Rethinking emergency from a legal historical perspective: contexts, actors, practices 1914-2020
The Ghent Institute for Legal History is looking for 5 PhD Candidates who will be working within the project ‘Rethinking emergency from a legal historical perspective: contexts, actors, practices 1914-2020’ (EMERGE), which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC, ERC Consolidator Grant 2022, no 101087876). Set within the Faculty of Law and Criminology, a faculty home to many academics of diverse backgrounds, the Institute is a dynamic venue fostering rigorous ground-breaking research in legal history with a focus on legal theory and contextual analysis. You will develop and grow in research, both individually and as part of a team of ambitious scholars.
As PhD Candidate in legal history, you will analyse the historical use of emergency powers and emergency legislation during the 20th century and early 21st century in Europe. The project EMERGE hypothesizes that the enactment of emergency legislation determines substantial and lasting changes to fundamental rights, the principle of the rule of law as well as the commitment to liberal values of equality before the law and universalism of rights. This hypothesis will be tested against five key moments in the constitutional and legal history of five European jurisdictions during the last century (c.1914-c.2020). The PhD Candidates will analyse the historical context, the law and the practice of emergency in five countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom). The first PhD position is concerned with Belgium, the second PhD position with France, the third one with Germany (including the GDR), the fourth one with Romania and the fifth one with the United Kingdom (with a focus of Northern Ireland).
An appropriate level of familiarity with the law, language(s), legal and political culture of the relevant country is required.
Your key responsibility is to develop and complete a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of the Project Leader and within the framework of the project. Doctoral students are expected to publish and disseminate their research findings in close co-operation with the other research group members.
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