Hilke Grootelaar will start with research project on constitutional dialogues and feedback loops

As of the 1st of December 2017, Hilke Grootelaar will start as a postdoctoral researcher at the Montaigne Centre on a research project on constitutional dialogues and feedback loops between courts and legislators.

Background

The Dutch constitutional system provides for a dynamic and organic model of checks and balances, once conceived by the politician Thorbecke. The constitutional system thus assumes the presence of a feedback loop, but unknown is whether this feedback loop indeed functions as presumed. Is feedback actually given, for example, and if so, does that lead to follow-up actions?

Using both a legal and a public administration perspective, this research project aims to describe how the institutionalized dialogue between judges and legislators functions in practice. By interviewing the actors who play an important role within this model of checks and balances, the research aims at providing insight into the social, cultural, political, and functional mechanisms that may explain why the organized dialogue takes place or not. 

The project is supervised by prof. mr. Janneke Gerards (School of Law), prof. dr. mr. Eddy Bauw (School of Law), prof. dr. Mark Bovens (School of Governance) and prof. dr. Mirko Noordegraaf (School of Governance).