Abstract

Macro- and microtrends in the development of human rights protection

The war against Ukraine represents a debacle for the basic idea of international human rights protection fostering peace and is capable of calling into question the narrative of a success story. Against this background, the question must be asked to what extent the idea of universality still applies. The emergence of opposing "trends" in jurisprudence can have a relativising effect. The article asks how such "trends" emerge, what part interest groups, political leaders and courts play in their formation and who influences whom and how. It can be shown that not only new approaches to the solution of societal problems can take the form of "trends", but that these also affect the basic understanding of fundamental rights as well as the understanding of the role of the courts. In view of a phase of renationalisation, in which "constitutional identity" and not universal values are the trump card, it can be useful to revive the basic consensus on a "hard core" of human rights that is unquestionable across epochs and regions.