Recalibrating Human Rights in Europe: A Call to Awaken the Principle of Non-Retrogression

The article studies the role of the European Court of Human Rights in the face of populist and illiberal challenges. Using a practice approach to study populist and illiberal norm entrepreneurship, the analysis reveals that contestation about the concept of democracy is central to the judicial recalibration of human rights. It assesses the application of the principle of subsidiarity against this background, demonstrating how the presumption of good faith fosters the recalibration of human rights in populist and illiberal terms. In response, it calls for awakening the principle of non-retrogression as a building block of the European human rights acquis. It argues that member states’ initial commitment to maintaining and furthering Convention rights comprises an obligation to refrain from adopting retrogressive (regressive) measures that roll back human rights safeguards and standards.