{"title":"Judicial relational legal consciousness: authoritarian backsliding as a catalyst of change","authors":"AGNIESZKA KUBAL","doi":"10.1111/jols.12497","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Between 2015 and 2023, authoritarian backsliding triggered significant changes in the Polish judiciary, prompting some judges to adopt a new approach in their interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, both on and off bench, taking a more explicit stance as individual applicants against the Polish government in the European Court of Human Rights. This article employs the paradigm of relational legal consciousness, attributing this embrace of human rights law to judges’ interactions and relationships with various actors, including judicial associations, lawyers, human rights activists, and civil society. Furthermore, the article extends the concept of relationality in legal consciousness to encompass the intricate interplay between law and politics as intertwined social relations and practices. The article's original contribution lies in theorizing judicial legal consciousness in relation to authoritarian backsliding and the resultant liminality of structures and strategies for action.</p>","PeriodicalId":51544,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and Society","volume":"51 S1","pages":"S45-S65"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jols.12497","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Law and Society","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jols.12497","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Between 2015 and 2023, authoritarian backsliding triggered significant changes in the Polish judiciary, prompting some judges to adopt a new approach in their interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, both on and off bench, taking a more explicit stance as individual applicants against the Polish government in the European Court of Human Rights. This article employs the paradigm of relational legal consciousness, attributing this embrace of human rights law to judges’ interactions and relationships with various actors, including judicial associations, lawyers, human rights activists, and civil society. Furthermore, the article extends the concept of relationality in legal consciousness to encompass the intricate interplay between law and politics as intertwined social relations and practices. The article's original contribution lies in theorizing judicial legal consciousness in relation to authoritarian backsliding and the resultant liminality of structures and strategies for action.
期刊介绍:
Established as the leading British periodical for Socio-Legal Studies The Journal of Law and Society offers an interdisciplinary approach. It is committed to achieving a broad international appeal, attracting contributions and addressing issues from a range of legal cultures, as well as theoretical concerns of cross- cultural interest. It produces an annual special issue, which is also published in book form. It has a widely respected Book Review section and is cited all over the world. Challenging, authoritative and topical, the journal appeals to legal researchers and practitioners as well as sociologists, criminologists and other social scientists.