Event
Judges Too Wise For Their Own Good: Is Anyone Still Protecting Civil Liberties in France?
Thursday, October 30, 2025 13:00to14:30
Stephen Allan Scott Seminar Room 16, New Chancellor Day Hall
Price:
Free
At a moment of democratic crisis in Europe, when far-right parties are gaining power, courts are expected to act as key defenders of rights and freedoms. In the discussion of their book, La d茅mocratie en 茅tat d'urgence, St茅phanie Hennette Vauchez and Antoine Vauchez examine how France's highest courts-the Council of State and the Constitutional Council-have often reinforced executive power rather than limiting it, revealing how judicial practices may be contributing to the erosion of democratic trust and legitimacy.
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Biography
St茅phanie Hennette Vauchez is a Professor of Public Law at Paris Nanterre University and a senior member of the Institut universitaire de France. Her research explores gender, bioethics, secularism, and restrictions on freedoms, with recent works including La d茅mocratie en 茅tat d'urgence (2022) and De Haute Lutte. La r茅volution de l'avortement (2025).
Antoine Vauchez is a Research Director at CNRS and Director of the European Center for Sociology and Political Science (Paris 1 Panth茅on-Sorbonne/EHESS). His work examines the rise of European and neoliberal forms of governance, and he is the author of The Neoliberal Republic (2021) and Brokering Europe (2015).
Antoine Vauchez is a Research Director at CNRS and Director of the European Center for Sociology and Political Science (Paris 1 Panth茅on-Sorbonne/EHESS). His work examines the rise of European and neoliberal forms of governance, and he is the author of The Neoliberal Republic (2021) and Brokering Europe (2015).
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