E.MA theses in the Review of East and Central European Law

Professor Lauri Mälksoo, E.MA Director for Estonia (University of Tartu), has edited a special issue of the Review of East and Central European Law (Volume 37, 2012, No 2-3) published by Brill. The special issue is entitled “Russia and European Human Rights Law: Progress, Tensions, and Perspectives” and contains also articles based on three E.MA master’s theses written at the University of Tartu.

The main articles were written by Petr Preclik (E.MA 2008) on “Culture Re-introduced: the Contestation of Human Rights in Centemporary Russia”; Dorothea Schönfeld (E.MA 2008) on “Tilting at Windmills? The European Response at Violations of Media Freedom in Russia”, and Dara Hallinan (E.MA 2009) on “Orthodox Pluralism: Contours of Freedom of Religion in the Russian Federation and Strasbourg Jurisprudence”. The special issue is introduced by Judge Angelika Nussberger (European Court of Human Rights), contains a response by a Russian human rights scholar (Vladislav Starzhenetskiy) as well as introductory and concluding chapters by Professor Mälksoo.

This collection of articles on human rights in Russia proves that E.MA students are often delivering wonderful scholarship that should be published and recognized by the international scholarly community says Prof. Mälksoo. I enourage future E.MA students to see their thesis not just as steps to important practical professions but also as steps to further research and scholarship on human rights.