CONFERENCE: "Anti-Democratic Ideology and Criminal Law under Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes – IALS", (London, September 10-11 2015)

WHAT Anti-Democratic Ideology and Criminal Law under Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes – IALS, Conference

WHEN September 10-11  2015

WHERE London

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Speakers Abstract

Keynote Speakers: Professor David Fraser, University of Nottingham and Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Professor Luigi Lacchè, University of Macerata, Italy.

Academic Convenor: Dr Stephen Skinner, University of Exeter.

The Fascist, National Socialist and other forms of authoritarian regimes that emerged in the twentieth century used criminal law as a key component of their repressive and social control strategies. Criminal law was both an instrument in such regimes’ exertion of power, and a medium through which their core ideologies were expressed and could be identified. Although such regimes were not merely negative movements grounded on opposition to other political forces, many of them included elements of anti-democratic ideology in the formulation, application and interpretation of criminal law. This involved rejecting concepts identified with liberal democracy, and purporting to overcome their inadequacies. Whereas for some regimes such as Fascism and National Socialism this was an explicit, self-declared component of their identity, for others anti-democratic ideology was arguably more implicit in their turn away from liberal methods and models of criminal law.

This conference invites participants to question the nature and extent of anti-democratic ideology in criminal law under Fascist, National Socialist and other authoritarian regimes during the 20th century.