B6166 - SOLIDARITY IN COMPARATIVE EUROPEAN LAW

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the comparative dimension of the European legal space through primary institutions and principles, with a particular emphasis on solidarity. The course will lead the students to acquire and improve the following skills: techniques for reading and understanding constitutional norms, legislation and case law from different legal systems, as well as critical skills for the comparative examination of European constitutionalism; ability to find and understand legal sources of the European legal space; skills to elaborate innovative norms and policies in both the public and the private sector.

Course contents

The course develops didactic activities of the EU_SOCIAL “European Solidarity: Comparative Interdisciplinary Approach to Law, Politics, and Social Challenges” Jean Monnet Module 2022/2025.

It addresses solidarity as a constitutional and European principle comparative law from a multidisciplinary perspective, intersecting constitutional law, EU law, environmental law, and political science.

Topics:

Comparative Methodology, Practical and Theoretical Targets of Legal Comparison

European Legal Families and Political/Territorial Systems

European Constitutionalism and Comparative Understandings of the Principle of Solidarity

EU and Domestic Legal Framework of Solidarity

Financial, Migration, and Environmental Norms and Policies on Solidarity

Constitutional Adjudication and Interaction with European Courts

EU_SOCIAL Staff Members: Sabrina Ragone (Module’s leader); Silvia Bagni, Paul Blokker, Marco Borraccetti, Michela Ceccorulli.

Readings/Bibliography

M. Bogdan, Concise Introduction to Comparative Law, 2013 (Chapter 2 “The uses of comparative law”, pp. 15-26; and Chapter 3, “Some problems connected with the study of foreign law”, pp. 29-41)

M. Ceccorulli, ‘Back to Schengen: the Collective Securitization of the EU free-border area’, West European Politics, 42, 2, 2019, pp. 302-322. online

A. de Gregorio Merino, The Recovery Plan: Solidarity and the Living Constitution, in EU LAW IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC. The EU's legal response to COVID-19, Eu Law Press Live, 2021, pp. 33-44

G. Halmai, N. Chronowsk, “The decline of human dignity and solidarity through the misuse of constitutional identity: The case of Hungary since 2010”, in Human dignity and democracy in Europe: synergies, tensions and crises, edited by Daniel Bedford, Catherine Dupré, Gábor Halmai and Panos Kapotas, Northampton, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022, pp. 177-199.

J. King, “Social rights in comparative constitutional theory”, in Comparative Constitutional Theory. Research Handbooks in Comparative Constitutional Law series, Northampton, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2018, pp. 144-166.

P. Kubicek, "Illiberal Nationalism and the Backlash against Liberal Cosmopolitanism in Post-Communist Europe", Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 28:3, 2022, pp. 332-350.

M. Klamert, “Loyalty and solidarity as general principles”, in Research handbook on general principles in EU law: constructing legal orders in Europe, Northampton, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022, pp. 118-135.

W. Menski, Afterwords, in Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene. Values, Principles and Actions, edited by Domenico Amirante and Silvia Bagni, Routledge, 2022

U. Neergard, S. de Vries, “Whatever is Necessary... Will be Done”: Time for a Less One-Sided View on Solidarity in Europe in the Shadow of COVID-19, in EU LAW IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC. The EU's legal response to COVID-19, Eu Law Press Live, 2021, pp. 75-94

S. Ragone, “European Comparative Law: Reasons for "Enhanced Comparison" and Role of the CJEU”, in Revista de Derecho Político, 2021, pp. 297-325

S. Ragone, G. Moreno González, “The Catalan Issue from a Comparative Constitutional Perspective”, in AA. VV., Catalan Independence and the Crisis of Sovereignty, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, pp. 223 – 238

S. Ragone, G. Smorto, Comparative Law: A Very Short Introduction, OUP, 2023

E. Roman, The Burden of “Being Safe”, Blog, 1 October 2020. Available here: https://verfassungsblog.de/the-burden-of-being-safe/

Tuominen, T., Salminen, M., & Halonen, K.-M. (2022). The European Union’s responses to the COVID-19 crisis: How to fight a pandemic with the internal market. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 29(4), 451-467

F. de Witte, Justice in the EU. The Emergence of Transnational Solidarity, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 79-121.

Teaching methods

The class adopts dialogic learning methods, together with lectures for the explanation of basic issues, especially during the first period.

Reccommended materials will be accompanied by the analysis of judgments and statutes or constitutional amendments, as well as videos.

Seminars dedicated to specific topics will be organized for in-depth information on current affairs.

Students are required to engage and participate in class discussions on previously assigned topics and materials.

Assessment methods

Full-time Students: constant monitoring in class and one/two presentations in class or paper.

Non full-time students: written and oral final test on the entire syllabus.

Teaching tools

PPT, judgments, legal texts.

Links to further information

https://site.unibo.it/jm-module-eusocial/en

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ragone