As an essential component of contemporary constitutional democracies, the rule of law in a transnational key is both about the ways in which transnational actors can and do affect the rule of law at the domestic level, and how the law itself is transnationalised in the process. This process relies in part on the standards that international and regional organizations and advisory bodies create from international and comparative law, as well as what different actors do to protect and promote the rule of law. While transnational standards are meant to serve as benchmarks to assess the performance of national authorities, they are fluid, contested as well as often ignored. How can this be remedied? How can the rule of law be safeguarded as a most precious human invention? What are the interests, power constellations and normative frames involved?
This initiative focusses in particular on cases of so called state backsliding and the actions of international and regional organizations to monitor and counter those tendencies.
The initiative adopts a multidisciplinary approach in the intersection of politics, law and economics and will promote activities seeking to enhance understanding on the working and effects of transnational-national in promoting the rule of law.
Team
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James Alexander Calum Mackay
Research Associate
Florence School of Transnational Governance
Featured publications
The EU needs a better and fairer scrutiny procedure over Rule of Law compliance
Recent events in some Member States show that the EU’s values (article 2, TEU), in particular the Rule of Law, are not exempt from being challenged. Constitutional changes in Hungary, executive non-compliance with constitutional court rulings in Romania, and expulsion of Bulgarian and Hungarian Roma citizens in France are some of the episodes that illustrate these challenges.
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The EU needs a better and fairer scrutiny procedure over Rule of Law compliance
Further Reading