The crisis of the European Court of Human Rights in the face of authoritarian and populist regimes

This chapter asks whether the future of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has recently been compromised by the Court’s apparent deference to three states which have at different times perpetrated gross violations of human rights in the context of internal armed conflict: Turkey, Russia and the United Kingdom. More than one commentator has raised the question whether the decisions of the ECtHR were ‘politically motivated’. I therefore analyse recent developments in respect of each of these countries in turn, concluding with some observations on the current state of affairs. I do not pretend to be able to predict the future of the ECtHR, but it is surely less certain than it appeared to be some years ago.