The Rule of Law and the Courts

Scholars of the European Union (EU) have long used Europe as a laboratory to study the ways that law and politics interact. After pioneering theories of judicial empowerment in the 1990s and probing backlashes to the judicialization of politics in the 2000s, more recently we are entering an era of synthesis and more nuanced theorizing. As co-organizers of the “Rule of Law and the Courts” Section of the ECPR Standing Group on the EU in Rome, we invite paper and panel proposals that will advance this third wave of scholarly research on law and politics in the EU, or that place the European experience in comparative perspective. We are interested in proposals that cast new empirical or theoretical light on perennial topics animating law and politics research – such as judicial behavior, the separation of powers, and legal mobilization – as well as contributions focusing on current rule of law challenges in Europe: The politicization of national and supranational judiciaries, the rise of rule of law backsliding, the politics of enforcing EU treaty obligations relating to the rule of law, the problems of judicial corruption and cooptation, and the promises and perils accompanying judicial rebellions and defiance.