Annual Lecture "Restoring Democracy through Transnational Law" by Kim Lane Scheppele

People worried about attacks on democracy need to think beyond individual rights to the supporting institutions that make democracy possible. Transnational courts are now leading the way as they transform rights into constitutional structures that can sustain democracy. In the last few years, we have seen the right to a fair trial transformed into a requirement of judicial independence; the right to vote transformed into a requirement of neutral election administration; and the right to stand for office transformed into a justification for presidential term limits. Transnational courts – including the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights – are opening their doors to litigation aimed at preserving democracy around the world by shoring up the structural protections of national constitutions. Activists can help in this effort by bringing cases to these welcoming courts

Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and Director of the Program in Law and Normative Thinking at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, and a former President of the Law and Society Association. Sheppele has extensively researched constitutional systems under stress and the rise of autocratic legalism, with special focus on Hungary, Poland and Russia, as well as effects of the international “war on terror” on constitutional protections around the world. Her forthcoming book Destroying (and Restoring) Democracy by Law is forthcoming from Harvard University Press.


ROUNDTABLE:
Roundtable: Oumar Ba Cornell University, Eirik Holmøyvik University of Bergen, Gökhan Sen University of Oslo, Alida Steigler University of Oslo

Moderator: Danielle Rached University of Sao Paulo