The paper discusses forms of legal and constitutional mobilization by (networks of) social movements and civil society organizations in the EU. It is acknowledged that European civil society increasingly takes recourse to forms of legal mobilization and activism, particularly focusing on litigation as a legal strategy. But, in this, there is thus far little systematic research on how legal mobilization of, and contestation by, social movements is related to more general forms of claims-making, framing, and justification, often with constitutional implications. The paper argues that two dimensions of legal mobilization in the EU would need more sustained analysis. First, legal mobilization is often understood as litigation, and research particularly focuses on the CJEU and ECtHR as the main arenas of legal action. But legal mobilization can take other, more public, forms, such as public claims-making, advocacy campaigns, and lobbying. Second, legal activism is mostly researched in the context of a specific rights claim, without explicit attention to the wider normative frame in which claims are embedded. The paper will discuss the theoretical and analytical dimensions to both legal mobilization and rights claims. It will subsequently discuss a case-study of the campaign for a right to water, regarding different types of legal mobilization involved (including the ECI) and different normative claims being endorsed.
