Democratic Constitutionalism, Civil Society and the Wave of New Populism

The paper aims at the critical examination of the concept of democracy used in political sciences and political sociology. As it is argued, conceptualization of democracy in the ure statistical and formal terms (the "thin concept of democracy'') is not helpful in explanation of the waves of populism in the contemporary world, and the transformation of democratic governments into populistic, oppressive and exclusionary ones. The paper prop[ose to broaden the concept of democracy and include into it the activities of civil society , i.e., the activities of citizens aimed at the defending of the democratic constitutionalism principles. Empirical background of this paper presents the case of East Central Europe.