This panel surveys a variety of research methods in constitutional law, both old and new, from multiple disciplines. The papers on this panel will appear in Research Methods in Constitutional Law: A Handbook (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2019).
Category: <span>Session IV</span>
SOCIAL RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY: CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Socio-Economic rights are widely recognized and protected both at national and supranational level. However the effectiveness of such recognition is still debated. The panel aims to address the current challenges in socio-economic rights protection in different countries. Karen Kong‘s paper analyses the Hong Kong‘s jurisprudential development in adjudicating social rights, looking also at the dynamics...
GLOBAL STANDARDS AND THE EU: IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND BOTTOM-UP APPROACHES
Global standards affect regulatory autonomy in a number of different domains: product technical requirements, food safety, aviation safety, environmental protection, financial regulation. Even though the EU could in theory try to compete with this process, in practice it is often de facto complying with global standards. At the same time, the EU tends to –...
IDENTITY POLITICS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN NORMATIVE PLURALITIES
In plural societies identity politics and cultural practices of ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities are under pressure. At the constitutional level, religious identity politics—with the headscarf as the most prominent example—as well religious dispute resolution practices in ethno-religious communities—are increasingly seen as disregarding or threatening the constitutional and human rights order. The latter is particularly...
BREXIT AS A LESSON FOR STATES IN AN INTERDEPENDENT WORLD
Brexit is a unique lesson in the consequences for a state that democratically decides to reverse the avowedly irreversible processes of strengthening global interdependence. The panel explores the ways of capturing this situation, discussing the impact of EU external relations law on the position of a leaving state, the inevitable link between the external untangling...
THE MATERIAL CONSTITUTION OF THE EU
The constitutional order of the EU has been already approached by a number of different constitutional schools. This panel tries to test the epistemic value of a rather neglected notion in EU studies such as that of the material constitution by focusing on two inquiries: (1) whether the EU has a constitutional structure that qualifies...
THE RISE OF FEDERAL ARRANGEMENTS IN AFRICA: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Federalism is often seen as a viable tool to reconcile unity and diversity, and in a continent deeply torn by ethnic cleavages such as Africa, federalism has often been taken into account to tame internal tensions, although not always successfully. Since the mid-1990s, several African countries have turned to federalism to restructure their constitutional system....
IDENTITY, SECURITY AND DEMOCRACY ISSUES IN PUBLIC POLICIES FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
The last two decades of 20th Century and the first decade of 21st Century have been marked by the decrease of public sector intervention in economy and the crisis of Welfare State. These two phenomena are strictly interconnected: the spread of procompetitive principles corroded some pillars of Welfare State (like public services) and the power...
CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICS IN ASIA
The panel explores contemporary instances in which constitutional law interacts with politics in leading jurisdictions in Southeast Asia. It adopts a dual take as to the meaning of politics. On the one hand, it showcases how courts and other institutions grapple with potentially explosive ‘high politics’ questions that go towards a polity’s self-understanding and the...
INVESTMENT COURTS: CHALLENGES, PERSPECTIVES AND REGIONAL POLICIES
Suggestions for the creation of permanent investment courts have been formulated for decades, but only recently they started taking actual institutional form. In particular, the European Commission has been pushing for a court-like mechanism for investment disputes in several recent trade negotiations. Such a framework was included in the EU treaties with Vietnam and Canada,...