Research Seminars @ Illinois

Tailored for undergraduate researchers, this calendar is a curated list of research seminars at the University of Illinois. Explore the diverse world of research and expand your knowledge through engaging sessions designed to inspire and enlighten.

To have your events added or removed from this calendar, please contact OUR at ugresearch@illinois.edu

Book Talk: "Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights"

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
University of Illinois College of Law Program in Comparative Criminal Procedure and Policing, European Union Center, and the Program in Jewish Culture & Society
Location
Room 215 (Faculty Lounge), College of Law, 504 E. Pennsylvania Avenue Champaign, IL 61820
Date
Jan 29, 2026   3:30 - 5:30 pm  
Contact
Jacqueline Ross
E-Mail
jeross1@illinois.edu
Originating Calendar
College of Law - Lectures Calendar

Please join us for a panel discussion of:

"Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights"
by Professor Jessica Greenberg

Featured Panelists
Jessica Greenberg
Professor, College of Liberal Arts & Science
2025-2026 LAS Dean's Distinguished Professorial Scholar
Department of Anthropology

 Brett Ashley Kaplan 
Professor, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Program in Jewish Culture & Society  

 Emanuel Rota (moderator)
Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 
Department of French & Italian

Jacqueline Ross
Prentice H. Marshall Professor of Law

About the Book

Established as a post-World War II response to conflict and fascism, the European Court of Human Rights is routinely characterized as the most successful human rights institution in the world. Based in Strasbourg, France, its jurisdiction extends to over 700 million people on European soil across the 46 Council of Europe member countries. The Court is the crown jewel of the Council, an international organization dedicated to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. And yet, for years, European institutions have been haunted by the specter of failure. In the shadow of rising populism, inequality, and war, faith in democracy and the rule of law has been shaken to its core. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over eight years with human rights advocates, lawyers, and judges at the European Court of Human Rights, this book asks: What kind of justice is possible through law?

Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research, Jessica Greenberg tracks two paradoxical experiences of the European human rights system and the Court: on the one hand, the Court as a bureaucratic "machine;" on the other, the Court as the "conscience of Europe." She argues that human rights frameworks fuel imaginative approaches to social change, and compel legal actors to creatively navigate institutions through advocacy, persuasion, and innovative interpretation of what the law is and what it should be.

This event is free and open to the public; registration is not required.

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