Yürütmenin Büyümesi Sorunsalı Karşısında Liberal Demokrasilerin Geleceğine İlişkin Kısa Bir Değerlendirme

Seda DUNBAY*…

Abstract

The doctrine of separation of powers is an essential element for the development and sustainability of democracies. It is also one of the main criteria used to classify political regimes. One of the most fundamental problems of the last two decades is the democratic erosion of a significant part of the functioning democracies and the resulting democratic decay that threatens to ensue. The most frequently used “method” in this context is to turn the law into an instrument of political opportunism. In this way, the balance between the three principal branches of state becomes distorted in favour of the executive. In such a political structure, even though the constitutions contain provisions emphasizing the separation of powers, the practice gives the impression of a unification of powers. Thus, many states that used to be classified as functioning democracies are transforming or tending to transform into illiberal systems that reduce democracy to the ballot box. In other words, this reversal of constitutional development jeopardizes the future of the rule of law and the functioning of liberal democracy. Our article focuses on the Republic of Turkey, where, as a result of “flawless” constitutional engineering since 2007, the single-person executive has become the sole arbiter of the system, and on Hungary. In this context, it aims to explain the relationship between forms of government and executive aggrandizement and thus offers a modest analysis of the future of liberal democracy.…