21 May 2025
Legality Over Accountability?
On April 23, 2025, public prosecutors in Guatemala executed an arrest warrant against Luis Pacheco, the Deputy Energy Minister. This case is only the latest in a series of politically motivated prosecutions that place the Attorney General at the center of Guatemala’s democratic backsliding. She has systematically targeted journalists, public officials and civil society actors, undermining democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. What can be done when legal mechanisms to hold public officials accountable are effectively blocked? When there are credible grounds to believe that a public official is abusing their mandate, accountability must take precedence in legal and political debate. Continue reading >>
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16 May 2025
Auf dem Friedhof des Völkerrechts
Von Straußen, Eulen und Oktopussen Continue reading >>16 May 2025
In the Graveyard of International Law
Ostriches, Owls, and Octopuses Continue reading >>
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14 May 2025
Academic Vertigo
What is therefore needed is a much thicker description of the current phase of semantic destabilization. This implies to build a new questionnaire able to grasp the dynamics of contemporary legal controversies allowing to bring historical depth and socio-legal […] While there is certainly a large variety of methodologies able to address this questionnaire, […] I contend however that a socio-genetic approach is better equipped when it comes to unpack the notion of “context” and reconstitute the complex “hermeneutic space” of legal concepts that continuously move back and forth from the legal and the political fields. Continue reading >>
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09 May 2025
“Only a Vigilant Democracy Can Be a Resilient Democracy”
Five Questions to Kyrill-Alexander Schwarz Continue reading >>
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08 May 2025
(De)coloniality and EU Legal Studies
In EU legal studies, time, space, place, and knowledge are locations for contestation, deliberation and reconstruction. Other submissions in this symposium have elaborated on the limitations in understanding and accounting for the ‘what was’ as a fundamental blind spot of EU law. Extending from this starting point, I will show how decolonial approaches can bridge the gap between history, theory, and action, offering practical and alternative solutions for reconciliation. To do so, I will use the rule of law as one such site for contestation. Continue reading >>
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24 April 2025
Criminalising the Legal Profession
Lawyers and bar associations in Turkey have long faced political and legal pressure. The court case against the Istanbul Bar Association that led to the dismissal of its executive board and the criminal prosecution of board members is another troubling instance of such pressure. The case exemplifies how authoritarian regimes increasingly criminalise lawyers and professional organisations that speak out against rights violations. Continue reading >>10 April 2025
Gaming Procedure, Gutting Due Process
The Trump administration has admitted that sending Abrego Garcia to a supermax prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses was an “administrative error” but contends before the U.S. Supreme Court that there is nothing a federal court can do about that. As I shall explain, the Solicitor General’s argument ultimately rests on the claim that the president who frequently boasts about his abilities as a deal maker is a lousy negotiator. Continue reading >>
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02 April 2025
How Hungary’s Pride Ban Tests the EU’s Commitment to Democracy
On March 18, 2025, the Hungarian Parliament passed legislation aimed at protecting children from assemblies that promote homosexuality. Although the amendment imposes general limitations on freedom of assembly, it is commonly understood as a ban on the LGBTQ+ Pride march, just ahead of the 30th anniversary in 2025. The new law purposefully violates European human rights standards on freedom of assembly and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as fundamental values of the European Union, such as the rule of law and democracy (Article 2 TEU). Continue reading >>
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24 March 2025