Law in a Time of Crises: The Italian Constitutional Response between Social Justice, Representative Democracy and Super Partes Institutions

Legal scholars' reflections on "law in a time of crises" may lead to the question of when social, political, international and economic changes actually develop into a legal crisis. The answer can be complex when the matter is addressed by an Italian legal scholar looking through the prism of domestic constitutional law and history. Moreover, Italy's experience shows that the adoption of a democratic constitution does not necessarily protect the legal order from every crisis. Even a constitutional system based on human dignity, combined with the protection afforded by fundamental rights and the rule of law may not prevent dangerous drift. Recently, two crises, in the shape of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict severely challenged Italian constitutional architecture, grounded as this is in post-war republican principles and values. For this reason, legal scholars have had to reflect again on a difficult question: are constitutional rules written in 1947 enough to counter the potential non-democratic consequences of the pandemic and of the Russia-Ukraine conflict?