In the Mind of the Illiberal. Constitutionalism as a Dispositif of Depoliticization

In this article I explore the relationship between illiberalism and human rights. In so doing I shall analyse the reasons behind the illiberal aversion to the super-legality demanded by constitutionalism, which is seen – by the champions of illiberalism – as a source of alleged depoliticization. As we shall see, contrary to what is often implicitly argued in the literature, human rights (and constitutionalism) have been attacked not only by right wing illiberalism, but also by leftwing forms of illiberalism and this is an area that I would like to explore. Before getting to the central part of my argument, however, I shall define what I mean by illiberalism and afterwards I shall identify some elements that can be traced back to what I call the illiberal constitutional counter-narrative. Finally, building on these reflections I shall focus on the role of rights.