What I do

Professor of political science at the University of Denver, Faculty affiliate of the Sie Center for International Security and Diplomacy, and Core faculty of the Institute for Comparative and Regional Studies

Specialization(s)

European Union, Court of Justice of the EU, European politics, European Court of Human Rights, Brexit

Professional Biography

Professor Conant specializes in the politics of European legal integration, exploring the impact of judgments by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and European Court of Human Rights (ECHtR), the Europeanization and globalization of national courts, transformations in European citizenship, Brexit, and the relationship between legal mobilization and human rights protection in Europe. She teaches courses on European politics, international law and human rights, the European Union, and the politics of immigration and citizenship. Professor Conant has engaged in extensive archival and interview-based research across Europe through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at the Free University of Berlin and the European University Institute in Florence, and she regularly returns to Europe for ongoing research.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Political Science, University of Washington, 1998
  • MA, Political Science, University of Washington, 1993
  • BA, International Relations, summa cum laude, University of Minnesota, 1990

Professional Affiliations

  • American Political Science Association
  • Council for European Studies
  • European Union Studies Association
  • Law and Society Association

Research

Professor Conant specializes in the politics of European legal integration, exploring the impact of judgments by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Europeanization and globalization of national courts, Brexit, transformations in European citizenship, and the relationship between legal mobilization and human rights protection in Europe.

Areas of Research

citizenship and immigration in Europe
comparative study of law and society
Europeanization and globalization of national courts
Human Rights
politics of legal integration in the EU
Brexit

Featured Publications

Conant, L. (2002). Justice Contained: Law and Politics in the European Union. Ithaca, NY, United States of America: Cornell University Press.
Conant, L. (2018). Missing in action? The rare voice of international courts in domestic politics. (M. Wind, Ed.), International courts and domestic politics. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Conant, L., Hofmann, A., Soennecken, D., & Vanhala, L. (2017). Research agenda: Mobilizing European law. Journal of European Public Policy.
Conant, L. (2016). Who Files Suit? Legal Mobilization and Torture Violations in Europe. Law & Policy, 38(4), 280-303.
Conant, L. (2014). Compelling Criteria? Human Rights in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(5), 713-729.

Presentations

Conant, L. (2022). Canaries in the mine? European legal mobilization and its implications for democracy. Annual International Meeting of the Law and Society Association conference. Lisbon, Portugal.
Conant, L. (2021). Brexit as backlash against the European Court of Justice? . Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Seattle, Washington.
Conant, L. (2019). Canaries in the mine? European legal mobilization and its discontents. Activists in International Courts. iCourts, University of Copenhagen: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Conant, L. (2019). Failing forward until it falls apart? EU citizenship, the Court of Justice, and Brexit. Failing Forward or Falling Apart? Crisis and Patterns of European Integration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
Conant, L. (2019). Multi-level administration: Is European law what national courts make of it?. Sweden: Lund University.

Awards

  • Outstanding service, Provost's First Annual Service Celebration Dinner
  • You Rock, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, University of Denver
  • "Who files suit" article featured in a "Worth Reading" section of War Crimes Prosecution Watch (Volume 11, Issue 19: November 28, 2016), PILPG: A Global Pro Bono Law Firm
  • Best course proposal in the Core curriculum for "The Politics of Rights", University of Denver
  • Honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa, University of Denver chapter