Research Handbook on Law and Democracy

This comprehensive Research Handbook provides a detailed account of law and democracy through an examination of three key themes: democratic legal institutions, democratic legal theories and contemporary challenges to democracy. It provides case studies of legal democracy, presenting new insights into democratic processes, procedures and rights.

Chapters focusing on democratic legal institutions discuss representative and referendum democracy, federalism, political parties, knowledge institutions, and courts. The next theme analyses democratic legal theories and canvasses socio-legal perspectives of democracy and law, drawing on procedural, deliberative, economic and feminist approaches. Finally, chapters exploring the challenges to democracy consider questions arising from economic, environmental and geopolitical trends. Expert authors cover international law, supranational law (such as the European Union) and domestic law concerned with democracy and democratic backsliding. They also investigate established, emerging and new democracies across six continents and provide in-depth analyses, explaining how legal democracy functions.

Assessing fundamental questions about law and democracy, this Research Handbook is a crucial resource for legal academics, students, practitioners and political scientists.