Mission & Profile
The fundamental premise underlying academic research conducted at Erasmus School of Law (ESL) is that law cannot be considered in splendid isolation or as an end in itself. It is imbedded in the economic and social context that shapes the law. At the same time, law itself shapes society and defines economic relationships. Examining the economic and social context that shapes the law requires taking into account new developments and challenges that call for a legal or regulatory response.
Cases in point are the global financial and European sovereign debt crisis as well as recent corporate scandals. They do not only raise fundamental governance issues concerning public and private stakeholders, but also more broadly highlight the impact of such crises on society and how to deal with them.
Examples of the latter are the increasing (social) impoverishment and radicalisation of certain parts of society. Questioning the role of law in relation to economic and social challenges not only entails research into the law’s problem-solving capacity – both its successes and failures – but also an exploration of the way in which law may create problems due to its particular mode of responding. For example the European response to the sovereign debt crisis in some countries has therefore had major social consequences.
Another example is the discussion on whether multinational companies pay their fair share of tax is a direct result of the crisis and the resulting budgetary difficulties of governments, as well as the issue of the control of the influx of refugees through migration control by means of stricter enforcement of EU border control, which has fuelled the growth of organised crime (human smuggling and human trafficking) across Europe and its bordering regions.
Law itself also shapes society and defines economic relationships. It is not just a codification of social norms; law also modifies social expectations. In the Dutch context, this dynamic can be observed, for example, in the legalisation of euthanasia, which was followed by social groups calling for further liberalisation of end-of-life decisions.
Objectives
In line with this mission, ESL has formulated the following objectives that form the basis for its research and adjoining HR policies:
to conduct high-quality research that provides high visibility and a good reputation in the national and international academic community; as seen, for example, in the acquisition of national and international research funding, as well as in the visibility of ESL researchers in the international academic and social debate;
to achieve significant impact of academic publications in and outside the legal domain in national and international peer-reviewed journals, as well as of monographs and edited volumes at leading national and international publishers;
to achieve societal impact of the research in and outside the legal domain through such things as dialogue with audiences outside academia
to attract, develop, and retain talented researchers at all stages of their career;
to offer a range of high-quality, internationally competitive PhD programmes and its own graduate school, Erasmus Graduate School of Law (EGSL);
to provide legal education that reflects the scientific insights of ESL researchers and the current academic debate in general and which forges links with current social issues.
