Launch of The Good Lobby Profs
The Good Lobby Profs is a new initiative to denounce and counter rule of law
abuses within and across Europe.
As rule of law violations continue to spread across the continent, The Good Lobby
is launching a new initiative. The Good Lobby Profs is a “rapid response” academic
network supporting civil society groups and citizens engaged in the defence of the
principles on which both the Council of Europe and the European Union are
founded. Consisting of 60+ leading academics from 20+ countries with scholarly
expertise on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, The Good Lobby Profs
counts among its members Petra Bard (Central European University), R. Daniel
Keleman (Rutgers University), Dimitry Kochenov (Central European University),
Wojciech Sadurski (University of Sydney, and University of Warsaw), Kim Lane
Scheppele (Princeton University), and Marlene Wind (University of Copenhagen).
The primary aim of the initiative is to make academic expertise and support more
readily available to institutions, individuals and media engaged in the defence of
the democratic principles, including the rule of law.
At a time of increasing and spreading democratic and rule of law backsliding in
Europe, Professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby, welcomes this
initiative as “a potential game-changer in the current EU impasse in holding EU
governments to account, by empowering and leveraging on EU civil society”.
Its lead initiator, Professor Laurent Pech, from Middlesex University London,
argues that: “It is no exaggeration to say that we are witnessing the deliberate
destruction of judicial independence in some European countries. To make a bad situation
worse, we are also seeing an increasing number of political actors tempted to implement
the autocratic playbook and state resources being used to spread disinformation. The
Good Lobby Profs aims to help and support those who are targeted by autocrats and
would-be autocrats and make academic expertise more easily accessible to the media so
that authoritarian propaganda is not left unchallenged”. His co-initiator, Dr Joelle
Grogan, adds: “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and exposed existing
weaknesses in our governance and legal systems, allowing the exploitation of an
emergency for the further consolidation of power within autocratising governments,
undermining the separation of powers and weakening of the bonds between democracy,
rule of law and human rights. The Good Lobby Profs will offer essential expertise and
support to counter false narratives spreading across the EU on rule of and democracy
issues.”
***
For questions regarding The Good Lobby and our event on 22 March 2021, please
email our communications manager Alicia Thilmont, [email protected]
For questions regarding The Good Lobby Profs, please email
[email protected] and [email protected]
The Good Lobby Profs is a new initiative to denounce and counter rule of law
abuses within and across Europe.
As rule of law violations continue to spread across the continent, The Good Lobby
is launching a new initiative. The Good Lobby Profs is a “rapid response” academic
network supporting civil society groups and citizens engaged in the defence of the
principles on which both the Council of Europe and the European Union are
founded. Consisting of 60+ leading academics from 20+ countries with scholarly
expertise on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, The Good Lobby Profs
counts among its members Petra Bard (Central European University), R. Daniel
Keleman (Rutgers University), Dimitry Kochenov (Central European University),
Wojciech Sadurski (University of Sydney, and University of Warsaw), Kim Lane
Scheppele (Princeton University), and Marlene Wind (University of Copenhagen).
The primary aim of the initiative is to make academic expertise and support more
readily available to institutions, individuals and media engaged in the defence of
the democratic principles, including the rule of law.
At a time of increasing and spreading democratic and rule of law backsliding in
Europe, Professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby, welcomes this
initiative as “a potential game-changer in the current EU impasse in holding EU
governments to account, by empowering and leveraging on EU civil society”.
Its lead initiator, Professor Laurent Pech, from Middlesex University London,
argues that: “It is no exaggeration to say that we are witnessing the deliberate
destruction of judicial independence in some European countries. To make a bad situation
worse, we are also seeing an increasing number of political actors tempted to implement
the autocratic playbook and state resources being used to spread disinformation. The
Good Lobby Profs aims to help and support those who are targeted by autocrats and
would-be autocrats and make academic expertise more easily accessible to the media so
that authoritarian propaganda is not left unchallenged”. His co-initiator, Dr Joelle
Grogan, adds: “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and exposed existing
weaknesses in our governance and legal systems, allowing the exploitation of an
emergency for the further consolidation of power within autocratising governments,
undermining the separation of powers and weakening of the bonds between democracy,
rule of law and human rights. The Good Lobby Profs will offer essential expertise and
support to counter false narratives spreading across the EU on rule of and democracy
issues.”
***
For questions regarding The Good Lobby and our event on 22 March 2021, please
email our communications manager Alicia Thilmont, [email protected]
For questions regarding The Good Lobby Profs, please email
[email protected] and [email protected]