Who are the humans behind Human Rights? A Sociology of Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Russia

This project begins with a puzzling statistic: over 50% of all cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) come from only a handful of East European countries. Yet a great majority of these cases are also 'failed' cases - they never reach a judgment stage. While for legal scholars these 'failed' cases are of little analytical use, for socio-legal researchers this unprecedented human rights mobilisation constitutes a social fact and presents a window into the society: if human rights claims are made, but never materialize, what are the consequences?

My main research question is: How do claims-making before the ECtHR shape the lives of individuals and the development of societies in Eastern Europe and Russia? To address this question, I propose a paradigmatic shift from a law-first approach in human rights scholarship to the study of the 'social life' and the everyday mobilisation of the Convention, re-focusing from the law and onto the people - the humans behind the Human Rights - the applicants, lawyers, NGO activists, judges and state legal counsels in Eastern Europe and Russia.

The ultimate ambition for this project is to develop a brand new theory of the relationship between human rights mobilisation, ECtHR's legitimacy and the development of societies under the conditions of 'abusive constitutionalism' (Russia), open military conflict (Ukraine), deep transformations (Romania) and democratic backsliding (Poland and Hungary). To this effect, I will de-westernize human rights discourses in the region and lean toward the premise of conflict, reciprocity and disjuncture as core theoretical notions underpinning the geopolitics of knowledge on Eastern Europe and the Convention system.

This project is timely and academically urgent as the current human rights activism in Eastern Europe and Russia is particularly intriguing against the backdrop of human rights fatigue across Europe, further exacerbated by Brexit and populist sentiments.