{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1503643751?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1503643751","authors":["Jessica Greenberg"],"book_id":"9781503643758","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/justice-in-the-balance-1503643751","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781503643758.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","description":"Established as a post-World War II response to conflict and fascism, the European Court of Human Rights is routinely characterized as the most successful human rights institution in the world. Based in Strasbourg, France, its jurisdiction extends to over 700 million people on European soil across the 46 Council of Europe member countries. The Court is the crown jewel of the Council, an international organization dedicated to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. And yet, for years, European institutions have been haunted by the specter of failure. In the shadow of rising populism, inequality, and war, faith in democracy and the rule of law has been shaken to its core. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over eight years with human rights advocates, lawyers, and judges at the European Court of Human Rights, this book asks: what kind of justice is possible through law? Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research, Jessica Greenberg tracks two paradoxical experiences of the European human rights system and the Court: on the one hand the Court as a bureaucratic \"machine;\" on the other the Court as the \"conscience of Europe.\" She argues that human rights frameworks fuel imaginative approaches to social change, and compel legal actors to creatively navigate institutions through advocacy, persuasion, and innovative interpretation of what the law is and what it should be.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781503643758","publication_date":"20250923","publisher":"Stanford University Press","slug":"justice-in-the-balance","subtitle":"Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights","title":"Justice in the Balance"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POL040030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Courts & the Judiciary","score":0.7557,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL035010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Human Rights","score":0.73,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAW026020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Criminal Sentencing","score":0.7006,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POL040030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Courts & the Judiciary","score":0.7557,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL035010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Human Rights","score":0.73,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAW026020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Criminal Sentencing","score":0.7006,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LAW111000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Judicial Power & Courts","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL035010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Human Rights","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC002010","confidence_band":"high","label":"How Cultures Work","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Courts & the Judiciary","score":0.7557,"slug":"courts-the-judiciary"},{"label":"Human Rights","score":0.73,"slug":"human-rights"},{"label":"Criminal Sentencing","score":0.7006,"slug":"criminal-sentencing"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Courts & the Judiciary","Good for readers interested in human","Good for readers who enjoy Courts & the Judiciary and Human Rights."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Baz Dreisinger"],"book_id":"9781590518991","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781590518991.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":12.6813,"title":"Incarceration Nations","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781590518991"},{"authors":["Lynn Hunt"],"book_id":"9780393331998","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780393331998.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":11.1732,"title":"Inventing Human Rights","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780393331998"},{"authors":["Preet Bharara","Random House Audio"],"book_id":"9780525521129","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780525521129.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":10.9997,"title":"Doing Justice","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780525521129"},{"authors":["Hwang Sok-yong","Lee Jae-Eui","Jeon Yong-Ho","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781788737142","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781788737142.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":10.561,"title":"Gwangju Uprising","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781788737142"},{"authors":["Bryan Stevenson"],"book_id":"9780593133934","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593133934.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":10.2089,"title":"Just Mercy","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593133934"},{"authors":["Jed S Rakoff"],"book_id":"9781250829566","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250829566.jpg?v=20260417T204117Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-17T20%3A41%3A17Z","score":9.8981,"title":"Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250829566"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:human rights social change europe rule of law european integration justice state violence sovereignty lawyers judges hum"],"label":"Social","score":0.129,"slug":"social"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:human rights social change europe rule of law european integration justice state violence sovereignty lawyers judges hum"],"label":"Human","score":0.055,"slug":"human"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Social, Human.","Reading lane: Courts & The Judiciary and Human Rights.","Publisher: Stanford University Press."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":false,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_reviews_count":0,"quality_score":0.8}}