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6 - Expert Knowledge as Universalisation Strategy

from Part II - Conflict Mediation through Universalisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2022

Marie-Catherine Petersmann
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
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Summary

This chapter turns to the second ‘universalisation strategy’ developed by courts to conceal legal indeterminacy when environmental protection and human rights collide. It shows how courts rely on the authority and supposed objectivity of experts when interpreting conflicts and justifying their decisions. The argument unfolds in two parts. The first part analyses the role played by scientific experts in cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union. It critically assesses this expert-based managerial approach to conflict adjudication and highlights the risk of obstructing the protection of certain rights that do not fit a particular epistemic framework. The second part analyses the role played by specialised human rights experts in regional human rights courts in cases concerning Indigenous peoples and cultural minorities. A network of experts with particular institutional ties gets involved in such cases. These experts share a specific (legal) vocabulary and imaginary when speaking on behalf of the applicants, which courts replicate through cross-jurisdictional and cross-cultural referencing. This essentialises certain ways of living determined by artificial binaries of ‘traditional’ versus ‘modern’. What emerges is an empirically rich understanding of regional human rights courts’ reliance on specialised expertise with both bright and dark sides.

Type
Chapter
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When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide
The Politics of Conflict Management by Regional Courts
, pp. 180 - 240
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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