Four-Monthly European Review of Psychoanalysis and Social Science
Editor in Chief: David Meghnagi (University of Rome Tre)
Co-Editor: Claudia Gina Hassan (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
Europa ricerca (Europe and Research)
ISSN 2282-0043 · Iscr. Tribunale di Roma n. 305/2012 dell’8 novembre 2012
Conservation, progress, and change. How time affects politics and democracy
Authors
Valerio Fabbrizi
Adjunct Professor in Political Philosophy and Constitutional Theory, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Macroarea
di Lettere e Filosofia), Department of History, Culture, and Society, Via Columbia 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; University of
Rijeka Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe (UNIRI CAS SEE)
Politics, Time, Democratic Constitutionalism, People, Consensus, Timing
Abstract
The article develops a discussion on how time influences the realm of politics and the structure of democraticconstitutionalism. In the first section, a theoretical and political-philosophical of time will be provided; in the second, theattention will be focused on the consequences of time on constitutionalism and democracy. Here, a distinction betweenthe two concepts of time of politics and time of constitutionalism will be addressed. The theory of time in politicalphilosophicalterms can be defined in multiple directions: firstly, in terms of political and constitutional changes, twodifferent matters will be distinguished: a “conservative” as opposed to a “progressive” approach to politics andconstitutionalism. Hence, a twofold definition of constitutionalism can be traced: on the one hand, the idea that aconstitution can be considered as the product of the daily political debate and, on the other hand, the idea of a constitutionas a generational product.
