Acceso usuarios
Kaarlo Tuori
Constitutional law is not limited to the explicit constitutional norms to which the concepts of material and formal constitution allude. Constitutional law also involves constitutional theories, concepts and principles, and ways of dealing with these, i. e. patterns of constitutional argumentation. Constitutional culture cannot be discussed merely in legal terms, because a constitution is a vital element not only of the legal system but also the political system of a modern, functionally differentiated society. Nor can constitutional culture be examined merely as an elite culture, especially as its function to contribute to the democratic legitimacy of the polity is dependent on a civic constitutional culture of the citizenry. The constitutional culture of legal and political elites is formed through constitutional practices. Correspondingly, crucial for the formation of general constitutional culture are citizenship practices in which citizenship rights are exercised and the underlying constitutional principles affirmed. This is the formative process of a civic demos.
