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Reasoned 'balance' in Europe's area of freedom, security and justice

Reasoned 'balance' in Europe's area of freedom, security and justice
Reasoned 'balance' in Europe's area of freedom, security and justice
This article considers how we might understand a constitutional ‘balancing’ of goods. In doing so, the article considers the EU's ‘Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’ (AFSJ) which poses the challenge as to how we balance our desire to feel secure with commitments to freedom and justice. The approach taken will be to argue that a ‘balance’ is a reasoned judgment, which must be understood in both a symbolic sense but, at the same time, also rooted in the practice of our constitutional decision making. This enables a political community to make sense of its value commitments so as to achieve a reflective balance between them. The article concludes that if the EU is to achieve an area of freedom, security and justice then it must be capable of developing a balance that can be a reasoned understanding of this constitutional commitment.

1351-5993
121-137
Gibbs, Alun Howard
c8a57ffe-7bf9-4ca1-a2d9-523f37647229
Gibbs, Alun Howard
c8a57ffe-7bf9-4ca1-a2d9-523f37647229

Gibbs, Alun Howard (2011) Reasoned 'balance' in Europe's area of freedom, security and justice. European Law Journal, 17 (1), 121-137. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-0386.2010.00541.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article considers how we might understand a constitutional ‘balancing’ of goods. In doing so, the article considers the EU's ‘Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’ (AFSJ) which poses the challenge as to how we balance our desire to feel secure with commitments to freedom and justice. The approach taken will be to argue that a ‘balance’ is a reasoned judgment, which must be understood in both a symbolic sense but, at the same time, also rooted in the practice of our constitutional decision making. This enables a political community to make sense of its value commitments so as to achieve a reflective balance between them. The article concludes that if the EU is to achieve an area of freedom, security and justice then it must be capable of developing a balance that can be a reasoned understanding of this constitutional commitment.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 28 December 2010
Published date: January 2011
Organisations: Law

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 178277
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/178277
ISSN: 1351-5993
PURE UUID: a32fdec5-f3d3-4671-ab81-c6f10bd33ab3

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Date deposited: 25 Mar 2011 11:29
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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