The use of legal tools to entrench autocracies, including repurposing national security laws to consolidate power in weak democracies through “dark law,” has become increasingly common in the 21st century. Recent examples of entrenchment include Vietnam’s crackdown on Facebook organizing through its Cybersecurity Law, Hong Kong’s new National Security Law, and the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s decisions restricting abortion access. Using Professor Tom Ginsburg’s latest book, Democracies and International Law, as a starting point, the 2022 Chicago Journal of International Law Symposium will consider examples of legal engineering intended to subvert democracy, the role of international institutions and/or multinational corporations in combating entrenchment, and the efficacy of potential solutions to entrenchment.

SCHEDULE

1:00 PM: Opening Remarks
Dean Thomas J. Miles, The University of Chicago Law School
Amber Stewart, CJIL's Editor-in-Chief
Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, University of Chicago Law School

1:15 PM: Panel 1—Introduction to Entrenchment and International Law
Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law School
Shai Dothan, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law
Eric Posner, University of Chicago Law School

2:00 PM: Break

2:05 PM: Panel 2—Rising Authoritarianism: A Comparative View
Aslı Ü. Bâli, UCLA School of Law
Tim Webster, Western New England University School of Law
Tokujin Matsudaira, Kanagawa University Faculty of Law
Aleksandra Dzięgielewska, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Law and Administration

3:10 PM: Break

3:15 PM: Panel 3—Entrenchment and Instrumentalities of International Law
Stephen Cody, Suffolk University Law School
Aziz Huq, University of Chicago Law School
Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat, University of Chicago Law School

4:05 PM: Break

4:10 PM: Panel 4— The Future of Entrenchment and International Law
Veronika Fikfak, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law
Brad Roth, Wayne State University Law School
Karen Alter, Northwestern University

5:00 PM: Close
To register, please visit: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/cjilregistration

Thank you to Kirkland & Ellis LLP for sponsoring this event.