The European Court and Civil Society

Rachel A. Cichowski is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics and Law in the Department of Political Science and the Law, Societies and Justice (LSJ) Program at the University of Washington. She is the co-editor of State of the European Union: Law, Politics and Society (2003) and her research is published in various journals, including Comparative Political Studies, Law and Society Review, and the Journal of European Public Policy.

• 1. Introduction: institutions, organizations and actors; 2. Overview of institutionalization in the European Union; Part I. Institutionalization Through Litigation: 3. The ECJ and the expansion of gender equality rights; 4. Environmental protection, non-compliance and judicial politics; Part II. Institutionalization Through Mobilization: 5. Women's rights activists: informal to formal organizing; 6. Collective activism for the environment; 7. Conclusion: litigation, mobilization and governance.

'Rachel Cichowski's interesting and well-written book is a welcome addition to the literature on supranational governance and the role of the European Court of Justice. It takes its place within a more recent genre of genuinely interdisciplinary EU scholarship, which brings together the rigour of political science methodology and attention to empirical detail with a nuanced understanding of law, litigation and the judicial role in the evolution of the European Union.' Grainne De Búrca, Professor of European Law, European University Institute