MAPPING THE CONSTITUTIONAL TERRAIN OF VULNERABILITY IN THE COVID PANDEMIC

THE CROATIAN CASE

Sažetak

In this paper, we explore the underlying theory of the Croatian constitution in
the response to the COVID outbreak. We argue that the operative issue imposed
by the pandemic, at least in Croatian constitutionalist circles, was how facts
should be related to constitutional values, structures, and norms. Although at
first blush a replica of our general inability to get some bearing on a terrain
of uncertainty in an unforeseen outbreak, we will explore the matter as a
specific problem of constitutional theory, aiming to explore its implications for
constitutional dimensions of vulnerability. To do so, we draw from the literature
to describe the different ways constitutions may be imagined in relation to facts
and then apply this insight to the measures enacted by the Croatian state during
the COVID pandemic. The result is a treacherous terrain, where the exercise of
state power and its restriction stand on thin constitutional grounds, excluding a
spectrum of more substantive interpretations of the Constitution. In conclusion,
we argue that this map reveals a narrowed basis for identifying and vindicating
vulnerability.