Introducing a New Blog Symposium: Exploring Freedom of Association Collaboratively

Maria Cahill & Cinzia Ruggeri

University College Cork

Freedom of association is an unusual fundamental right because it protects individuals in their sociality rather than in their individuality. The connection between individuality and sociality inherent in freedom of association has not yet been fully confronted by courts, judges, and legal theorists. Thus, despite its great potential to protect democratic and pluralistic societies, freedom of association is often undervalued and underdeveloped, with unsettled meaning and inconsistent application. On the other hand, by recognising the individual not only in her individuality but also in her sociality, freedom of association guards against hyper-individualist atomising tendencies and provides space for the development of character, for the fostering of empathy, for the cultivation of social relatedness and cooperation. In other words, it thereby transcends the individual-state paradigm by relying on the existence and flourishing of private associations and contributes to the flourishing not only of citizens but also of human beings tout court.

The right to freedom of association can apply to associations as diverse as political parties, trade unions, religious organisations, sporting organisations, cultural associations, residents’ associations and charities. It can overlap with other rights such as the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and privacy. It is also explicitly or implicitly protected by many sub-fields of law, including labour law (although trade unions are often protected by distinct constitutional/treaty provisions and treated differently than other associations), charity law, and sports law.

The Societās project at the University College Cork School of Law explores the right to freedom of association in comparative perspective. Participants at an online workshop “Mapping the Legal Landscape of Freedom of Association” held in March 2023 were asked to consider the source and nature of the right to freedom of association in their jurisdiction, including questions such as where and how the right is protected, how it is related to the political, social and cultural history of the jurisdiction, and what content it is considered to have. The right to freedom of association is often three-fold, encompassing: (a) a right to associate, i.e., the right of an individual to form or to join an association; (b) a right to disassociate, i.e., the right of an individual to leave or refuse to join an association, and; (c) a right of organisational autonomy, i.e., the right of an association to determine its purpose, activities, and internal rules.

A further conference on “The Purpose and Potential of Freedom of Association” held in June 2023 continued this conversation among a growing network of legal experts on freedom of association, focusing on the types of disputes that emerge in respect of freedom of association, how courts understand the relationship between freedom of association and other fundamental rights (e.g., freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of thought and belief, privacy, equality and non-discrimination), and crucially what superior courts consider to be the most important value or principle or rationale for protecting freedom of association, along with considerations of academic and policy debates around this fundamental right in particular jurisdictions.

As is made manifest in the collection of blog posts that will be published on the IACL blog in the coming months, although there are certain common threads, it is not true to say that there is a strong consistency in how and why freedom of association is defended in legal systems and courts around the world. The purpose of this collection is to provide constitutional scholars everywhere with a flavour of the special features of this right in particular jurisdictions. Look out for the relationship between freedom of association and customary law in Nigeria; how freedom of association is protected in China; why membership of student societies is compulsory in Finland; how recent legislation in France in the context of environmental protests impacts on freedom of association there; the challenges of protecting freedom of association in the US and Australia in the absence of express constitutional protection; how Mexico has developed a conceptual framework for interpreting this right, and how the UN, the Inter-American system and the ECHR articulate the value of freedom of association from an international perspective.

We believe that it is important for the legal community worldwide to understand this (often forgotten) fundamental right, and to do so in comparative perspective by sharing knowledge and experience of its workings in different social contexts. We are very grateful to the range of contributors who have participated in this network and produced this collection of rich and interesting posts. Some of them are well-established academics while others are early career academics and researchers, and all of them have participated generously, seriously and intelligently in this award-winning collaboration. A collection of longer papers exploring how freedom of association is protected in these and other jurisdictions will soon be published in a double special issue of the European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance.

Maria Cahill is Professor of Law at University College Cork and Principal Investigator of the Societās project “Exploring the Value of Freedom of Association”, funded by an Irish Research Council Laureate grant (www.associationalfreedom.org).

Cinzia Ruggeri is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher at University College Cork, working on the Societās project “Exploring the Value of Freedom of Association”.

Suggested citation: Maria Cahill and Cinzia Ruggeri, ‘Introducing a New Blog Symposium: “Exploring Freedom of Association Collaboratively”’ IACL-AIDC Blog (27 August 2024) Introducing a New Blog Symposium: Exploring Freedom of Association Collaboratively — IACL-IADC Blog (blog-iacl-aidc.org)