Is it possible for a constitutional court to contribute to the meaning of democracy?

Several assumptions can be made in developing this proposal. Some of these may include that the liberal democratic (western) understanding or paradigm prevails, that democracy is a contested concept, through the third wave of democratization several authoritarian states transitioned to democracy and that as such the scope of democratic contexts were broadened. One such third wave democracy established in 1994 is the democratic dispensation in the Republic of South Africa, following the authoritarian apartheid regime. South Africa remains an interesting case study in becoming a democracy following on a (relatively) peaceful and negotiated transition and survival as a democracy for 30 years in 2024. It is also of interest in terms of a country and society that represents the global south and being a developing and diverse country (for example in terms of race, ethnicity, urban and rural divisions, and various inequalities). The South African constitution as the formal outcome of the transition, and hailed as well written and progressive, forms the basis for this democracy and is safeguarded and adjudicated by the constitutional court within the context of a separation of powers. Yet South Africa today reflects contested views on society and democracy and perhaps even a shift in its global positioning away from the western sphere of influence (and ideas) towards a positioning in terms of the global south and even a solidarity with anti-western sentiments, for example through its governmental/executive engagement in groupings such as BRICS (extended to include a state such as Iran), support to Cuba and support to an anti-Israel position (the current case at the ICJ in the Hague). This context leads to several questions for the understanding of democracy. With the above contextualization, this paper is intended to be the starting point for an exploration of a South African understanding of democracy considering the following questions: 1. The South African constitutional court has through its judgements in the past thirty years given interpretation to the SA constitution and many of these judgements have spoken to the nature of SA democracy and its development. Is it therefore a case of a specific institution as part of the judiciary in effect giving meaning to democracy? This paper is interested in beginning to explore this development. Has there been a progressive development in this meaning-giving as opposed to the constitutional text? What is the meaning of democracy that can be formulated from this? 2. Has the meaning ascribed to democracy through the constitutional court differed with the executive branch of government as the latter would appear to undergo an ideological (or not) and global re-positioning? 3. Has the meaning ascribed to democracy through the constitutional court differed with contested understandings of democracy in society? The paper therefore aims to make use of the documented interpretation of the concept of democracy based on the founding constitution of a young democratic state within the global south to explore different interpretations and meanings of democracy.