Citizen's Guide to the Rule of Law

Why We Need to Fight for the Most Precious Human Invention of All Time

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• Publisher: ibidem
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9783838275413
• Edition: 0

In our daily lives, the rule of law matters more than anything and yet remains an invisible presence. We trust in the rule of law to protect us from governmental overreach, mafia godfathers, or the will of the majority. We take the rule of law for granted, often failing to recognize its demise-until it is too late. For under attack it is, not only in the growing number of authoritarian countries around the world but in Europe, too. As a citizen's guide, this book explains in plain language what the rule of law is, why it matters, and why we have to defend it. The starting point is to ask why EU efforts to promote the rule of law in candidate countries have succeeded or failed, and what this tells us about what is happening inside the EU. The authors move on to suggest ways of strengthening the rule of law in Europe and beyond. This book is a call to action in defense of the most precious human invention of all time.

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Foreword: It’s the Rule of Law, Stupid!
• Chapter 1. Saving the Rule of Law
• Chapter 2. When rule of law meets EU accession
• Chapter 3. Rule of Law Promotion, EU-style
• Chapter 4. The Fundamental Dilemma of EU Rule of Law Promotion
• Chapter 5. Taking on the rule of law dilemma by being more ambitious
• Chapter 6. Taking on the rule of law dilemma by being humbler
• Chapter 7. Promoting the Rule of Law in practice: the “Living List”
• Chapter 8. Conclusion