Doctoral Dissertation Research: Creating a Sense of Obligation: Legal Mobilization for Socioeconomic Rights

在全球南方的许多国家，个人和运动继续通过法院促进社会索赔；其方式挑战了我们目前对司法机构历史作用的理解。在世界各地，法律在社会和政治生活中变得越来越明显，这一变化与传统的民主和法律理论背道而驰，因为传统民主和法律理论设想不具代表性的司法部门的作用有限。然而，这种法律动员的增加实际上可能是通过允许个人在其他不被接受的政治环境中直接接触国家并对国家提出要求来深化民主。为了更好地确定司法机构在民主治理中的作用，本项目使用比较分析的方法调查了围绕社会经济权利的法律动员。这项研究特别关注住房和医疗保健问题。研究计划包括对法律文件的分析、半结构化访谈和参与者观察。它包括对三个主要城市的律师和法律学者的大约100次采访。研究人员将与三个社区组织进行为期3个月的参与性观察。

Individuals and movements continue to promote social claims through the courts in many countries across the Global South; in ways that challenge our current understanding of the historical role of the judiciary. Around the world, law has become increasingly apparent in social and political life, a change that runs contrary to traditional democratic and legal theory, which envision a limited role for the non-representative judicial branch. Yet, this increase in legal mobilization may, in fact, be deepening democracy by allowing individuals to directly access and make claims upon the state in otherwise unreceptive political environments. To better situate the role of the judiciary in democratic governance, this project investigates legal mobilization around socio-economic rights using a comparative analysis. The research focuses specifically on the issues of housing and healthcare. The research plan involves an analysis of legal documents, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. It includes approximately 100 interviews with lawyers and legal academics in three major cities. And, the researcher will engage in 3 months of participant observation with three community-based organizations.