On 5 and 6 December this year, Mikael Rask Madsen (director of iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen) and Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Law School of the University of Edinburgh) are organizing a two-day workshop entitled '‘Taking Ambivalence Seriously’: The European Court of Human Rights and Democracy Promotion'. The conference will focus on the role of the European Court of Human Rights in democracy promotion. Here is a description of the event, including a list of speakers and the programme:
'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
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)
• Mikael Rask-Madsen (iCourts, University of Copenhagen): ‘The European Court of Human Rights and Democracy’ The Interplay of Subsidiarity and Authority’ presented by Stephen Coutts (University of Edinburgh)
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)
• 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)
• Michaela Hailbronner (University of Münster), ‘Representation Reinforcement in the ECtHR: The Minorities Question’ presented by Neil Walker (University of Edinburgh)
Chair: Juan Pablo Andrade Rojas
12:30 - 14:00 - Lunch
14:00 - 15:00 - Concluding Remarks and Next Steps
You can register for the confere here.