Anti-discrimination policy actors and their use of litigation strategies : the influence of identity politics
By: VANHALA, Lisa
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ArticlePublisher: Oxfordshire : Routledge, August 2009Journal of European Public Policy 16, 5, p. 738-754Abstract: Paralleling the institutionalization of humam rights in European Community (EC) law is a growing body of literature on the use of strategic litigation by policy actors to expand or enforce those rights. Until recently however, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to the full range of factors which influence the use of strategic litigation by organizational actors. This paper assess existing explanations of strategy choice and finds that the emphasis on political and legal opportunity approaches and resource-mobilization explanation has led to a neglect of other, potentialy important, variables. I aim to remedy this gap in the literature by suggesting that the identity politics and framing processes of a social movement may play a significant role in influencing the take-up of a litigation strategy. Case studies of the disability movement and the lesbian and gay movement in the United Kingdom illustrate how these variables can shape strategy choice.
Paralleling the institutionalization of humam rights in European Community (EC) law is a growing body of literature on the use of strategic litigation by policy actors to expand or enforce those rights. Until recently however, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to the full range of factors which influence the use of strategic litigation by organizational actors. This paper assess existing explanations of strategy choice and finds that the emphasis on political and legal opportunity approaches and resource-mobilization explanation has led to a neglect of other, potentialy important, variables. I aim to remedy this gap in the literature by suggesting that the identity politics and framing processes of a social movement may play a significant role in influencing the take-up of a litigation strategy. Case studies of the disability movement and the lesbian and gay movement in the United Kingdom illustrate how these variables can shape strategy choice.
human rights; interest group; legal opportunity; political opportunity; social movements; strategic litigation.
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