Kurzbeschreibung

The thesis addresses the social deficit in Europe in the context of austerity, with a focus on Greece and it engages with the political economy of European social rights constitutionalism. Departing from a mere descriptive account of the facts, the analysis aims towards a more conceptual and systemic one. At an empirical level it asks how social rights were adjudicated before Greek and European courts during the austerity. From a theoretical perspective, it brings forward questions of constitutional and social rights theory. It argues that an economic analysis of the law acted as the modus operandi within a neo-utilitarian and instrumentalist context by means of an efficiency-oriented model of wealth maximization and market rationality. It challenges the fetishization of hierarchy and binary thinking in constitutional and legal reasoning. The analysis further discusses the synergies between social rights constitutionalism and solidarity. It questions the re-definition of economic interests as values in the language of global constitutionalism and the quantification of solidarity in financial terms. To that end, the analysis engages with feminist legal theory and feminist governance as a methodological and theoretical tool. It stresses the importance of the feminist discourse in the political economy of social rights discourse. A feminist approach to social rights is understood in this sense, as challenging the existing norms and power relations in the society. To this end, feminism is used as the means towards a structural critique of austerity law and of subjectivity in the social rights discourse. The thesis then ventures to relate the concept of transindividuality with social rights and to re- configure a critical notion of social rights constitutionalism. It opts for a constitutionally protected social justice, which is based on a social, enlarged solidarity. Ultimately, the thesis seeks to defend a critical understanding of social justice in austerity Europe by drawing attention to the material conditions of constitutional theory and social practice.

Projektdetails

Projektart

Dissertation

Fachgruppe

Rechts-, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften

Beginn

2016

Ende

2019

Einrichtung

Fachbereich/Zentralinstitut

Rechtswissenschaft

Fachgebiet/Arbeitsbereich

Human rights under pressure - Ethics, Law and Politics

Projektteam

Leitung

Dr. Kyriaki Pavlidou

Schlagwörter

Social rights theory; Constitutionalism; Governance State theory and feminism; Law; Philosophy; Political theory; Critical Legal Studies

Forschende

• Dr. Kyriaki Pavlidou

  Ehemalig