Despite the significant growth in academic interest in both children's rights and socio-economic rights over the last two decades, children's socio-economic rights are a comparatively neglected area. This is particularly true with regard to the role of the courts in the enforcement of such rights. Aoife Nolan's book remedies this omission, focussing on the circumstances in which the courts can and should give effect to the socio-economic rights of children. The arguments put forward are located within the context of, and develop, long-standing debates in constitutional law, democratic theory and human rights. The claims made by the author are supported and illustrated by concrete examples of judicial enforcement of children's socio-economic rights from a variety of jurisdictions. The work is thus rooted in both theory and practice. The author brings together and addresses a wide range of issues that have never previously been considered together in book form. These include children's socio-economic rights; children as citizens and their position in relation to democratic decision-making processes; the implications of children and their rights for democratic and constitutional theory; the role of the courts in ensuring the enforcement of children's rights; and the debates surrounding the litigation and adjudication of socio-economic rights. This book thus represents a major original contribution to the existing scholarship in a range of areas including human rights, legal and political theory and constitutional law.

1. Children and Socio-economic Rights 1 2. Children and Democracy 43 3. Exploring the ‘Counter-Majoritarian Objection’ 93 4. A Question of Balance? The Separation of Powers, Constitutional Supremacy and Children’s Socio-economic Rights 134 5. The Issue of Efficacy 187 6. Using the Courts to Advance Children’s Socio-economic Rights: Proceed with Caution? 220 7. Conclusions 257 Select Bibliograpy 260 Index 285

Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 2005