Part IV Impact and Outreach, 36 Impact of the Council of Europe on National Legal Systems

Subject(s):

Democracy — Economic, social, and cultural rights — Responsibility of international organizations — Rule of law

This chapter attempts to measure the impact of Council of Europe (CoE) activities on national legal systems. In order to do so, the chapter first gives an overview of its methodology, which relies on the case study model of qualitative research. It then proceeds to enumerate the factors that determine the level of implementation of international engagements: binding versus non-binding instruments, self-executing versus non-self-executing norms, the hierarchical rank under national law, forms of indirect implementation, and a number of others described in brief detail. The case studies presented in this chapter are classified according to instrument, and include the following: the European Council of Human Rights (ECHR), the European Social Charter (ESC), the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, and the Venice Commission. The chapter then concludes with reflections on the above topics.