Opposition in the EU Multi-Level Polity: Legal Mobilization against the Data Retention Directive

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that the European Union (EU) is an example of governance without opposition. Building on a concept of opposition that honors both the institutional features of the EU polity and the fundamental functions of political opposition, it argues that legal mobilization and litigation before constitutional courts provides actors and organizations from civil society with an opportunity to challenge and overturn policy decisions that originate at the EU level. Further, it presents case studies of constitutional challenges to the implementation of the EU Data Retention Directive in four Member States (Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Ireland) to illustrate the motivations for, as well as the preconditions and pitfalls of, mobilizing constitutional law. By connecting the literature on social movements, law and politics and comparative government, this book will appeal to readers interested in political science, sociology and legal studies.   

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The never-ending story of data retention in the EU.- Chapter 3. Conceptualizing opposition in the EU multi-level polity.- Chapter 4. Constitutional review as political and legal opportunity structure.- Chapter 5. Legal mobilization as an oppositional strategy: From individual activation to collective action.- Chapter 6. Legal mobilization against the Data Retention Directive – Opportunity structures, actors and strategies.- Chapter 7. Opposition in the multi-level polity: Prospects and implications.

About the Author :
Stefan Thierse is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Germany. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Bonn, Germany, in 2015. His work has been published in internationally acclaimed journals such as the Journal of European Public Policy, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies and European Union Politics.   Sanja Badanjak is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, in 2016. Her dissertation, ‘Coping with Europe: The Impact of the European Union on Party Systems in European Democracies’ was awarded the European Union Studies Association’s Best Dissertation in EU Studies award.