The right to protest and contestation in a deliberative democracy

Abstract

This chapter explores and analyses the scope and the role that contestation and the right to protest may play in a legitimate, constitutional, deliberative democracy. It develops a normative argument to show that the right to protest is not only linked with personal wellbeing, but also crucial for the legitimacy of a republican deliberative democracy. The chapter argues that the right to protest should be constitutionally recognised in a direct, explicit form, not as a derivative right covered by other fundamental rights. It attempts to provide a reason why the rights of contestation or to protest should be recognised and protected constitutionally as specific rights. The chapter concludes by to have showing why constitutional systems should explicitly recognise that the right to protest should be a fundamental democratic right for all citizens. Democratic constitutions do not usually recognise a right to political protest as a fundamental right.