Graduate Student, School of Law
Thesis Title: The European Court of Justice as an Institution of Democracy
Professor Neil Walker
Dr. Niamh Nic Shuibne
About
The purpose of this thesis is to defend the European Court of Justice as an institution of democracy. That is to say that the phenomenal political behaviour of the Court is democratically legitimate; not just because it is incidentally complimentary to the virtues of democracy (in that it promotes and protects fundamental rights, for example) but also because it represents an inherently democratic process that is contributory to a democratic community.
The strategy for this defence is to explore in greater depth the arguments from democracy that are typically leveled at the Court and, more generally, ‘constitutional’ courts, and to account for their quantitative and qualitative shortcomings vis-à-vis the vast literature on democratic theory. The core argument then proceeds by considering what the systemic features are of a good democracy; how that system could be effectively institutionalised; and the extent to which the Court acquits itself of such a system. Additionally, this defence adopts a socio-legal and post-positivist epistemology, which represents an important methodological step towards accounting for alternative institutional frameworks of democratic communities.
Teaching
Jurisprudence- Course Tutor
Legal Reasoning and Legal System- Course Tutor
Contact Information
