POLITICAL OPPOSITION AS AN EXPRESSION OF DISAGREEMENT WITH DOMINANT POLITICAL VALUES IS ONLY POSSIBLE IN LIBERAL STATES (WESTERN DEMOCRACIES) AS IT IS A CRIME IN TOTALITARIAN STATES. LIBERAL POLICIES, HOWEVER, CANNOT GUARANTEE INTERNAL CONSENSUS AND EXTERNAL SECURITY BECAUSE THE SYSTEM IS UNABLE TO DEFINE OPPOSITIONAL LIMITS BEYOND WHICH THE SYSTEM ITSELF IS PLACED IN JEOPARDY. POLITICAL OPPOSITION MAY BE EXPRESSED EITHER THROUGH LEGAL OR ILLEGAL METHODS OF ACTION NOT PROVIDED FOR BY THE SYSTEM OR THROUGH LEGAL PROCEDURES SERVING AS THE VEHICLE FOR IDEAS WHICH DO NOT CONFORM TO THE SOCIETY'S RECOGNIZED STANDARDS, A TECHNIQUE FOR WHICH MANY EXAMPLES CAN BE FOUND IN SWISS CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY. CRIMINALIZATION, I.E., DEFINITION OF AN UNDERTAKING AS SUBVERSIVE WITH GOALS DESTRUCTIVE TO THE SYSTEM, BECOMES DISCRIMINATORY WHEN THE CIVIC INTEGRITY OF OPPONENTS IS DISCREDITED IN ORDER TO AVOID DIALOGUE ON CONTESTED POINTS, AS IN THE CASE OF OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR ENERGY. IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY WHERE THE RULE OF THE MAJORITY MUST BE RECOGNIZED, A CRISIS MAY BE FOMENTED BY A MINORITY CHALLENGE TO THE MAJORITY, BY AN ISSUE INVOLVING NON-NEGOTIABLE VALUES (E.G., ABORTION), AND BY CONFLICTS BETWEEN POLITICAL METHODS OF ACTION AND THE BASIC VALUES OF THE STATE. UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, FUNCTIONALISTS ARGUE PARADOXICALLY THAT THE DEMOCRACY CANNOT FUNCTION EFFECTIVELY IF PARTICIPANTS BECOME TOO ACTIVE, AND THAT EXCESSIVE OPPOSITION MUST BE REJECTED. ELIMINATION OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION HAS BEEN RENDERED EASIER BY PUBLIC INTOLERANCE OF TERRORIST ACTS; RESPONSIBLE MILITANTS ARE THUS FORCED EITHER TO ABANDON THEIR CAUSES OR TO ADOPT MORE RADICAL POSITIONS APPROACHING THOSE OF THE TERRORISTS. IT IS EMPHASIZED THAT THE BASIC LIBERAL PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF CONFLICTING IDEAS AS A WAY TO RESEARCH A COMPROMISE IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION. CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION, COMPARABLE TO RELIGIOUS EXCOMMUNICATION, INSTITUTIONALIZES A MECHANISM OF EXCLUSION CONTRARY TO THE SPIRIT OF THE INSTITUTION. NOTES ARE PROVIDED. --IN FRENCH. (KMD)