Critical Race Theory (CRT) is virtually unheard of in European scholarship, especially among legal scholars. Law, Lawyers and Race: Critical Race Theory from the United States to Europe endeavours to fill this gap by providing an overview of the definition and consequences of CRT developed in American scholarship and describing its transplantation and application in the continental European context. The CRT approach adopted in this book illustrates the reasons why the relationship between race and law in European civil law jurisdictions is far from anodyne. Law plays a critical role in the construction, subordination and discrimination against racial minorities in Europe, making it comparable, albeit in slightly different ways, to the American experience of racial discrimination. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Roma and anti-Black racism constitute a fundamental factor, often tacitly accepted, in the relationship between law and race in Europe. Consequently, the broadly shared anti-race and anti-racist position is problematic because it acts to the detriment of victims of racism while privileging the White, Christian, male majority. This book is an original exploration of the relationship between law and race. As such it crosses the disciplinary divide, furthering both legal scholarship and research in Race and Ethnicity Studies.

The member states of the EU have only very recently begun to consider race and racism in the framework of equality legislation and policies. As opposed to an established Anglo-Saxon tradition of naming races and using racial categorisation to fight racism, most continental European countries resist this approach. This book investigates the problematic reception and elaboration of race as a socio-legal category in Europe. Fighting Discrimination in Europe takes a fresh and interdisciplinary look at the normative, theoretical and concrete problems raised by the challenge of devising and enforcing policies to combat race discrimination in Europe. It engages with the juridical and political spheres, from the international level down to concrete cases of state and city policies. As the multifaceted relationship between race, discrimination and immigration is explored, new normative positions and practical approaches are developed, and new questions raised. This collection presents important new research for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Ethnic Studies, Migration Studies, Legal Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Policy Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Stereotypes are beliefs about groups of people. Some examples, taken from human rights case law, are the notions that 'Roma are thieves', 'women are responsible for childcare', and 'people with a mental disability are incapable of forming political opinions'. Increasingly, human rights monitoring bodies including the European and inter-American human rights courts, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination voice concerns about stereotyping and warn States not to enforce harmful stereotypes. Human rights bodies thus appear to be starting to realise what social psychologists discovered a long time ago: that stereotypes underlie inequality and discrimination. Despite their relevance and their legal momentum, however, stereotypes have so far received little attention from human rights law scholars. This volume is the first one to broadly analyse stereotypes as a human rights issue. The scope of the book includes different stereotyping grounds such as race, gender, and disability. Moreover, this book examines stereotyping approaches across a broad range of supranational human rights monitoring bodies, including the United Nations human rights treaty system as well as the regional systems that are most developed when it comes to addressing stereotypes: the Council of Europe and the inter-American system.

The member states of the EU have only very recently begun to consider race and racism in the framework of equality legislation and policies. As opposed to an established Anglo-Saxon tradition of naming races and using racial categorisation to fight racism, most continental European countries resist this approach. This book investigates the problematic reception and elaboration of race as a socio-legal category in Europe. Fighting Discrimination in Europe takes a fresh and interdisciplinary look at the normative, theoretical and concrete problems raised by the challenge of devising and enforcing policies to combat race discrimination in Europe. It engages with the juridical and political spheres, from the international level down to concrete cases of state and city policies. As the multifaceted relationship between race, discrimination and immigration is explored, new normative positions and practical approaches are developed, and new questions raised. This collection presents important new research for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Ethnic Studies, Migration Studies, Legal Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Policy Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is virtually unheard of in European scholarship, especially among legal scholars. Law, Lawyers and Race: Critical Race Theory from the United States to Europe endeavours to fill this gap by providing an overview of the definition and consequences of CRT developed in American scholarship and describing its transplantation and application in the continental European context. The CRT approach adopted in this book illustrates the reasons why the relationship between race and law in European civil law jurisdictions is far from anodyne. Law plays a critical role in the construction, subordination and discrimination against racial minorities in Europe, making it comparable, albeit in slightly different ways, to the American experience of racial discrimination. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Roma and anti-Black racism constitute a fundamental factor, often tacitly accepted, in the relationship between law and race in Europe. Consequently, the broadly shared anti-race and anti-racist position is problematic because it acts to the detriment of victims of racism while privileging the White, Christian, male majority. This book is an original exploration of the relationship between law and race. As such it crosses the disciplinary divide, furthering both legal scholarship and research in Race and Ethnicity Studies.

This collection of essays explores the evolution of anti-discrimination law in European civil law jurisdictions. Historically, scholarship in this area has focused on the common law, which has also taken the lead in developing the theory and practice of anti-discrimination law. This volume breaks new ground by offering a sustained, critical, legal and socio-legal, comparative look at how anti-discrimination is faring in European civil law environments. While it is true that anti-discrimination law is seen as a foreign transplant in some regions, it does not fare poorly across the board. As shown by the case studies herein, the success of anti-discrimination law is found to vary according to its national context, the actors involved, and the evolution of the particular concept or ground of discrimination in question.