Speaker
Kevin William Gray, Dean Acheson Fellow from Columbia Law School at the General Court of Justice
Abstract
This paper continues my work on the interplay of legal systems and international law through a detailed reading of the jurisprudence of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). In particular, I develop a theory of the uses of democratic norms in transnational settings. Focusing on the East African Community (EAC), I develop a theory designed to show how opposition groups, including political parties and NGOs, use international courts such as the EACJ to advance their political agendas in one-party states or those multiparty states in the EAC where the rule of law has been seriously undermined. I show how international courts provide a place for democratic deliberation and the exercise of constituent power in situations where rule of law at the national level has been seriously compromised.