Criminal and Constitutional Populism Under the Aristotelian Framework

Abstract

Aristotle’s work relies on the assessment of human nature and the search for the supreme good defined as the complete fulfillment of an active life. In his view, the Stagirite regards the community of the political type as the most conducive to the common and individual good. Therefore, the account of justice cannot be separated from the account of politics, and consequently from the account of virtues. These two concepts are indeed intrinsically connected. In fact, in his perspective, the best city requires the best citizens as the ideal ground to build up the best possible community, and vice versa. This conceptual framework seems particularly essential and useful to assess the modern phenomenon of constitutional populism. The basis of Aristotle’s theory of justice (in its general, distributive, and corrective type) applied to the perceived deviant constitution of democracy demonstrates how the phenomenon works in the fields of constitutional and criminal law.