Who are the humans behind Human Rights? A Sociology of Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Russia

该项目以一项令人困惑的统计数据开始：欧洲人权法院（ECtHR）受理的所有案件中，超过50%的案件仅来自少数东欧国家。然而，这些案件中的绝大多数也是“失败”的案件——它们从未达到判决阶段。虽然对法律学者来说，这些“失败”的案例几乎没有分析价值，但对社会法律研究人员来说，这种前所未有的人权动员构成了一个社会事实，并为社会提供了一个窗口：如果人权要求被提出，但从未实现，后果是什么？我的主要研究问题是：在欧洲人权委员会之前提出的索赔如何影响东欧和俄罗斯个人的生活和社会的发展？为了解决这个问题，我提出了一种范式转变，从人权学术的法律优先方法转向对“社会生活”和《公约》日常动员的研究，重新将焦点从法律转向人民——人权背后的人——东欧和俄罗斯的申请人、律师、非政府组织活动家、法官和国家法律顾问。该项目的最终目标是在“滥用宪政”（俄罗斯）、公开的军事冲突（乌克兰）、深刻的变革（罗马尼亚）和民主倒退（波兰和匈牙利）的条件下，发展一种全新的人权动员、欧洲人权委员会的合法性和社会发展之间关系的理论。为此，我将去西方化该地区的人权话语，并倾向于将冲突、互惠和脱节作为支撑东欧地缘政治知识和公约体系的核心理论概念。这个项目很及时，在学术上也很紧迫，因为目前东欧和俄罗斯的人权活动在整个欧洲人权疲劳的背景下尤其引人注目，而英国脱欧和民粹主义情绪进一步加剧了这一疲劳。

This project begins with a puzzling statistic: over 50% of all cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) come from only a handful of East European countries. Yet a great majority of these cases are also 'failed' cases - they never reach a judgment stage. While for legal scholars these 'failed' cases are of little analytical use, for socio-legal researchers this unprecedented human rights mobilisation constitutes a social fact and presents a window into the society: if human rights claims are made, but never materialize, what are the consequences?My main research question is: How do claims-making before the ECtHR shape the lives of individuals and the development of societies in Eastern Europe and Russia? To address this question, I propose a paradigmatic shift from a law-first approach in human rights scholarship to the study of the 'social life' and the everyday mobilisation of the Convention, re-focusing from the law and onto the people - the humans behind the Human Rights - the applicants, lawyers, NGO activists, judges and state legal counsels in Eastern Europe and Russia. The ultimate ambition for this project is to develop a brand new theory of the relationship between human rights mobilisation, ECtHR's legitimacy and the development of societies under the conditions of 'abusive constitutionalism' (Russia), open military conflict (Ukraine), deep transformations (Romania) and democratic backsliding (Poland and Hungary). To this effect, I will de-westernize human rights discourses in the region and lean toward the premise of conflict, reciprocity and disjuncture as core theoretical notions underpinning the geopolitics of knowledge on Eastern Europe and the Convention system.This project is timely and academically urgent as the current human rights activism in Eastern Europe and Russia is particularly intriguing against the backdrop of human rights fatigue across Europe, further exacerbated by Brexit and populist sentiments.