Rule of Law: In Books, in Minds

The volume Rule of Law: in Books, in Minds, conceived as a special issue of the journal Diritto e Questioni Pubbliche, presents the main scientific results of the PRIN 2022 Research Project 'The Concept of the Rule of Law: Empirical and Analytical Perspectives' (CLEAR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) of the Ministry of University and Research. The project is coordinated by the University of Bologna in collaboration with the local units of the Universities of Genoa and Palermo. CLEAR was developed around the initial hypothesis that the concept of the Rule of Law is particularly difficult to understand—especially when compared with more autocratic or populist models of sovereignty—and that reducing this difficulty is both important and desirable for defending constitutional democracy against its adversaries. The volume is organized into four parts. Part I, The Rule of Law: Structure and Challenges, focuses on conceptual analyses of the Rule of Law and on several challenges it raises for political and legal philosophy. Part II, The Rule of Law: Its Crisis and Its Enemies, examines the contemporary crisis of democracy and the Rule of Law, identifies some of its most significant causal factors, and discusses whether plausible alternatives to the Rule of Law exist. Part III, The Rule of Law in Minds, presents the empirical research developed within CLEAR and includes contributions that explore, from different perspectives, how psychological questions bear on the Rule of Law. Part IV, Legal Design for the Rule of Law, investigates legal design as a tool for experimental jurisprudence and analyzes the feasibility and constitutional admissibility of nudge-like design policies.