Karin van Leeuwen awarded NWO Open Competition SSH XS grant

Karin van Leeuwen received €50,000 in the NWO Open Competition SSH XS funding scheme for the project ‘Judicialization and democracy: towards an historicized approach’. This project explores how historical perspectives on judicialization can illuminate the evolving relationship between judicial decisions and democracy, using a pilot study on legal responses to the 1980s acid rain issue.

When courts rule on issues such as climate policy, this invariably leads to discussion: does such judicialization strengthen or threaten democracy? Such discussions suggest clarity about what judicialization and democracy entail. In reality, however, these concepts are shaped by their use in practice and debate over time. This project introduces a new, historical perspective on judicialization to better understand this constant negotiation on judicialization and democracy. It will test this approach in a pilot study on legal procedures addressing the environmental problem of the 1980s: acid rain.

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