Conference: 20 Years of Law and Justice

Publication date: Jun 03, 2025 Event date: Jul 04, 2025

July 4 and 5, 2024.
Madrid - Puerta de Toledo Campus. UC3M
Program

The Research Group on Law and Justice (GIDYJ) began its activities in 2004 and was formally established at the Carlos III University of Madrid in 2005. Currently composed of more than thirty member researchers and an equal number of associate researchers, throughout its twenty-year history, the GIDYJ has successfully led the execution of regional, national, and international R&D&I projects. It has developed an ambitious and varied program of academic activities, including more than ninety sessions of the ‘Law and Justice’ Workshop (TDJ) and seventy-five sessions of the Jesús González Amuchastegui Permanent Seminar (SPA), its two main regular spaces for academic encounter. 

The commemoration of this twentieth anniversary has served as the impetus for organizing a conference that brings together those who have participated in and contributed to the GIDYJ’s activities. It aims to reflect on future projects and the academic, research, and knowledge transfer challenges that its researchers intend to tackle together, reaffirming their commitment to interdisciplinarity, internationalization, and social impact.

Regarding its structure, the conference will consist of plenary sessions and simultaneous working panels linked to the group's research lines: 

  • Culture of Lawfulness: Integrity; Honesty; Trust; Transparency; Accountability and the Fight against Corruption.
  • Democracy and Good Governance: Democracy; Governance; Globalization; Ecology.
  • Identity and Citizenship: Law and Culture; Minorities; Gender; Civil Society; Memory; Human Rights.
  • Crisis of Legal Formalism: Legal Pluralism; Legal Anti-formalism; Legal Ethics, Methodology, and Sociology.

AGENDA

THURSDAY, JULY 4 ▼

9:00 am. Reception. (Room 1.A.11)

9:15 am. Welcome Greeting. José M. Sauca. GIDYJ Director. (Room PT-1.A.11)

9:30 am - 11:30 am. Plenary Session: Democracy and Good Governance. Moderator: Andrea Greppi. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Roberto Gargarella (UBA/UPF): For an Egalitarian Law, for a Left-wing Law.
  • Wolfgang Heuer (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany): Power, Authority, and Federalism.
  • Ermanno Vitale (U. della Valle d’Aosta, Italy): East and West. Between Despotism and the Time of Rights.
  • Alejandro Sahuí (U. Autónoma de Campeche, Mexico): Reflexive Constitutions: Rights and Democracy in Complex Societies.

11:30 am - 12:00 pm. Coffee break.

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm. Plenary Session: Culture of Lawfulness. Moderator: Eusebio Fernández. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Francisco Laporta (UAM): The Failures of the Law.
  • Jorge Malem (UPF): The Policy of Gifts and Bribes.
  • Gilmer Alarcón (U. Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru): The Democratic Rule of Law, Transparency, and Access to Public Information: The Peruvian Case.
  • Isabel Turégano (UCLM): Access to Justice, Democracy, and Equality.

2:00 pm - 3:45 pm. Lunch.

Simultaneous Thematic Panels (Session 1) - 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm

View Panels A, B, and C

Panel A: Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization, and Law. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Gema Marcilla (UCLM): The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Legal Science.
  • Sebastián Linares (USAL): AI Challenges for Constitutional Justice.
  • Carlos Fernández Barbudo (UAM): Ethical-Political Foundations of Neurorights: Why Should We Worry About Neurotechnologies?

Panel B: Information and Misinformation. (Room PT-1.A.13)

  • Rubén Marciel (UPF): The Social Paradigm of Media Politics.
  • Rubén García Higuera (U. de Bretagne Occidentale, France): Shadowbanning: A Restriction on Freedom of Expression?
  • Manuela Sánchez (UC3M): Misinformation: A Regulatory Field Pending Specification in the European Agenda.
  • Germán Arenas (UAH): Revisiting (Political) Legibility: Proposal for a 'Legible Government'.

Panel C: Merit and Political Participation. (Room PT-1.A.15)

  • Fernando de los Santos (UAM): Questioning Meritocracy.
  • Eduardo García (U. Anáhuac Veracruz, Mexico): Merit, Identity, and Education: An Interpretation of Legitimate Expectations in the Reconfiguration of Educational Processes.
  • Doly Jurado (UdL): “Non-Institutionalized Political Opposition” in Contemporary Democracies: Beyond Parliamentary Political Opposition.
  • Víctor Alonso (UCM): Plurality, Political Participation, and the Sense of Justice in Encampments for Palestine.

5:15 pm - 5:30 pm. Break.

Simultaneous Thematic Panels (Session 2) - 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm

View Panels D and E

Panel D: Deepening Rights. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Adoración Guamán (UV): Human and Nature Rights and Transnational Corporations: Critical Analysis of the Recent EU Regulatory Intervention.
  • David García (UC3M): On the Limits of the Intersection Between Corruption and Human Rights.
  • Lorena Chano (UEX): Constitutional Equality: Limit and Modulation of Political Participation Rights.
  • Jorge Portocarrero (UNED): Progressive Implementation of Social Welfare Rights.

Panel E: Future of Liberal Democracy. (Room PT-1.A.15)

  • Pedro Abellán (UCM): Conceptual Challenges of Democratic Preservation: Concealing Aporias and Democratic Fundamentalism.
  • Marcos Criado (UEX): De-democratization and Electoral Authoritarianism: Are Illiberal Democracies Truly Democracies?
  • Camilo Soto (UCM): John Rawls and the Surpassing of Liberal Democracy By and From Itself.
  • Tomás A. Arias (UC3M): Liberal Legal Theory vs. the Administrative State in the United States.
  • Benito Grisanti (UC3M): Max Stirner and Anarchism.
FRIDAY, JULY 5 ▼

9:30 am - 11:30 am. Plenary Session: Identity and Citizenship. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Felipe González (U. Diego Portales, Chile / Former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants [2017-2023]): Trends and Challenges of International Human Rights Protection Systems.
  • Carlos Castresana (Prosecutor’s Office): Memory and Reconciliation.
  • Cristina Sánchez (UAM): Revisiting Just War: Old and New Questions.
  • Jesús Ignacio Delgado (US): The Recognition Trap: A Defense of Liberal Tolerance Against the Identity Illusion.

11:30 am - 12:00 pm. Coffee break.

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm. Plenary Session: Crisis of Legal Formalism. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • André Rufino (Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Brazil): Constitutional Practices: The Informal Institutions that Sustain Democracies.
  • Josep María Vilajosana (UPF): Judicial Precedent as a Source of Law: A New Analysis of an Old Problem.
  • Álvaro Núñez (UMU): What has the Court Said? Interpretation of Rulings and Identification of rationes decidendi.
  • Triantafyllos Gkouvas (UC3M): Interpretation vs. Application of the Law: Not such a Sharp Divide After All.

2:00 pm - 3:45 pm. Lunch.

Simultaneous Thematic Panels (Session 3) - 3:45 pm to 5:15 pm

View Panels F, G, and H

Panel F: Ecology. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Ricardo Cueva (UAM): Of Oceans, Laws, and Men: The Tale of the Whale.
  • Digno Montalván (UC3M): Ecocentric Natural Law: Opportunities and Risks of the Ecological Turn in Law.
  • Francisco Javier SanJuan (UMH): Is a Constitution Necessary for a More Sustainable World?
  • Diego Felipe Romero (UC3M): Reflections on Environmental Governance and Development in Extractive Contexts: The Case of Colombia.

Panel G: War and Conflict. (Room PT-1.A.13)

  • Javier Chinchón (UCM): Ukraine v. Russia, South Africa v. Israel (and Nicaragua v. Germany) before the ICJ: Points of Agreement and Disagreement.
  • Edgardo Rodríguez (UNMSM, Peru): Ius post bellum and Guarantees of Non-Repetition: Challenges of Transitional Justice in Peru Twenty Years Later.
  • Agata Serranò (UAM): 25 Years of Post-Conflict: Achievements and Challenges of the Human Rights Movement in Peru.
  • Yadira Robles (U. Autónoma de Coahuila, Mexico): Water and Peace in Social Conflicts: A Vision from Social Movements and Justice.

Panel H: Soft Law. (Room PT-1.A.15)

  • Darío Badules (Unizar): Approved Norm, Forgotten Norm? Ex-post Evaluation and Planning.
  • Victor García Yzaguirre (UdG): Regulating Behavior Through Soft Law Norms: Notes for Conceptual Clarification.
  • Diego M. Papayannis (UdG): Soft Law: Its Legislative Rationality and Importance in Judicial Decisions.
  • Pablo Cerame (UC3M): The Gordian Knot of Legal Paradoxes: A Solution Proposal from the Legal Logic of Lorenzo Peña.

5:15 pm - 5:30 pm. Break.

Simultaneous Thematic Panels (Session 4) - 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm

View Panels I, J, and K

Panel I: Health, Poverty, and Migration. (Room PT-1.A.11)

  • Alicia Cebada (UC3M): Global Health.
  • Jesús Martín (UCM): Poor Strategy, Poor Results: Promoting Cooperation with Authorities in Human Trafficking Crimes.
  • Angelo R. Salerno (U. degli Studi della Tuscia, Italy): Constitutional Sufferings in Regulating the Detention of Migrants in Italy and Spain.
  • Rodrigo Merayo (UC3M): The Question of Poverty: Historical Background, Social Dynamism, and Notions.

Panel J: Separation of Powers. (Room PT-1.A.13)

  • Mariano Melero (UAM): Judicial Independence in the Constitutional Rule of Law.
  • Rafael Benitez (StreetLaw): Democratic Legitimacy of the Judiciary: The Uncomfortable Power.
  • Carlos Alonso (UC3M): The Pardon: A Legal Institution for Political Use.
  • Samer Alnasir (UNED): Protocol: The Overlooked Subject of Administrative Law.

Panel K: Gender. (Room PT-1.A.15)

  • Carolina Pérez (UC3M): Gender and Intersectionality in Transitional Justice: Justice and the Recognition of Women as Subjects of Rights.
  • Matilde Rey (UAM): Feminist Ontology: Women as a Social Class.
  • Manuel Delgado (U. Pontificia Comillas): Conflicting Paradigms: Bio-legal Impact of the Concept of Gender in Health and Sport.
  • Fabiola González (UPF): Justice and Gender Equality: A Brief Analysis in Light of Intersectional Structural Disadvantage.

7:00 pm. Closing of the conference. (Room PT-1.A.11)

Directors: Yolanda Gómez (UC3M) and José María Sauca (UC3M).

Secretary: David García (UC3M).