Anchoring International Law’s Dynamism (ANCHOR)

Over the past few years, several international courts have faced critique by policymakers for developing international law too dynamically. Consequently, scholarly literature argued that we are entering a period of backlash, with states actively trying to hedge against the domestic impact of international rulings. Yet, little is known about how – and under what conditions – interpretive shifts are accepted or resisted within the day-to-day work of domestic legal systems.

The ANCHOR project uses international refugee and migration law to examine and understand these dynamics: While an area of frequent political contestation, there also has been a significant increase in international case law in this field. Case data from the Danish Refugee Appeals Board will be used to analyze the domestic reception of international rulings. In this way, the ambition of the ANCHOR project is to contribute new, research-based knowledge and a deeper understanding of the relationship between international court judgments and national legal systems. This contribution will help qualify and nuance the debate on law and legal practices in a globalized world.