DEMOCRACY IS ONE OF THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Abstract
The concept of democracy has long fuelled controversy among international legal scholars. In the past quarter of a century, democracy and human rights have become the hegemonic political ideals. The aim of this article is to contribute to the continuing debate on the notion of democracy according to the European Convention on Human Rights. Not only has the Convention been a standard setter in Europe but also a source of inspiration in promotion of democracy and democratic values for other regions of the world. With this in mind, the article considers the appropriate elements of the Convention which directly concerns democratic values. To that end, the article critically examines the relevant Articles of the Convention to the notion of democracy as well as the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. In recent decades, the Convention has made a telling contribution in regards to transition to peace and democracy in the former communist Eastern European states
Keywords
European Convention on Human Rights,European Court of Human rights and the Concept of democracy
Kaynakça
- Allen, T., “Restitution and Transitional Justice in the European Court of Human Rights” (2007) 13(1) Columbia Journal of European Law 1, 30.
- Altıparmak, K. & Karahanoğulları, O., “after Şahin: the Debate on Headscarves is not Over”, European Constitutional Law Review 2 (2006) 268.
- Anagnostou, D. and Psychogiopoulou, E. (eds.), The European Court of Human Rights and the Rights of Marginalized Individuals and Minorities in National Context, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009.
- Arai-Takahashi, Y., The Margin of Appreciation Doctrine and the Principle of Proportionality in the Jurisprudence of the ECHR, Interesentia Publishers, 2002.
- Bates, E., The Evolution of the European Convention of the European Convention of Human rights, Oxford U.P., 2010.
- BBC Website, 7 February 2012, “Phone hacking: Met police failed to warn victims”. Available at: at 28 October 2013.
- BBC Website, “Swiss Minaret Appeal goes to European Court” (16.12.2009) available at: at 28 October 2013.
- BBC Website, “Special Report, the Muhammad cartoon row”, 7 February 2006, available at: at 28 October 2013.
- Buyse, A., “the Truth, the Past and the Present: Article 10 ECHR and Situations of transition”, in Buyse, A. & Hamilton, M. (eds.), Transitional Jurisprudence and the ECHR: Justice, Politics and Rights, Cambridge U.P., 2011.
- Cerna, C., “Universal Democracy: An International Legal Right or the Pipe Dream of the West?”, (1995) 27 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 289.