Rule of Law under Pressure: Why Europe must look to its Citizens, Values, and Networks
Across Europe, rule-of-law indicators have been declining, yet most interventions to limit backsliding still focus primarily on legal remedies and courts. A policy brief argues that this perspective is incomplete.
Our research reconceptualises the rule of law as not only a legal arrangement, but a social achievement embedded in societal values, informal rules and norms, and networks shaping socio-economic outcomes. By shifting the focus from the judiciary to the societal conditions that enable holding those who weaken rule of law to account, NET-ROL offers a new lens for understanding what responses are possible when the rule of law erodes — and how citizens might undermine or defend it.
To capture this, we introduce an innovative operationalisation of citizen networks that distinguishes between:
• O-groups – organised networks or interests that may weaken the rule of law by rent seeking, seeking preferential regulation or economic advantages and political influence.
• P-groups – civic and professional organisations that might strengthen the rule of law through facilitating mobilisation, engaging in watchdog activities and public debate.
We highlight rule of law is not just a matter of legal institutions and procedures; it is a set of relations, principles and values embedded in a society’s fabric. It lives — or erodes — in the networks that structure society. If the EU wants resilient societies that resist weakening the rule of law, it must invest not only in courts, but in its citizens.
