Book review : Dia Anagnostou (ed), Rights and courts in pursuit of social change : legal mobilisation in the multi-level European system (Hart Publishing 2014)

Abstract

This 220 page volume collects nine essays on a strikingly under-researched topic: strategic legal activism in Europe. Editor and author Dia Anagnostou starts the book with a fetching and ambitious introduction, making a compelling case for the necessity of examining legal mobilisation as a phenomenon that cuts through various disciplines as well as different political and legal arenas. She takes a decidedly actor-centric stance, in particular zooming in on agents of social change who advance their goals by way of litigation. A great number of pages are devoted to carving out the numerous questions that are touched upon in the subsequent essays. Due to the complexity of the matter, the reader needs to focus to stay on track. However, Anagnostou’s enthralling style and her ability to produce precise definitions make it easy to pay attention.