Kateřina Šimáčková

Kateřina Šimáčková is a judge of the European Court of Human Rights. Previously she served as a judge of the Czech Constitutional Court and the Czech Supreme Administrative Court. She also worked as an attorney, a member of the Government Legislative Council of the Czech Republic, a member of the Committee on the selection of judges of the Civil Service Tribunal (CJEU), and a substitute member of the Venice Commission. She is also an assistant professor (Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science, Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno) and a member of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague and of the Academy Assembly of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She has published on human rights and co-authored several academic books, including Mužské právo. Jsou právní pravidla neutrální?, Lidská práva starších lidí, Budoucnost státu?, Lidská práva: (ne)smysl české politiky?, Dvacet let Evropské úmluvy v České republice a na Slovensku, Komunistické právo, Évolution des rapports entre les ordres juridiques de l'Union européenne, international et nationaux, and book commentaries on the Law on the Illegality of the Communist Regime, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, and the Civil Code.  

Legitimacy, credibility, and diversity – conditions for the resilience of a democratic state 

The constitutional self-definition of the Czech state (and other European states) is based on the fact that they are democratic and based on the rule of law and the protection of human rights. Legal theory has developed the concept of a defensible democracy. What can contribute to the resilience of democratic institutions? And how to ensure their legitimacy and credibility?