The Failures of Others

Michaela Hailbronner holds the chair for German and International Public Law and Comparative Law at the University of Münster, Germany. She is Co-President of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) and has done research in Germany, South Africa, the US and the UK. Her 2014 article on German constitutionalism won the inaugural Best Paper Award of the International Journal of Constitutional Law.

• Introduction; Part I. Why Failure Matters – And What Follows from That: 1. What are arguments failure and when might we need them?; 2. Safe, legal and rare: the case for and against arguments from failure; 3. Proportionality; 4. Structural reform litigation in domestic courts; 5. A framework for structural reform litigation; 6. Failure and legal innovation: arguments from failure as judicial trumps; Part III. 7. Arguments from failure in international law; 8. Efficiency and failure in the European union; 9. Conclusion and perspectives; Bibliography; Index.

'What should we do when those who wield power fail? In a subtle and nuanced analysis, Michaela Hailbronner tackles this question with insight and originality. Drawing on case-studies from comparative constitutional law, the European Union, and international law, Hailbronner makes a powerful case that we need to take institutional failure seriously - not just as a cause for lament or an automatic licence to deviate from established legal norms, but as a stimulus for a more measured and context-specific approach. All public lawyers will benefit from engaging with Hailbronner's illuminating and compelling arguments.' Aileen Kavanagh, Professor of Constitutional Governance, Law, Trinity College Dublin