Call for Papers: ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops 2027
CCRD member Gülçin Balamir Coşkun (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), together with Dorte Fischer (University of Trento), will co-direct the workshop “Courts as Arenas of Political Contestation: Collective Actors, Legal Conflict, and Democracy under Strain” at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops 2027, taking place at the University of Trieste from 1 to 4 June 2027.
The workshop is endorsed by the ECPR Standing Groups on Law and Courts and on Participation and Mobilisation.
Against the backdrop of increasing political polarisation and democratic backsliding, the workshop explores the role of courts as arenas of political contestation. It examines how social movements, legal professionals, state authorities, private actors, and judges engage in legal and political conflicts across liberal-democratic, backsliding, and authoritarian contexts.
Contributions are invited on topics including:
Legal mobilisation, strategic litigation, and cause lawyering
Criminalisation, SLAPPs, lawfare, and legal repression
Right-wing legal mobilisation and the (mis)appropriation of human rights
Judicial behaviour and judges under political pressure
Institutional safeguards and judicial independence
Comparative perspectives across different regime types
Submission deadline: 14 December 2026, midnight (UK time)
Workshop dates: 1–4 June 2027
Location: University of Trieste, Italy (in person only)
Researchers working on these topics are warmly encouraged to submit their paper proposals.