Strategic litigation refers to the use of legal action, whereby the goals pursued reach beyond the protection of the rights of immediate parties to the legal proceedings and instead centre around the interests of entire communities. As a tool, strategic litigation proves to be particularly useful to those who are marginalized or otherwise disregarded by a particular society. While potentially a promising tool for driving change, strategic litigation comes with its own set of risks and disadvantages that should not be disregarded and should instead be properly taken into account by legal practitioners. Strategic litigation was first noticeably used as part of the fight against racism by the civil rights movement in the United States of America. Since then, the field of legal practice expanded and with it so did the overall interest of the academia. The following thesis focuses on two major themes of the existing research today. Firstly, the thesis addresses the question of why certain individuals or groups turn to the courts as part of their quest for systemic change while others do not. Secondly, it deals with the question of effectiveness of strategic litigation which is closely linked with the critique levied against strategic litigation for being anti-democratic and elitist in nature. The thesis places its analysis in the context of the anti-discrimination efforts in Slovenia. Case studies include examples of strategic litigation, whereby the activists faced discrimination based on nationality, sexual orientation and ethnicity.
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