A Circle U. collaboration has led to the publication of a new open-access volume exploring how constitutional courts can help safeguard electoral integrity in times of democratic pressure. The book, “Constitutional Courts and Electoral Integrity: Navigating Challenges, Shaping Prospects,” edited by Rachele Bizzari and Angioletta Sperti, is now available through Pisa University Press.
The volume originates from an international workshop held in Pisa in September 2025, organised within the Circle U. Alliance as part of the Jean Monnet Module “Promoting and Strengthening EU Values”, coordinated by Professor Angioletta Sperti at the University of Pisa. The initiative reflects Circle U.’s commitment to fostering cross-border academic dialogue on key societal challenges.
Bringing together perspectives from Europe, Latin America and Africa, the book explores how courts, institutions and public authorities interact to protect electoral processes. It addresses current issues such as disinformation, digital campaigning and technological manipulation, while also engaging with recent developments in electoral justice.
"I’m truly impressed by the high scientific quality of the contributions brought together in this volume, and I believe it represents one of the first real occasions for a shared and collective reflection within the Democracy Hub and, more broadly, within the Circle U. Alliance".
Angioletta Sperti
Among the workshop’s guests was Professor Dan Banik, Academic Director of the Circle U. Democracy Hub, who recalls last September’s experience and the publication of the volume as follows.
"It was a genuine privilege for me to take part in the workshop as Visiting Professor for a few weeks. The workshop itself generated rich and wide-ranging discussions, and it is a tremendous pleasure to see those conversations translated so swiftly into print in the form of the newly published edited volume. That a volume of this quality and scope could be brought to publication in such record time is a remarkable achievement, and a testament to the dedication of its editors. This is Circle U. at its very best. It is exactly the kind of vibrant and cross-border academic collaboration the Alliance was built to inspire".
Dan Banik
A key feature of the initiative is the active involvement of early-career researchers from across the Circle U. Alliance. PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers contributed both to the workshop and to the final publication.
Among them, Maximilian Grawunder, PhD student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, said:
“Participating in the workshop in Pisa was an inspiring opportunity to engage in insightful dialogue with scholars from across Europe and from diverse academic backgrounds about the challenges facing courts and democratic institutions. I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to contribute a chapter to the resulting volume, which examines how comparative reasoning may facilitate the transmission of different legal traditions within the EU and help safeguard the EU’s values against democratic backsliding."
Maximilian Grawunder
By turning a workshop into an open-access publication, the project shows how Circle U. connects researchers and ideas across Europe—supporting collaborative, inclusive and impactful research.
