Dr Stephen Skinner presents a paper at the British Academy on Core Values in Times of Crisis

Dr Stephen Skinner was invited to participate in a British Academy conference on 8-9th March on Challenges to Judicial Independence in Times of Crisis, convened by Dr Yvonne McDermott Rees (Swansea) and Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos (Brunel).

Entitled ‘Core Values in Times of Crisis: Democracy, Fascism and the Rule of Law’, Dr Skinner’s paper reflected on the continuing significance of a dark chapter of European history, by exploring some of the key elements of the legal ideology of Italian Fascism in the 1920s-30s, and relating them to current concerns about threats to the rule of law in their contemporary context. His paper discussed in particular where and how we might draw a line between democratic and anti-democratic law, and when warning signs about the health of the rule of law might be deemed to become apparent, in political culture and legal practice.