Collective Subject-Holdership, Processes and Scales of Collectivisation

The chapter establishes one of the theoretical founding stones of the book, presenting its proper theoretical contribution to the field. To start with, it addresses different forms of collective subject-holdership, including ‘national minorities’, intergenerational rights and other emblematic categories. It further takes major steps in what could be called a ‘categorisation’ or ‘scales of’ collectivisation of group rights, by way of measurement. It departs from the rationale that structural transformation is needed, possibly through group-specific or collective rights as proper legal constructs; such framework is to be juxtaposed with the State’s emphasis on the individual, as the most fundamental moral unit. The new framework could be seen as a response to sporadic affirmative action approaches, also carrying implications for locus standi such as the wielding of collective rights and dual standing rights. Scales of collectivisation broadly draw lines of demarcation between pro forma rights or formal equality and substantive change or genuinely inclusive rights which shall assist us in measuring the legal value of collective rights in contemporary orders comparatively. The following variables could be considered constituting as far as said scales of collectivisation are concerned, namely the ‘standardisation and mainstreaming of collective rights’, the ‘establishment of sui generis orders’, the ‘constitutionalisation’ of rights, and the ‘institutional mainstreaming of collective rights’. Attention shall also be paid to the ‘integrity of human rights’ in such processes and for the different ‘levels of autonomy and leverage relative to the State’ to be considered.