About the project

What We Seek to Understand

The project aims to elucidate the complex interplay between the architecture of federal systems, democratic resilience, and the protection of human rights.

01
Define
Establish robust legal definitions for the rollback of rights and democratic decay from a constitutional perspective. Establish clear legal definitions of human rights backlash and democratic backsliding from a constitutional law perspective.
02
Articulate
Examine how these two dimensions interact and mutually reinforce one another. Examine how human rights backlash and democratic backsliding interact and reinforce one another in practice.
03
Analyse the specific role of federalism
Determine the extent to which federal structures either hinder or promote these regressive processes, while also assessing the impact of such processes on federal mechanisms.
04
Methodology
Our approach combines the analysis of key legal issues (such as electoral reforms and the weakening of checks and balances) with social science metrics to measure the interplay between democratic decay, backlash against human rights, and federalism.

What the Project Will Produce

Peer-reviewed Articles
Academic publications in leading constitutional law journals
Accessible Publications
Research finding presented in formats accessible to broader audiences
Academic Conferences and Workshops
International events online or hosted in Neuchâtel
Civil Society Engagement
Conferences, panels and workshops with civil society
Academic Teaching
Project-based courses and continuing education. New courses integrating research findings into legal education.

How We Work

Our research is structured around four primary methodological pillars, complemented by a series of key thematic analyses:

Systematic Literature Review

We are conducting a comprehensive examination of constitutional  and comparative law, enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective incorporating social sciences. Through a systematized analytical framework, we aim to identify recurrent legal determinants contributing to democratic decay. Legal, theoretical, and comparative analysis grounded in rigorous scholarly methodology.

Strategic Analysis of Key States

We have selected a representative sample of approximately fifteen federal states for our case studies, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, India and Switzerland. These jurisdictions offer diverse contexts where signs of democratic erosion or resistance are already evident, thereby facilitating rich comparative insights and distinctions.

Engagement and Dissemination

The vitality of this project relies on active exchange. We will organize various academic colloquia and participate actively in international conferences. Furthermore, the project integrates a dimension of civic mediation through workshops open to civil society and the development of innovative pedagogical materials.

Methodological Analysis and Data Interpretation

We employ traditional methods of legal interpretation alongside innovative approaches borrowed from social sciences. Our objective is to conduct a functional analysis that compares not only national legal frameworks but also the actual dynamics of power and law in practice.
Key Thematic Analyses
We provide an in-depth examination of several critical themes where tensions between federalism, democratic decay and human rights are most acute:

Public Space and the Right to Protest

An analysis of the criminalization of dissent and the erosion of freedom of assembly at both sub-national and federal levels.

Minority Rights

A study of the protection of vulnerable groups against policies of marginalization and the weakening of constitutional guarantees.

Women’s Rights and Gender Issues

An examination of the backlash against equality, ranging from femicide to patriarchal violence. This includes observing how federated entities may become laboratories of regression regarding issues such as pay equity, discrimination, and cyberharassment.

Environment and Socio-Ecological Justice

An analysis of legal resistance strategies in response to emerging environmental rights and the judicialization of climate issues.

State of Emergency and the Normalization of Exception

A study of the perpetuation of emergency measures and their impact on the separation of powers.

New Technologies and Digital Surveillance

An evaluation of the risks posed by mass surveillance and algorithmic governance to individual liberties within a multi-level system.

Right to Asylum and Migration Policies

An analysis of the tensions between international human rights obligations and sovereignty-driven border policies.