The Legitimacy Deficits of the Human Rights Judiciary: Elements and Implications of a Normative Theory
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Andreas Follesdal
Abstract
The Article addresses some of the disagreement concerning the legitimacy of the international human rights judiciary. It lays out some aspects of a theory of legitimacy for the international human rights judiciary that seem relevant to addressing two challenges: First, it is difficult to justify the human rights judiciary by appeal to standard accounts of why states agree to subject themselves to treaties. What is the problem the international human rights judiciary is meant to help solve? Second, the human rights judiciary seems undemocratic and even antidemocratic when it overrules domestic, accountable legislatures. Such international judicial review is therefore sometimes thought to be normatively illegitimate, at least regarding democracies.
© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction
- The Legitimacy Deficits of the Human Rights Judiciary: Elements and Implications of a Normative Theory
- The Democratic Legitimacy of International Courts: A Conceptual Framework
- Understanding the Authority of International Courts and Tribunals: On Delegation and Discursive Construction
- Public Opinion and the Legitimacy of International Courts
- International Judicial Legitimacy: Lessons from National Courts
- How International Courts Enhance Their Legitimacy
- Legitimacy and Lawmaking: A Tale of Three International Courts
- Courts, Compliance, and the Quest for Legitimacy in International Law
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction
- The Legitimacy Deficits of the Human Rights Judiciary: Elements and Implications of a Normative Theory
- The Democratic Legitimacy of International Courts: A Conceptual Framework
- Understanding the Authority of International Courts and Tribunals: On Delegation and Discursive Construction
- Public Opinion and the Legitimacy of International Courts
- International Judicial Legitimacy: Lessons from National Courts
- How International Courts Enhance Their Legitimacy
- Legitimacy and Lawmaking: A Tale of Three International Courts
- Courts, Compliance, and the Quest for Legitimacy in International Law
