The European Court and Civil Society: Litigation, Mobilization and Governance (Themes in European Governance)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 3/8/2007
EAN 9780521671811, ISBN10: 0521671817
Paperback, 310 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
The European Union today stands on the brink of radical institutional and constitutional change. The most recent enlargement and proposed legal reforms reflect a commitment to democracy: stabilizing political life for citizens governed by new regimes, and constructing a European Union more accountable to civil society. Despite the perceived novelty of these reforms, this book explains (through quantitative data and qualitative case analyses) how the European Court of Justice has developed and sustained a vibrant tradition of democratic constitutionalism since the 1960s. The book documents the dramatic consequences of this institutional change for civil society and public policy reform throughout Europe. Cichowski offers detailed empirical and historical studies of gender equality and environmental protection law across fifteen countries and over thirty years, revealing important linkages between civil society, courts and the construction of governance. The findings bring into question dominant understandings of legal integration.
1. Introduction
institutions, organizations and actors
2. Overview of institutionalization in the European Union
Part I. Institutionalization Through Litigation
3. The ECJ and the expansion of gender equality rights
4. Environmental protection, non-compliance and judicial politics
Part II. Institutionalization Through Mobilization
5. Women's rights activists
informal to formal organizing
6. Collective activism for the environment
7. Conclusion
litigation, mobilization and governance.
'Rachel Cichowski's interesting and well-written book is a welcome addition to the literature on supranational governance and the role of the European Court of Justice. It takes its place within a more recent genre of genuinely interdisciplinary EU scholarship, which brings together the rigour of political science methodology and attention to empirical detail with a nuanced understanding of law, litigation and the judicial role in the evolution of the European Union.' Grainne De Búrca, Professor of European Law, European University Institute