"Foreword" [2018] ELECD 931; in Brems, Eva; Ouald-Chaib, Saïla (eds), "Fragmentation and Integration in Human Rights Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) xi

Book Title: Fragmentation and Integration in Human Rights Law

Editor(s): Brems, Eva; Ouald-Chaib, Saïla

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781788113915

Section Title: Foreword

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

Foreword In a fiercely polarised and messy Europe, destabilised with the implosion of traditional, mainstream parties and the emergence of populist newcomers, troubled by rising economic strife and roiled by war on its borders, politics is turning towards pure, ethno-religious chauvinism. Chauvinism is not simply people acting against the inherent dignity of every human being, it is about the material benefits that the chauvinist and his or her class derive from the exercise of power, it is about the perverse way power is exercised in society. Putting fear at the core of individual consciousness in a primitive logic of homo homini lupus and sowing distrust among countries in a basic logic of regnum regno lupus are essential to their goal of undermining the credibility of international organisations and courts, further alienating Europeans from one another and weakening the cohesion of the Council of Europe and the European Union. Yesterday's political fault lines are disappearing for the benefit of hard-line parties and populist movements that have risen at either end of the political spectrum. One major commonality among these parties and movements is their unprecedented barrage of bellicose verbiage against international organisations and courts, often disguised in a discourse promoting the benefits of `human rights diversity' (as in Hutchinson v the United Kingdom (GC), No. 57592/08, 17 January 2017), fragmentation in European law (as in Mursic v Croatia (GC), No. 7334/13, 20 October ´ 2016) and fragmentation in international law (as in Correia de Matos v Portugal ( ...