Legal Scholars as Constitutional Agents Designing the Protection of the Rule of Law and Democracy
The research project aims to analyse the role of legal scholars during the crisis of the rule of law and democracy in the European Union. The project focuses on the involvement of scholars in the practice of designing and advocating new solutions for the protection of these values. As regards legal academia, EU response to the common values crisis in the Member States has become a vivid field of research. The situation of crisis has encouraged many legal scholars to propose, design and advocate possible legal solutions on the supranational level. In this way scholars have become a significant actor, enjoying a particular, powerful position. While framing legal scholars as constitutional agents in the context of EU common values crisis, the project focuses on responsibility and potential accountability of these agents. This active and creative involvement of scholars still awaits a comprehensive study, while it raises questions about legitimacy and responsibility towards other constitutional and social actors, such as judiciaries, legal academia and public opinion. The project should allow to draw conclusions concerning legitimacy, impact and effectiveness of EU legal scholarship in the time of the constitutional crisis.