‘Taking Ambivalence Seriously’: The European Court of Human Rights and Democracy Promotion

A particular ambivalence surrounds in the role of the European Court of Human Rights in democracy promotion.  On the one hand, as an international court, it can play a potentially useful role in countering the anti-democratic excesses of political populism in the light of its general independence from national political processes. On the other hand,  as a supranational court detached from domestic constitutional arrangements,  it is an easy target for authoritarian populist rhetoric.  The papers in this workshop use this ambivalence in the ECtHR’s role in democracy promotion as their starting point to examine the resources available to the Court to promote and enhance democracy in Europe from theoretical, political and doctrinal perspectives. 

Speakers Include:

• Başak Çali, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
• Esra Demir-Gürsel, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, 
• Michaela Hailbronner, University of Münster
• Aileen Kavanagh, Trinity College Dublin, 
• Rory O’Connell, University of Ulster
• Alain Zysset, University of Glasgow

The conference is organized by Professor Mikael Rask Madsen (director of iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen) and Professor Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Edinburgh Law School) and is funded by the Edinburgh – Copenhagen Strategic Partnership Fund.

Agenda 

Thursday December 5th

09:15 - 09:45 - Coffee & Welcome

09:45 - 10:00 - Welcome and Introductory remarks from Cormac Mac Amhlaigh and Mikael Rask Madsen

10:00 - 12:00 - Session 1

• Rory O’Connell (University of Ulster): ‘The ECtHR in an age of populism and democratic backsliding: what role for non-discrimination and positive obligations?’ presented by Kasey McCall-Smith (University of Edinburgh)

• Esra Demir-Gürsel (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin): ‘Democracy and Authoritarianism in the ECtHR’s Case Law Concerning the Dissolution of Political Parties’ presented by Elisenda Casanas Adam (University of Edinburgh)

Chair: Sara Canduzzi (University of Edinburgh)

12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch

13:00 -15:00 - Session 2

• Aileen Kavanagh (Trinity College Dublin): ‘Collaborative Constitutionalism and the Strasbourg Court’ presented by Alison Seaman (University of Edinburgh)

• Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Edinburgh Law School), ‘The European Court of Human Rights as the Guarantor of Republican Freedom’ presented by Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou (University of Liverpool)

Chair: Kathryn Nash (University of Edinburgh)

19:30 - Dinner (official participants only): Café Andaluz, 10-11 George IV Bridge.

 

Friday December 6th

09:00 - Coffee & Welcome

09:30 - 12:30 Session 3

• Alain Zysset (University of Glasgow), ‘How to build, and not to build, the ‘democratic process theory’ of the European Court of Human Rights’ presented by Euan MacDonald (University of Edinburgh)

• Mikael Rask-Madsen (iCourts, University of Copenhagen): ‘The European Court of Human Rights and Democracy’ The Interplay of Subsidiarity and Authority’ presented by Juan Pablo Andrade Rojas

• Michaela Hailbronner (University of Münster), ‘Representation Reinforcement in the ECtHR: The Minorities Question’ presented by Neil Walker (University of Edinburgh)

Chair: Cormac Mac Amhlaigh

12:30 - 14:00 - Lunch

14:00 - 15:00 - Concluding Remarks and Next Steps

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