Activism As A Modality Of Resistance And Communication? 

This research builds on the seed-funding project on judicial activism in times of crisis, where we empirically compared judicial responses to different forms of crises in Poland and Germany – the rule of law crisis (2015-ongoing) and the ‘refugee crisis’ (2015-6), respectively. Our main contribution was an innovative theoretical conceptualisation of activism: both as a modality of resistance and coalition-making against attacks on judicial independence (Kubal 2022), and a preferred mode of communication (Apitzsch, Vogel 2022) as judges strived to balance the requirements of neutrality, comprehensibility and appearing approachable to laypersons during decision-making.

In the context of European democratic crisis and increasing authoritarianism (Chua 2019), where power and the autonomy of judges are contested for various reasons and with different implications, this new project significantly expands its original empirical scope to test the explanatory value of this new conceptualisation of activism across four different cases: Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Germany.

This research was funded by the British Academy’s Knowledge Frontiers Symposia Follow-on Funding Programme.

A selection of photos from the event, including several panellists

A Wonderful End

The project has now come to an end, culminating in a fantastic conference at the Université libre de Bruxelles. It was an inspiring few days of rich debate, powerful testimonies, and new connections - we were thrilled to welcome judges, scholars, and practitioners from across Europe. We also celebrated the soft launch of Ramona Coman’s new book on judicial activism and democratic dissensus. 

This website will remain live so please watch this space as we will be announcing forthcoming publications arising from the project here. 

We are very grateful to the British Academy whose Knowledge Frontiers Symposia Follow-on Funding enabled this project. 

 

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Panelists during the conference.
Conference organisers Agnieszka Kubal and Ramona Coman, with three of the judges in attendance.
Group photo of the conference participants.

Book Pre-Launch Debate

We hosted a pre-launch debate for 'Dissensus over Liberal Democracy. Insights from European Judges' at the Judicial Activism conference on the 5th June at 17.00 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels. The discussion was titled 'What do judges do, and how do they perceive their role when democracy is under strain?' Full details of the debate can be found on the pre-launch website.

We welcomed Yavuz Aydin, András Bálint Baka, Tamás Matusik, Andrea Titz, and Ramona Coman to share their insights. Further information about the conference including the programme can be found above. 

Warsaw court

Conference on Judicial Activism and Resistance in Eastern Europe and Beyond

The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies is pleased to announce the "Judicial Activism and Resistance in Eastern Europe and Beyond" conference held on 5-6 June 2025 at the Institut d'études européennes, Université libre de Bruxelles. This prestigious event marks the culmination of an important research project on Judicial Activism in Times of Crisis, supported by the British Academy's Knowledge Frontiers Symposia Follow-on Funding Programme.

Please see the conference agenda for more information. 

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Fieldwork progress

The main phase of data collection—conducting interviews with judges in Hungary, Romania, and Poland—has largely been completed. In Hungary, we have so far conducted twelve interviews, and in Romania, thirteen interviews, both in person and online. In Poland, thirteen interviews were conducted with judges across various sectors of the legal system, from regional and district courts to apex courts. Our interviewees across the three countries include judges from civil, administrative, and criminal court divisions, some of whom are still actively serving while others are retired. Judges from all levels of the judiciary are represented in our sample, from first instance courts, county courts, and tribunals, through courts of appeal, the high court, and even the constitutional court.

In all three countries, most respondents are based in the capitals; however, we have also interviewed judges working in regional areas. Interviews began in June 2022 (for Poland) October 2023 (for Romania and Hungary) and are ongoing, with final completion anticipated by the end of this year.

In Germany, interviews started in 2024; participants include representatives of associations of judges and other legal professionals, individual judges and transnational associations.

Team photo

Past events

In October 2023, Dr Kubal and Dr Huszka, together with the project partners Professor Birgit Apitzsch and Professor Ramona Coman officially launched the ‘Judicial Activism as a modality of resistance and a form of communication’ project in Brussels.

The year after, at the 2024 BASEES Conference in Cambridge, the team participated in two well-attended panels focused on authoritarian backsliding and forms of resistance. The first panel was led by Birgit Apitzsch and Zeynep Bozkurt, both from Ruhr-University Bochum, and explored how German legal professionals perceive and respond to emerging threats to judicial independence. The second panel, brought together Leonardo Puleo (University College Dublin) and Ramona Coman (Université libre de Bruxelles), discussed how judges in Poland, Hungary, and Romania navigate political pressures to uphold judicial independence.

Publications

Apitzsch, B., Vogel, B. (2024) Wolfgang Kaupen: Die Hüter von Recht und Ordnung [Wolfgang Kaupen: The guardians of law and order], in: Bora, A., Kretschmann, A. (Eds) Soziologische Theorien des Rechts [Sociological theories of law], Velbrück, 138-150

Coman, R., Puleo, L. (2024) Opposition and resistance: how judges and professional associations in Poland, Hungary, and Romania defend their independence, East European Politics, 28(1): 1–22

Kubal, A. (2024) Judicial relational legal consciousness: authoritarian backsliding as a catalyst of change, Journal of Law and Society, 24(1): 1-21 

Kubal, A. (2024) Queer coalition? The crisis of justice in Poland and the LGBT rights before the Polish courts, Europe-Asia Studies, 76(9): 1347-1370

Kubal, A. and M. Mrowicki (2024) Pushback or Backlash against the European Court of Human Rights? A Comparative Case Study of Russia and Democratically Backsliding Poland, Russian Politics, 9(1): 135-159 

Kubal, A. (2023) The Women’s Complaint: sociolegal mobilization against authoritarian backsliding following the 2020 abortion law in Poland, Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 31(3): 585-605

Kubal, A. (2023) Dissenting Consciousness: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Russian Migration Cases before the European Court of Human Rights, The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies, 18(2): 57-77


 

International partners

This project is supported by Dr Beata Huszka from the Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Russia team, Professor Birgit Apitzsch from University of Bochum, and Professor Ramona Coman from Université Libre de Bruxelles. 

This work was funded by the British Academy’s Knowledge Frontiers Symposia Follow-on Funding. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the British Academy. The granting authority cannot be held responsible for them.

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