In 2004, as a response to widespread structural or endemic human rights violations, the European Court began to issue pilot judgments, the aim of which was not only to exert further pressure on national authorities to tackle systemic problems, but also to stop the European Court itself from being inundated with the same types of cases. Fashioned out of its own case law, and underpinned by the principle of subsidiarity, the Court has broken new ground with its pilot judgment procedure, both in terms of its diagnosis of the causes of systemic human rights violations and the extent to which it is prepared to direct States to legislate, or take other steps, to resolve them. This study - supported by the Leverhulme Trust - analyzes the principal characteristics of the pilot judgment procedure and its application in key cases. With case studies on Poland, Slovenia, and Italy, a particular focus of the work is the adequacy of the response of national authorities to pilot judgments. The book draws conclusions about the effectiveness of the procedure as a means of tackling systemic violations and makes recommendations for its further development.

This book, available for the first time in paperback, looks at the liberalisation process in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during the period 1987-89, focusing on Gorbachev's initiative to encourage perestroika in all the fraternal regimes of CEE outside the Soviet Union. Archival materials, interviews and textual analysis identify a joint initiative among these fraternal communist parties to perpetuate the one-party system. For this purpose, fraternal parties were expected to follow the example of the CPSU in convening the national party conference, an all-party meeting on a similar scale to the five-yearly congress, and yet mysteriously, one which was barely described in the Party Statutes and rarely convoked. Gorbachev made use of CEE dependence on the Soviet Union for energy supplies to ensure that at least some fraternal parties followed his line. This book will be of interest to those studying the transition process in CEE, democratisation, comparative politics more generally and students of research methods. -- .

From the perspective of a number of different social science disciplines, this book explores the ways in which the election of politicians can be made more fair and credible by adopting a human rights approach to elections. It discusses existing international standards for the conduct of elections and presents case studies relating to jurisdictions within Europe, especially those emerging from conflict or from an authoritarian past, which demonstrate how problems occur and can be addressed. Significant advances have been achieved through the Council of Europe's soft and hard law frameworks but the book demonstrates that much more needs to be done to ensure that these and other standards are fully adhered to and developed. This collection offers a fresh examination of electoral rights and practices - and their impact on the quality of democracy - by superimposing a human rights perspective on existing election theories derived from the literatures of law, political science and international relations. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of electoral democracy and human rights, as well as those working in the areas of comparative politics and European politics.

From the perspective of a number of different social science disciplines, this book explores the ways in which the election of politicians can be made more fair and credible by adopting a human rights approach to elections. It discusses existing international standards for the conduct of elections and presents case studies relating to jurisdictions within Europe, especially those emerging from conflict or from an authoritarian past, which demonstrate how problems occur and can be addressed. Significant advances have been achieved through the Council of Europe's soft and hard law frameworks but the book demonstrates that much more needs to be done to ensure that these and other standards are fully adhered to and developed. This collection offers a fresh examination of electoral rights and practices - and their impact on the quality of democracy - by superimposing a human rights perspective on existing election theories derived from the literatures of law, political science and international relations. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of electoral democracy and human rights, as well as those working in the areas of comparative politics and European politics.