The Evolving Politics of Legal Mobilization: Who Mobilizes, Benefits, and Why?

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Understanding who mobilizes the law, when they do so, and to what ends has never been more important for making sense of democratic governance. Litigation can serve as a powerful tool to challenge autocrats and safeguard human rights, but it can also be captured by powerful interests to hollow the promise of democracy and international justice. This panel brings novel empirical evidence to bear on the politics of legal mobilization, with the goal of drawing comparative insights into how litigation is reshaping systems of governance nationally and transnationally. In this vein, the panel's papers probe the politics of litigation before national courts – in the United States, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt – as well as before international courts – namely the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. They embrace methodological pluralism by integrating interviews and on-the-ground fieldwork with novel quantitative databases and cutting-edge survey experiments. Specifically, Steven Schaaf identifies the conditions under which individuals in Middle East autocracies turn to the courts to challenge the state and spark contentious politics. Across the Atlantic, Paul Gardner traces how the US Congress has used its legislative powers to try to disempower public interest litigation, often with stark unintended consequences. At the international level, Silje Hermansen and Tommaso Pavone assess whether businesses are increasingly better represented by experienced lawyers before the European Court of Justice than individuals, thereby reinforcing their transnational influence over EU policymaking. Finally, Rachel Cichowski uncovers how non-state actors can use amicus curiae briefs to bolster participation and enforcement before the European Court of Human Rights and embeds her insights in a broader comparative perspective. Taken together, these original studies illuminate the Janus-faced promises and limitations of litigation as a catalyst of progressive social change.

Sub Unit

• Division 26: Law and Courts

Individual Presentations

• Litigation, Legal Mobilization and Authoritarianism in the Middle East - Steven Schaaf, George Washington University

• Congressional Attempts to Mobilize Lawsuits Without Interest Groups - Paul J. Gardner, Queen's University

• Corporate Tool or Weapon of the Weak? Litigation and Representation in the EU - Silje Synnøve Lyder Hermansen, University of Oslo; Tommaso Pavone, University of Arizona

• Amicus Curiae and the European Court of Human Rights - Rachel A. Cichowski, University of Washington

Chair

• Tommaso Pavone University of Arizona

Discussant

• Charles R. Epp University of Kansas