In the next chapter he proves that the political changes that occurred behind the Iron Curtain in 1989 were real revolutions, not merely reforms, because sovereignty passed from the communist party to the people. Chapter 5 argues that the Eastern European revolutions were unique and that it is a mistake simply to treat them as the victory of Western liberalism and capitalism. The decisive difference was the uncertainty that characterized all moral claims. In the final chapter, Preuss describes the threat of repression and tyranny facing new democracies whose constitutions must manage moral uncertainty. If there is no objective right, then it is easy to make the claim that might makes right.
Existentialism provides the solution.
Preuss draws from Heidegger s teaching that the authentic person is one who creates his or her own unique value system and then lives in accordance with that creation. Through reflective constitutionalism, Preuss exhorts, governments can bind themselves in advance by limiting their powers and individuals can bind themselves by restricting their freedom. Only in this way can freedom and progress regain their moral dimension.