IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v5y2016i3p42-d75795.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Death of Democracy and the Forces of Power and Control: The Case of Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Theo Gavrielides

    (The IARS International Institute, 14 Dock Offices, Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 2XU, UK
    Restorative Justice for All, 14 Dock Offices, Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 2XU, UK
    Faculty of Society and Health, Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe Campus, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe HP11 2JZ, UK)

Abstract

At the time of writing, the United Kingdom is grabbling with its decision to abandon its European Union membership. As the country is divided and hate incidents are increased by almost 50%, this think-piece presents a critical analysis of Europe’s missed opportunity for social justice. The paper presents evidence by analysing the civil and political rights jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in order to explore the potential of what it calls the “human rights project” for a regional democracy. The paper shows that a key objective of the European Convention of Human Rights was the development of case law that would construct a regional democracy for bringing consistency in the enjoyment of civil and political rights across the continent. This “human rights project” was well underway, but is now hampered by contemporary forces of power and control that are ridiculing the work and status of the Council of Europe. The paper identifies three levers that move these forces, namely: financial and security terror as well as nationalism. The paper warns that if these forces are not managed, the backlash in social justice will continue while the human rights project for a regional democracy will come to its demise.

Suggested Citation

  • Theo Gavrielides, 2016. "The Death of Democracy and the Forces of Power and Control: The Case of Europe," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:42-:d:75795
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/42/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/42/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moravcsik, Andrew, 1997. "Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 513-553, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonas Tallberg & Thomas Sommerer & Theresa Squatrito, 2016. "Democratic memberships in international organizations: Sources of institutional design," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 59-87, March.
    2. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i::p:62-74 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Vaclav Vlcek, 2023. "Who cares about the UN General Assembly? National delegations size from 1993 to 2016," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(2), pages 349-360, May.
    4. Jeffry Frieden & Stefanie Walter, 2019. "Analyzing inter-state negotiations in the Eurozone crisis and beyond," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(1), pages 134-151, March.
    5. Anna Michalski, 2013. "Europeanization of National Foreign Policy: The Case of Denmark's and Sweden's Relations with China," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 884-900, September.
    6. Vennesson Pascal, 2010. "Military Strategy in the Global Village," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(3), pages 1-43, February.
    7. Matera Paulina & Matera Rafał, 2019. "Why does cooperation work or fail? The case of EU-US sanction policy against Iran," Croatian International Relations Review, Sciendo, vol. 25(85), pages 30-62, November.
    8. Andrew Stravers, 2021. "Pork, parties, and priorities: Partisan politics and overseas military deployments," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 38(2), pages 156-177, March.
    9. Axel Dreher & Valentin F. Lang & B. Peter Rosendorff & James Raymond Vreeland, 2018. "Buying Votes and International Organizations: The Dirty Work-Hypothesis," CESifo Working Paper Series 7329, CESifo.
    10. Paul Novosad & Eric Werker, 2019. "Who runs the international system? Nationality and leadership in the United Nations Secretariat," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-33, March.
    11. Rebecca Adler-Nissen, 2016. "Towards a Practice Turn in EU Studies: The Everyday of European Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 87-103, January.
    12. Mathieu Rousselin, 2012. "The EU as a Multilateral Rule Exporter - The Global Transfer of European Rules via International Organizations," KFG Working Papers p0048, Free University Berlin.
    13. Wolfgang Wagner, 2017. "Liberal Power Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(6), pages 1398-1414, November.
    14. Justin Leinaweaver & Robert Thomson, 2014. "Testing models of legislative decision-making with measurement error: The robust predictive power of bargaining models over procedural models," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(1), pages 43-58, March.
    15. Thiago Lima, 2021. "Brazil’s Humanitarian Food Cooperation: From an Innovative Policy to the Politics of Traditional Aid," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 10(2), pages 249-274, August.
    16. Akbar, Yusaf H. & Kisilowski, Maciej, 2015. "Managerial agency, risk, and strategic posture: Nonmarket strategies in the transitional core and periphery," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 984-996.
    17. Alasdair R. Young, 2001. "Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 12, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    18. Axel Dreher & Katharina Michaelowa, 2008. "The political economy of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 331-334, December.
    19. Flemes, Daniel & Wojczewski, Thorsten, 2010. "Contested Leadership in International Relations: Power Politics in South America, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," GIGA Working Papers 121, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    20. David Lektzian & Glen Biglaiser, 2014. "The effect of foreign direct investment on the use and success of US sanctions," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(1), pages 70-93, February.
    21. Ulrich Krotz, 2009. "Momentum and Impediments: Why Europe Won't Emerge as a Full Political Actor on the World Stage Soon," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47, pages 555-578, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:42-:d:75795. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.