Introduction

Abstract

The Introduction draws together the chapters’ findings in relation to the two research questions which have animated the project. The first question asked how anti-discrimination law fares in civil law jurisdictions of Europe and how it fits into them. The Introduction notes that while anti-discrimination law is still seen as a foreign transplant and a legal irritant in many places, it does not uniformly fare poorly. Its success varies and appears to depend not only on the country, but also the area of law, the actors involved, a particular concept or ground of discrimination, and has often evolved over time. The second question asked what factors influence anti-discrimination law’s fit or lack of it. ‘Legal’ as well as ‘extra-legal’ aspects seem to favour or hinder anti-discrimination law, but as they are often not always clearly separable and distinguishable, we locate four types of factors on a spectrum. On the legal side, pre-existing legislation and case law have played a role as have institutional choices. Constitutional and legal foundations and narratives, such as the myth of ‘universalism’ in France, have also influenced the success of anti-discrimination law. Finally, the wider political and social context is discussed, noting that the individual, liberty-oriented politics of common law countries, with their greater reflection of issues of cultural recognition, might be more easily compatible with anti-discrimination law, while the more communitarian, collective approach of continental European countries, with their emphasis on dignity and social-welfare solutions to social problems, might be less so.

An Overview of Human Rights Violations Against Racial Discrimination: Case Study of Racism Against Vinicius Jr

“…So, from there, an understanding arises that rejects a group of people based on their race. As a result, white supremacy occurs as superior to the detriment of the colored or inferior race (Havelková & Möschel, 2019).…”

Processing discrimination cases in post-socialist countries: Multiple and intersectional discrimination through the eyes of legal practitioners in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia

“…In the fast-developing scholarship on equality and non-discrimination law, research on and from common law jurisdictions continues to dominate compared to civil law ones. This is even more so the case for the post-socialist countries, 1 a subset of the civil law ones, where research focusing on equality and non-discrimination law, especially in the English language, is of a more recent date 2 and was significantly advanced by the pioneering works of Barbara Havelková (2017) and Goran Selanec (2012), and a more recent volume edited by Barbara Havelková and Mathias Möschel (2020). Havelková and Selanec both focused on gender and women’s equality in post-socialist countries, leaving multiple and intersectional discrimination as a still largely uncharted territory.…”

“…Havelková and Selanec both focused on gender and women’s equality in post-socialist countries, leaving multiple and intersectional discrimination as a still largely uncharted territory. 3 The edited volume by Havelková and Möschel does take, in their own words, a “multi-ground approach” (2020) but no contribution discusses multiple and intersectional discrimination specifically. Works on multiple and intersectional discrimination are mainly 4 on common law jurisdictions, 5 rarely on post-socialist ones 6 and they do not discuss the work of legal practitioners from a socio-legal perspective.…”