The ECHR and Human Rights Theory: Reconciling the Moral and the Political Conceptions

Description

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) has been relatively neglected in the field of normative human rights theory. This book aims to bridge the gap between human rights theory and the practice of the ECHR. In order to do so, it tests the two overarching approaches in human rights theory literature: the ethical and the political, against the practice of the ECHR 'system'. The book also addresses the history of the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as an international legal and political institution. The book offers a democratic defence of the authority of the ECtHR. It illustrates how a conception of democracy - more specifically, the egalitarian argument for democracy developed by Thomas Christiano on the domestic level - can illuminate the reasoning of the Court, including the allocation of the margin of appreciation on a significant number of issues. Alain Zysset argues that the justification of the authority of the ECtHR - its prominent status in the domestic legal orders - reinforces the democratic process within States Parties, thereby consolidating our status as political equals in those legal and political orders. The ECHR and Human Rights Theory- Front Cover ......Page 1 The ECHR and Human Rights Theory......Page 2 Title Page ......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Dedication ......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Abbreviations......Page 13 Chapter 1: Introduction: human rights theory and the challenge of the ECHR......Page 14 1.1 The need for determinacy......Page 15 1.2 The need for practice-responsiveness......Page 20 1.3 The main argument......Page 24 1.4 The neglect of the ECHR in human rights theory......Page 32 1.5 The ECHR: ethical and political?......Page 35 1.6 The justificatory deficit of human rights qua law......Page 36 1.7 The plan of the book......Page 38 Chapter 2: Ethical theories of human rights and their practice-independence......Page 41 2.1 Griffin’s moral conception......Page 42 2.2 Griffin’s normative scope......Page 49 2.3 Forst’s variant......Page 57 Chapter 3: Political theories and their practice-dependence......Page 60 3.1 The global perspective......Page 61 3.2 The emerging global practice of human rights......Page 65 3.3 Beitz’s analytical account......Page 67 3.4 Beitz’s normative model......Page 70 3.5 The practice-based distinction......Page 75 Chapter 4: Theorizing human rights: a constructivist proposal......Page 77 4.1 Constructivism qua justification......Page 79 4.2 Constructivism qua method of justification......Page 83 4.3 Theorizing human rights: a constructivist proposal......Page 85 Chapter 5: The ECHR in historical perspective......Page 89 5.1 The “alarm bell” against totalitarianism......Page 90 5.2 The Convention proposal at the legislative and intergovernmental levels......Page 92 5.3 The embryonic practice of the ECtHR......Page 96 5.4 The 1970s: the slow establishment of a supranational judicial authority......Page 98 5.5 The explosion of human rights and the need for structural reform......Page 101 Chapter 6: The normativity of ECHR law......Page 105 6.1 Normativity and authority......Page 107 6.2 Human rights norms qua international legal norms......Page 109 6.3 The ECHR qua international human rights treaty......Page 115 6.4 The ECtHR qua international judicial organ......Page 124 Chapter 7: Interpretation at the ECtHR: setting the stage......Page 133 7.1 The semantic exercise......Page 134 7.2 From the VCLT principles to the quest for moral truths......Page 137 7.3 The “teleological” doctrine: a quest for moral truths?......Page 146 Chapter 8: Balancing and justification at the ECtHR: the pivotal concept of “democratic necessity”......Page 152 8.1 The balancing test and the margin of appreciation doctrine......Page 153 8.2 “Democratic society” and the internal concept of sovereignty: Article 10 (expression)......Page 167 8.3 Article 11 (assembly and association)......Page 187 8.4 Article 3 Protocol 1 (free elections)......Page 193 8.5 “Democratic society” and the external concept of sovereignty: Article 9 (freedom of thought and religion)......Page 202 8.6 Article 8 (Privacy)......Page 212 Chapter 9: Conclusion: constructing the normative foundations of the ECHR......Page 220 9.1 Three steps towards reconciliation......Page 222 9.2 Step one: the resources of the political conception......Page 224 9.3 Step two: the resources of the moral conception......Page 228 9.4 Step three: the reconciliation thesis......Page 249 Bibliography......Page 254 Index......Page 264