A Citizen's Guide to the Rule of Law
Why We Need to Fight for the Most Precious Human Invention of All Time
Published on 20. April 2021
178 pages
978-3-8382-7541-3 (ISBN)
Description
In our daily lives, the rule of law matters more than anything and yet remains an invisible presence. We trust in the rule of law to protect us from governmental overreach, mafia godfathers, or the will of the majority. We take the rule of law for granted, often failing to recognize its demise-until it is too late. For under attack it is, not only in the growing number of authoritarian countries around the world but in Europe, too.
As a citizen's guide, this book explains in plain language what the rule of law is, why it matters, and why we have to defend it. The starting point is to ask why EU efforts to promote the rule of law in candidate countries have succeeded or failed, and what this tells us about what is happening inside the EU. The authors move on to suggest ways of strengthening the rule of law in Europe and beyond. This book is a call to action in defense of the most precious human invention of all time.
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berlin
Germany
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
Illustrations
File size
2,10 MB
ISBN-13
978-3-8382-7541-3 (9783838275413)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Adis Merdzanovic | Kalypso Nicolaidis
A Citizen's Guide to the Rule of Law
Why We Need to Fight for the Most Precious Human Invention of All Time
Book
04/2021
ibidem
€19.90
Shipment within 10-15 days
Persons
Adis Merdzanovic is a Senior Research Associate at Zurich University of Applied Sciences' School of Management and Law. He is a former Junior Research Fellow of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), European Studies Centre, St Anthony's College, University of Oxford.
Content
- Intro
- Foreword: It's the Rule of Law, Stupid!
- Chapter 1. Saving the Rule of Law
- What is the Rule of Law then?
- A simple magic trick
- Ask not (only) what it can do for you.
- .also ask what you can do for the Rule of Law!
- Coming up next
- Chapter 2. When rule of law meets EU accession
- The Twin Imperatives for the Western Balkans
- Negotiating accession
- Establishing legitimacy
- What the Rule of Law is and why it matters
- Going deep: Love and everyday gestures
- Rule by Law and Rule of Law
- "Liberal democracy"-beyond the buzzword
- Fighting emperor Palpatine
- What the people cannot decide
- Chapter 3. Rule of Law Promotion, EU-style
- Enlargement postponed or when Jean-Claude killed the mood
- Reviving the relationship: the EU enlargement strategy
- On the importance of being lawful
- Recognise the problem and commit to solving it
- Why elites don't like the rule of law
- "Do as I say, not as I do"-Intra-EU problems with the rule of law
- A gospel with no sinners
- Between nukes and lawyers
- The Importance of Being ROLF
- Chapter 4. The Fundamental Dilemma of EU Rule of Law Promotion
- Achieving Sustainability or Why Inconsistency Ruins Progress
- Why consistency matters-and why it's hard to achieve sometimes
- Educating the Student
- Promoting rule of law in the accession process
- When the EU assesses the rule of law
- Why rule of law promotion is more than the sum of its parts
- Problem 1: Too much focus on institutions
- Problem 2: Too much focus on political elites and state structures
- Problem 3: Too much focus on means rather than ends
- Reframing the issue: The rule of law promotion dilemma
- The "second generation" of rule of law reform
- Towards a better approach for rule of law promotion: the dilemma
- Chapter 5. Taking on the rule of law dilemma by being more ambitious
- Why?
- Qui Bono
- Don't be shy!
- Outsiders can be right
- How?
- From the laws on the books..
- .to the institutions of justice..
- .to politics and power structures.
- . to, ultimately, socio-cultural realities
- From the laws on the books to law in action
- Chapter 6. Taking on the rule of law dilemma by being humbler
- Why?
- Contestability of interpretations
- Diversity of national traditions
- National autonomy
- How?
- Towards an ends-based approach
- Two logics
- Chapter 7. Promoting the Rule of Law in practice: the "Living List"
- Conditionality revisited
- Success cases? The Priebe Reports on North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina
- The citizens' "living list"
- Five citizen-based principles to monitor the rule of law
- The "living list" in practice
- Towards a new strategy
- Chapter 8. Conclusion
- References
