Europe’s Courts: Between Bottom-up Mobilization and Popular Backlash

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

International courts (ICs) have become key actors in world politics. Europe’s leading courts, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are two of the most active and influential ICs in the world. Scholars have argued that the growing role of civil society organizations in shaping the docket of these courts and the implementation of these judgments show that these courts provide new opportunities for public participation and democratization in Europe. Yet, in recent years, the courts faced growing popular backlash from individuals in newer democracies as well as those in long-standing democracies. This panel theorizes the rising authority and the growing backlash against these two courts. Drawing on analyses of original datasets and qualitative case studies, authors address the following questions: What is the role of bottom-up mobilization in shaping the jurisprudance of ICs? What is the impact of legal mobilization on improving individual rights protection on the ground? Who are the allies of ICs from civil society during times of judicial empowerment? How do we make sense of the growing popular backash against ICs in Europe? And, what are the broader implications of these dynamics for European politics? The authors examine a diverse array of issues, including LGBT rights, migrant rights, and labor rights to answer these questions.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 45: Human Rights

Cosponsor

• DIVISION 26: Law and Courts

Individual Presentations

• Causes and Consequences of Migrant Rights litigation in the Strasbourg Court - Dia Anagnostou, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)

• Strong Courts and Their Weak Allies: Labor Activists in Strasbourg - Filiz Kahraman, University of Toronto

• Canaries in the Mine? European Legal Mobilization and its Discontents - Lisa Conant, University of Denver

• The Travelling Problem: The Concept of Legal Mobilization in Comparative Research on Europe - Lisa C. Vanhala, University College London

Chair

• Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom University of British Columbia

Discussant

• Celeste Arrington George Washington University