Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture

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Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture

By Ezgi Yildiz
Cambridge University Press January 2026

Specifications

ISBN-13
9781009108300
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication
January 2026
Format
Paperback
Jurisdiction
U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Also available as

Hardback

Details

When international courts are given sweeping powers, why would they ever refuse to use them? The book explains how and when courts employ strategies for institutional survival and resilience: forbearance and audacity, which help them adjust their sovereignty costs to pre-empt and mitigate backlash and political pushback. By systematically analysing almost 2,300 judgements from the European Court of Human Rights from 1967–2016, Ezgi Yildiz traces how these strategies shaped the norm against torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. With expert interviews and a nuanced combination of social science and legal methods, Yildiz innovatively demonstrates what the norm entails, and when and how its contents changed over time. Exploring issues central to public international law and international relations, this interdisciplinary study makes a timely intervention in the debate on international courts, international norms, and legal change.

This book is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Table of Contents

1. The court redefines torture in Europe
2. The conditions for audacity
3. Inside the court: its trade-offs and zone of discretion
4. Mapping out norm change
5. From compromise to absolutism? Gradual transformation under the old court's watch
6. New court, new thresholds, new obligations
7. Change unopposed: the court's embrace of positive obligations
8. Legal change in times of backlash
9. Conclusion
10. Bibliography.
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