skip to content

Von Hügel Institute

for Critical Catholic Inquiry
 

Biography

Paolo Carozza is a professor of law and political science at the University of Notre Dame, where he has been a faculty member since 1996. His scholarly expertise is primarily in the areas of comparative constitutional law and international human rights law, focusing particularly on foundational principles of human rights such as human dignity and subsidiarity. For ten years he was Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame, where he also founded the Constitutionalism and Rule of Law Lab. He is a member of the Oversight Board, an independent expert body created by Meta Platforms, Inc. to render decisions and policy recommendations regarding difficult content moderation problems on Meta’s platforms. He is the United States member of the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), and formerly was a member and President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in 2016.

Research

Current research interests include the development, theory and practice, and future of international human rights law; freedom of expression and other human rights in the context of the digital information ecosystem; the development of Catholic social thought in relationship to new information and communications technologies and artificial intelligence; and comparative constitutionalism generally.

Publications

Key publications: 

Books and edited volumes

· Italian Constitutional Justice in Global Context (Oxford University Press, 2016) (with Vittoria Barsotti, Marta Cartabia, and Andrea Simoncini)

· Comparative Legal Traditions: Text, Materials and Cases on Western Law (West Academic Publishing, 4th ed. 2014) (with Mary Ann Glendon and Colin B. Picker); also coauthored 3rd edition (2007)

· Regional Protection of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2013) (with Dinah Shelton)

· The Practice of Human Development and Dignity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020) (co-edited with Clemens Sedmak)

· Dialogues on Italian Constitutional Justice: A Comparative Perspective (published jointly by Routledge Press and Giappichelli Editore, 2020) (co-edited with Vittoria Barsotti, Marta Cartabia, and Andrea Simoncini)

Book chapters and articles

· Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Relationships: The Family in Comparative Constitutional Law, in The Family as a Relational Good: The Challenge of Love 437-454 (Pierpaolo Donati ed., Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 2022)

· National and Transnational Constitutionalism, and the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights, in Nation, State, and Nation State 83-105 (Vittorio Hösle ed., Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 2020)

· The Possibilities and Limits of International Human Rights Law to Foster Social Inclusion and Participation, in Towards a Participatory Society: New Roads to Social and Cultural Integration 228 (Pierpalo Donati, ed., Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2018)

· The Problematic Applicability of Subsidiarity to International Law, 61 American Journal of Jurisprudence 51 (2016)

· The Right and the Good, and the Place of Freedom of Religion in Human Rights, 40 Communio International Catholic Review 456 (Summer-Fall 2013)

· Human Rights, Human Dignity, and Human Experience, in Understanding Human Dignity 615 (Christopher McCrudden ed., Proceedings of the British Academy, 2013)

· Human Dignity, in Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law 345 (Dinah Shelton ed., Oxford University Press, 2013)

· Human Dignity in Constitutional Adjudication, in Comparative Constitutional Law 459 (Tom Ginsburg and Rosalind Dixon Eds., Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2011)

· I diritti umani, l'«arte» della democrazia e il «gusto per la libertà locale», in La Sostenibilità Della Democrazia Nel XXI Secolo (Marta Cartabia and Andrea Simoncini eds., Il Mulino, 2009)

· Human Dignity and Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights: A, 19 European Journal of International Law 931 (2008)

· The Universal Common Good and the Authority of International Law, 9 Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 1:28 (2006)

· “My Friend is a Stranger”: The Death Penalty and the Global Ius Commune of Human Rights, 81 Texas Law Review 1031 (2003)

· From Conquest to Constitutions: Retrieving a Latin American Tradition of the Idea of Human Rights, 25 Human Rights Quarterly 281 (2003)

· Subsidiarity as a Structural Principle of International Human Rights Law, 97 American Journal of International Law 38 (2003).

And other books, book chapters, articles, and shorter pieces.

Senior Research Associate
Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Notre Dame

Contact Details

Email address: 

 

 

A unique institute of advanced studies inspired by Catholic thought and culture, focussed on contemporary global realities, and dedicated to encounter, dialogue, and transformation