Oliver Garner

Podcasts

Shuk Ying Chan on Postcolonial Global Justice

In this episode of the Review of Democracy podcast, political theorist Shuk Ying Chan (UCL) discusses her new book Postcolonial Global Justice, which develops an account of postcolonial global justice as social equality by thinking with anticolonial leaders Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah and Jawaharlal Nehru.

23.02.2026

Podcasts

David vs. Goliath: Defeating Russian Autocracy

In the new episode of our monthly special in cooperation with the Journal of Democracy, Serhii Plokhii discusses the key aspects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the clash between democracy and autocracy.

2.06.2025

News

‘Techno-Schmittianism’ in the North? The Canadian Federal Elections

On 28 April the Canadian Liberal party led by Mark Carney won the Canadian federal elections. The incumbent governing party has not won a majority of seats at the time of writing, with 155 ‘ridings’ (constituencies) secured compared to the Conservatives’ 133. The victory sealed a four-month turnaround in fortunes for the Liberals, following the resignation of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 6 January.

29.04.2025

Podcasts

How the European Council Leads – In Conversation with Martina Vass

The European Council brings together all of the heads and states of government of the European Union in order to drive policy. In the last decade the EU has faced crises of the economy, membership, values, and migration. This conversation between our co-managing editor Oliver Garner and Dr Martina Vass considers these issues through the lens of the latter's monograph.

31.03.2025

Podcasts

European Values and Democratic Links – In Conversation with Miriam Schuler

In the last decade the Court of Justice of the EU has rapidly developed its case-law on the enforcement of EU values. Following multiple cases in which the Court enforced provisions that instrumentalize the Rule of Law in actions involving the ‘backsliding’ Member States of Poland and Hungary, the question now arises as to whether EU action may be justified to protect the co-foundational value of democracy during national elections in the EU’s Member States. The upcoming elections in the Federal Republic of Germany in February will bring these issues into sharp relief. In the latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner discusses these themes with Miriam Schuler (King’s College London), whose PhD research analyzes the protection of values within the European Union. The Current State of Play While Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) outlines a broad set of foundational values, Schuler argues that, over the past decade, EU actions have [...]

28.01.2025

Podcasts

International Law and the ‘Second World’: In Conversation with Patryk I. Labuda

The Second World Approaches to International Law (SWAIL) project, which will be launched at Central European University in Vienna in February 2025, aims to establish a more accurate way of conceptualising East Central Europe’s position in, and relationship with, international law. Three themes arise continuously throughout the podcast: liminality, domination, and the emancipatory potential of international law.

18.11.2024

Podcasts

The Special Tribunal for Russian Crimes of Aggression in Ukraine: In Conversation with Kateryna Busol

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been ongoing for 10 years. It started with the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas in 2014 and culminated in the full-scale invasion in 2022. Various domestic and international justice initiatives to ensure accountability for war crimes and other conflict related violations have been unfolding since 2014. However, 2022 marked the start of a new important debate. How can Russia be held accountable for the underlying crime of aggression? In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast Oliver Garner discusses the proposal for a special tribunal to address Russia's crime of aggression in Ukraine with Kateryna Busol.

11.10.2024

Interviews

Reforming Ukraine’s Judiciary – EU Accession, Democracy, and the Rule of Law: In Conversation with Tetyana Antsupova and Sergii Koziakov

In September 2024 the project “The Dynamics of the Judiciary in Ukraine in the Context of the Rule of Law and the EU Accession Aspirations” commenced. The project is hosted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and is funded by the British Academy. This written interview, conducted by Rule of Law section editor Oliver Garner with researchers in the project, explicates its objectives, scope, and aspirations. Professor Tetyana Antsupova is a Senior Fellow at BIICL and an awardee of the British Academy Global Professorships scheme. She is a former judge in the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court in Ukraine, and she is the lead researcher in the project. Dr Sergii Koziakov is a Research Leader at BIICL, a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the Law School, and an Associate Professor at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in the Institute of International Relations. From 2014 to 2019, he was Chairman of [...]

2.10.2024

Podcasts

The Intellectual Sources of the EU’s Response to the Rule of Law Crisis: In Conversation with Maciej Krogel

This latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast discusses the doctoral research of Dr Maciej Krogel following the defence of his thesis “The intellectual sources of the European Union’s response to the rule of law crisis in the Member States”. Maciej is a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and he completed a re:constitution fellowship in 2022/23.

4.07.2024

Podcasts

Incremental Rule of Law Restoration? Polish Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar in Budapest

What are the most important legal and political challenges in rebuilding the Rule of Law in Poland? Polish Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar highlighted them in his lecture at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest. On May 27 the CEU Democracy Institute Rule of Law clinic was launched with an inaugural lecture from the Minister for Justice of Poland Adam Bodnar. The event provided a unique opportunity to hear a sitting member of an anti-illiberal government explain how the Rule of Law will be restored after nearly a decade of backsliding under the previous government. The key theme of the lecture was the endorsement of incrementalism over revolution as a means to rebuild a ‘sustainable’ Rule of Law.

7.06.2024

Podcasts

Securitization of EU Refugee Law: In Conversation with Aleksandra Ancite-Jepifánova

Since the 2015 refugee crisis there has been an increasing ‘securitization’ of EU refugee law that has only been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In this latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast Oliver Garner discusses this phenomenon with Aleksandra Ancite- Jepifánova. She is a Research Affiliate with the Refugee Law Initiative at the University of London and Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Law and Society at Cardiff University.

28.05.2024

Podcasts

The presidential subversion of the Mexican judiciary: In conversation with Azul A. Aguiar Aguilar

I wanted to explore how the dynamics of attacks from the President on the judiciary are evolving and what are the causes, conditions, and the timing of these rhetorical attacks. I wanted to explore this because the judiciary is an important institution in presidential and constitutional democracies as it guarantees the separation of powers and checks and balances. I wanted to study this and put it into a research program because, since the arrival of our current President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2018, we have seen variations in how the president refers to the judges and constitutional judges in the judiciary. I started my discussion in the working paper from the 1994 judicial reform. This reform is very important for us because it radically transformed the performance of the judiciary. The 1994 reform introduced judicial independence for the courts and a professional system of judges. But the most important change in this reform was that it empowered the courts through a [...]

22.04.2024

Book Reviews

The Brexit Sovereignty Problem

Sionadh Douglas-Scott’s monograph depicts Brexit as the latest example of union and disunion in the United Kingdom’s constitutional (un)settlement. The predicative claim running throughout these chapters is that the “imposition of resolute and unlimited parliament sovereignty” has presaged disunion. The book is informative on the United Kingdom’s constitutional history, and admirable in its efforts to place Brexit within its wider historical context. The conclusion’s appeal for a new path in determining the autonomy of the United Kingdom’s devolved regions is powerful. However, the thrust of the main argument risks being diluted by the repetition arising from the author’s structural choices. If the argument against parliamentary sovereignty had been foregrounded as the lens through which the case studies of disunion were analysed then this could have provided a sharp focus for Douglas-Scott’s critique of UK constitutional orthodoxy.

17.04.2024

Podcasts

Militant Rule of Law and Not-So-Bad Law: in conversation with András Sajó

The question of how to reverse illiberal backsliding after regime change is becoming live within Europe and beyond. This Rule of Law section podcast between Oliver Garner and András Sajó (Professor at the Central European University and Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute) considers this dilemma through the recently published lens of the CEU DI working paper ‘Militant Rule of Law and Not-So-Bad Law’.

28.02.2024

Podcasts

A Regulatory Conception of the Rule of Law? – In Conversation with Jeff King

The guest for the latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast is Professor Jeff King. He is a Professor of Law at University College London and he is the Director of Research at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. He has previously acted as a legal adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution. The conversation with Oliver Garner discusses Jeff’s ‘regulatory’ conception of the Rule of Law and its application to contemporary challenges.

7.02.2024

Podcasts

End of the year podcast from the editors of the Review of Democracy

29.12.2023

Book Reviews

RevDem Top 5 Rule of Law Books of 2023 -Recommended by Oliver Garner, editor RevDem Rule of Law section

By the end of each year our editors recommend outstanding readings in their field. This is the list of the top five books recommended in the rule of law section.

19.12.2023

News

The Voice and Representative Democracy in Australia

Australian citizens recently rejected a constitutional amendment which aimed to provide indigenous Australians with formal constitutional recognition. The proposed amendment was intended to create the Voice, a representative body within parliament comprised of Indigenous Australians, to give advisory opinions on the impact of laws on the Indigenous community.

13.12.2023

Podcasts

Central and Eastern Europe after the Polish Elections: In Conversation with Daniel Hegedüs

Despite the Polish opposition election victory in the 15 October elections on 27 November President Duda swore in the Law and Justice Party ahead of a confidence vote that the incumbents seem set inevitably to lose. In this latest Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner and Daniel Hegedüs discuss the implications of the election for Central and Eastern Europe. Daniel is a German Marshall Fund fellow with expertise in populism and democratic backsliding and the foreign affairs of the Visegrad countries.

4.12.2023

News

The Role of (EU) Competition Law in Defending the Rule of Law

Kati Cseres is an Associate Professor of Law at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG) and Program Director of the EU Law Masters at the University of Amsterdam. This series of RevDem op-eds collects reflections on the contemporaneous challenges for the Rule of Law, which stemmed from the conference organized at Radboud University (Nijmegen) on 21-22 September in honour of Prof. Petra Bàrd. This is the latest entry following previous contributions by Benedetta Lobina on the Russo-Ukrainian war, and Pauline Thinus on EU spending conditionality.

27.11.2023

News

Taking Stock: The Polish Opposition Victory and the Rule of Law

By stark contrast to the worsening situation in Hungary, Poland may be facing a new dawn and a restoration of liberal democracy. But caution may be required to ensure that this dawn does not darken again into political acrimony and fragmentation.

26.10.2023

News

Disabusing Constitutional Identity? In Conversation with Julian Scholtes

The monograph The Abuse of Constitutional Identity in the European Union (OUP, 2023) by Julian Scholtes (Lecturer in Public Law, University of Glasgow) was published in September. In this latest RevDem Rule of law podcast, Oliver discuss constitutional identity and its implications for the Rule of Law and democracy in Europe today. Oliver Garner: I found that your distinction between generative, substantive, and relational aspects of constitutional identity abuse is an impressive attempt to categorize such illegitimate practices systematically. How do these concepts advance our understanding of constitutional identity and its abuse? Do you believe they can be operationalized to allow the identification of abusive identity claims in practice? Julian Scholtes: I think we need to distinguish this idea of constitutional identity, that is quite commonly used in comparative constitutional law, as an analytical lens which allows us to look into the relationship between [...]

29.09.2023

News

Suspending Hungary’s Presidency of the Council of the EU? In Conversation with John Morijn and Alberto Alemanno

In recent weeks proposals by the Meijers Committee to suspend Hungary’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2024 have received support in a resolution of the European Parliament. In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner discusses these proposals in the wider context of the Rule of Law crisis with John Morijn and Alberto Alemanno.

9.06.2023

Interviews

Accession Through War? Ukraine and the EU: In Conversation with Roman Petrov

In this podcast, Oliver Garner speaks to Professor Roman Petrov on this subject of “accession through war”. Professor Petrov is the Jean Monney Chair in EU Law and Head of the Centre of Excellence in EU Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He is currently a British Academy Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

23.05.2023

Interviews

Informal Power in Hungary and Poland: In Conversation with Edit Zgut-Przybylska

Formal Rule of Law backsliding in Hungary and Poland has been well-publicized. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg of a system of informal power connections that are undermining the Rule of Law and democracy. In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast Oliver Garner discusses this informal power with Edit Zgut-Przybylska.

12.05.2023

News

Helsinki in Budapest: In Conversation with András Kádár and Márta Pardavi

In the latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast Oliver Garner discusses the work of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. András Kádár is an attorney at law and co-chair of the Committee. Amongst other engagements and positions he is the Hungarian member of the European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-Discrimination field. Márta Pardavi is the other co-chair of the Committee and she also co-leads the Recharging Advocacy for Rights in Europe (RARE) program. Previously, she has been a policy leader fellow at the EUI School of Transnational Governance in Florence.

3.05.2023

News

“A Pandemic of Populists”: RevDem online book discussion

On 28 March the Review of Democracy hosted an online debate on "A Pandemic of Populists" (CUP, 2022) by Wojciech Sadurski (University of Sydney). Hosted by CEU Democracy Institute Workgroup Lead Researcher Dimitry Kochenov, the debate brought together perspectives from Barbara Grabowska-Moroz (CEU), Zuzana Vikarská (Masaryk University), and Thiago Amparo (FGV Sao Paulo Law School).

14.04.2023

Interviews

In conversation with Jakub Jaraczewski: The European Commission’s latest action against Poland and Hungary

In this latest RevDem Rule of Law podcast, Oliver Garner speaks to Jakub Jaraczewski about the European Commission’s latest actions to defend the EU’s values against backsliding Member States. Jakub is a Research Coordinator at Democracy Reporting International, a Berlin based NGO, and one of the coordinators of the “re:constitution” programme.

3.03.2023

5 Key 2022 Books: Rule of Law

Dr Oliver Garner, RevDem editor of the Rule of Law section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books on the rule of law in 2022.

22.12.2022

The (Re)making of Constitutional Democracy? In conversation with Paolo Sandro

In this latest RevDem Rule of Law section podcast, Oliver Garner speaks to Paolo Sandro, Lecturer in Law at the University of Leeds. Sandro’s recently published monograph The Making of Constitutional Democracy: From Creation to Application of Law (Hart Publishing, 2022) confronts the topic from a legal theoretical perspective. Their conversation considers the practical application of his work and the theme of (re)making constitutional democracy following recent significant events in Europe.

15.10.2022

“Vacanze Romane” for the EU’s Values Crisis?

In his latest op-ed, RevDem editor Oliver Garner analyzes the Italian election results and their implications not only for Italy, but also for the European Union.

30.09.2022

The State of the Rule of Law in the USA and the EU: In Conversation with Niels Kirst

In this interview for the Rule of Law section, RevDem Editor Oliver Garner converses with Niels Kirst about the state of the Rule of Law in the USA and the EU.

3.06.2022

Re-establishing the Epistemological Foundations of EU Law: In Conversation with Renáta Uitz

Oliver Garner interviews Renáta Uitz, Co-Director of the CEU Democracy Institute and Co-Editor-in-Chief of RevDem, on the distinct but interconnected roles of the European Parliament and the Court of Justice in combatting the Rule of Law crisis.

26.05.2022

Immediate EU membership for Ukraine? In conversation with Dimitry Kochenov

This interview, conducted by Rule of Law section editor Oliver Garner, considers the feasibility of immediate EU accession for Ukraine with Prof. Dimitry Kochenov, Professor in the CEU Legal Studies Department and Lead Researcher in the Democracy Institute Rule of Law work group.

20.04.2022

Criminalizing backsliding judges? In Conversation with Armin von Bogdandy

In March, before the Hungarian elections, our editor Oliver Garner sat down with Professor Armin von Bogdandy. They discussed Professor von Bogdandy’s recent article, published with Luke Dimitrios Spieker, on restoring the rule of law through criminal responsibility.

6.04.2022

In Conversation with Antonia Baraggia: Using Money to Protect the Rule of Law?

In this podcast, Oliver Garner and Antonia Baraggia discuss the judgment on the budget conditionality regulation and conditionality as a constitutional tool.

14.03.2022

Martin Krygier: Three Ways Not to Think About the Rule of Law

In this lecture, Martin Krygier discusses three conventional ways of approaching the rule of law, each of which seems to me misconceived and misleading. The first starts in the wrong place. The second goes on in the wrong way. The third misconstrues the point and destination of the quest.

1.03.2022

In Conversation with Joelle Grogan: Two Years On – COVID-19 and the Rule of Law

Oliver Garner interviews Dr Joelle Grogan about the legacy of the pandemic for the Rule of Law, democracy, and other constitutional values around the world.

17.02.2022

In conversation with Tom Theuns: An EU 2.0? Mass Withdrawal of Pro-Democratic Member States

Oliver Garner interviews Tom Theuns about the possibility and justification of a mass-exodus of democratically minded Member States via Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and the founding of an EU 2.0 in response to Member States becoming autocratic.

28.01.2022

Oliver Garner: Bridging Brexit and Polexit? Reforming EU withdrawal

This op-ed considers whether the reforms to the EU withdrawal that use the lessons of Brexit to address the possibility of "Polexit" can be helpful in resolving the ongoing values crisis in the EU.

7.01.2022

2021’s End of Year Special

Our editors Laszlo Bruszt, Oliver Garner, Kasia Krzyżanowska, Ferenc Laczo, and Michal Matlak discuss their favorite RevDem content, as well as the year's highlights and the most significant developments of the year.

24.12.2021

6 Key 2021 Books: Rule of Law and the Future of Europe

Oliver Garner and Michał Matlak, the Review of Democracy editors, select 5 most important books in two areas: Rule of Law and the Future of Europe.

23.12.2021

In conversation with Barbara Grabowska-Moroz: The escalation of Poland’s Rule of Law crisis

Barbara Grabowska-Moroz discusses the current state of the rule of law crisis in Poland, the arduous relationship between the EU and Polish courts, and how this impacts EU Member States.

2.12.2021

The instability of the Northern Ireland Protocol: A present threat to the Rule of Law?

RevDem editor Oliver Garner reflects here on the present threat to the Rule of Law arising from the fraught context of renegotiation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

10.11.2021