Well-tempered power: 'A cultural achievement of universal significance'

In-person event

According to Laurent Pech, the rule of law was described as a “‘buzzword’ by [Hungary’s] justice minister; a fiction by a Fidesz MP; and a ‘magic word’ by the Fidesz-KDNP Delegation to the European Parliament. Not to be undone, a judge from Hungary’s (captured) constitutional court, has presented the rule of law ‘as a normative yardstick’ which is little more than an empty nineteenth century ideal and a political joker [sic] for all purposes.” In contrast, the English historian, E.P. Thompson, notoriously and controversially called the rule of law ‘a cultural achievement of universal significance.’ I agree with Thompson. Each word in that phrase, I seek to demonstrate, deserves emphasis and respect.

However, it makes a huge difference what one takes the rule of law to be about. What is universal is the notion and realisation of a state of affairs in which power is reliably tempered so as not to be available for arbitrary abuse. It is that which is a cultural achievement of universal significance. It is a mistake to identify it, as so many do, with any allegedly canonical arrangement of forms and institutions and rules that are enlisted or assumed to embody it.

Many people make that mistake. Some do so, because they naively think that installation of familiar institutions they associate with ‘the rule of law’ is the same as achieving the ideal itself. The disappointing history of rule of law promotion around the world shows that is not the case. On the other hand, modern illiberal, often populist, regimes are happy to endorse such a mistake and pretend that they are committed to the ideal by making a show of conformity to legal forms, while systematically subverting and abusing the rule of law itself. Both the naïve and the malicious interpretations should be rejected.

Martin Krygier is Gordon Samuels Professor of Law and Social Theory, UNSW Sydney and Senior Research Fellow, Rule of Law Program, CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest. He writes extensively on the rule of law and its challenge(r)s, most recent among them anti-constitutional populism. His books include Philip Selznick. Ideals in the World; Civil Passions; Between Fear and Hope and, as editor and co-editor, Anti-Constitutional Populism; Spreading Democracy and the Rule of Law?; Rethinking the Rule of Law after Communism; Legality and Community. On the intellectual legacy of Philip Selznick; The Rule of Law after Communism; Marxism and Communism. Posthumous Thoughts on Law, Politics and Society; Bureaucracy: The Career of a Concept.

Venue: Level 4, Common Room, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1.5

This event is proudly presented by the at The University of Sydney Law School.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The University of Sydney Law School, Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building F10, Eastern Avenue, Camperdown, Australia