Social licence and international law: the case of the European Union

Abstract

This chapter aims to use the European Union legal system to demonstrate the way in which legal and social interventions are linked, highlighting the ways in which politics marries the two elements. This is not to suggest that this link is in any way unique to Europe, because most chapters in this book suggest that the concept of social licence does, if nothing else, speak of this link. This chapter shows a complex interaction between European laws that defend the social licence of the individual or the enterprise, and national laws intended to restrict this licence to meet particular needs of the state. It highlights an additional international law dimension to the social licence issue, which is generally discussed as being a dialogue between the nation state and its citizens. The role of supra-national organisations in defending the social licence of the enterprise and the citizen is an interesting modern development. The European instance highlights the potential for this supra-national dimension to come into being, and how this in turn can act as a brake on the ability of the nation state to restrict the commercial freedoms of its citizens. With the growth in international trade laws and other forms of convention that have supra-national effect, this dynamic is likely to be increasingly evident.