perceived as limited devices. Against invitations to reducing their influence and size, these pages highlight one aspect or function that the State and constitutionalism share and which turn them into valuable instruments: avoidance of arbitrariness. I here argue that a central feature of both institutions is a commitment to making sure that citizens must lead lives that can be planned with some degree of certainty and reasonableness.

Keywords

• state
• constitutionalism
• democracy
• arbitrariness