From Marx to Market: Lawyers, European Law, and the Contentious Transformation of the Port of Genoa

Law & Society Review, Forthcoming

40 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2018

See all articles by Tommaso Pavone

Tommaso Pavone

Department of Political Science, University of Toronto

Date Written: September 14, 2018

Abstract

What happens when international courts are asked to tackle local political controversies and their judgments subsequently spark contentious resistance? In the European Union (EU), scholars have posited that the politicization of the often-liberalizing rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provokes Euroscepticism and non-compliance. In contrast, I argue that contentious politics may also produce permissive conditions for Europeanist cause lawyers to promote awareness of EU law and mobilize support for liberalization. To unpack this claim, I conduct an intensive case study of perhaps the most explosive controversy in Italy to generate litigation before the ECJ: The 1991 “Port of Genoa” case, where the public monopoly rights of a centuries–old dockworkers’ union were challenged. Leveraging interviews, court and newspaper records, public opinion data, and litigation statistics, I trace how –– despite dockworkers’ vigorous resistance –– a pair of entrepreneurial lawyers liberalized Italy’s largest port by combining strategic litigation with a public relations campaign to mobilize a compliance constituency. I conclude with insights the case study offers into the contemporary politics of transnational legal governance.

Keywords: law and social change, transnational governance, European Union, European law, cause lawyers, strategic litigation

Suggested Citation

Pavone, Tommaso, From Marx to Market: Lawyers, European Law, and the Contentious Transformation of the Port of Genoa (September 14, 2018). Law & Society Review, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3249685

Tommaso Pavone (Contact Author)

Department of Political Science, University of Toronto ( email )

105 St George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8
Canada

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