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Join us for a discussion with Susanna Mancini and Michel Rosenfeld on their recent book Politicized Religion and the Reframing of Fundamental Rights.
The book provides a systematic account of how recent politicization of religion has been used by proponents of illiberal nationalism and populism to reframe constitutional and human rights in exclusionary anti-pluralist ways. Drawing on history, political and constitutional theory, and comparative constitutional analysis, the book explores the various ways in which human rights have been illiberally reframed throughout a vast array of different jurisdictions ranging from Europe to Russia, the United States, India, Turkey, and several African states.
Moderated by Gerald Neuman and featuring a response from Katharine G. Young, the discussion will, among other things, examine how contemporary contests over human and civil rights are increasingly internationalized through transnational networks. By sharing legal strategies and coordinating advocacy across borders, these networks advance competing visions of the meaning and scope of fundamental rights.
Speakers
Susanna Mancini holds the Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Bologna School of Law. She is interested in exploring how race and gender-related social and cultural constructs have shaped the balance of power and privilege in a liberal society, and in the role of the law in perpetuating and/or combating the marginalization of women and of racial, religious, sexual and linguistic minorities.
Michel Rosenfeld is the University Professor of Law and Comparative Democracy, Justice Sydney L. Robins Professor of Human Rights and Director of the Program on Global and Comparative Constitutional Theory at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Professor Rosenfeld was an associate with both Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Rosenman, Colin, Freund, Lewis & Cohen.
Katharine Young is Professor and the Robert A. Trevisani Dean’s Faculty Fellow at Boston College Law School. In Spring 2027, she will serve as the Sullivan & Cromwell Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Her research focuses on international human rights law, human rights and interdisciplinarity, comparative constitutional law, economic and social rights, and law and gender.
Gerald Neuman (moderator) is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program, and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at HLS. Neuman teaches courses in international human rights law, immigration and nationality law, and U.S. constitutional law. From 2011 to 2014, he served as a Member of the UN Human Rights Committee. Neuman holds a JD from HLS and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This event is co-sponsored by The Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, HLS Advocates for Human Rights, and The Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.