Law and the Politics of Diversity

How can law sustain diversity and inclusion in complex, unequal societies and economies, as illiberalism is solidifying across Europe and North America? What is the role of universities in upholding these principles? What does it take to build truly diverse and inclusive workplaces?

For decades, lawyers, scholars, and activists have grappled with these questions mobilizing an array of tools such as anti-discrimination rules, affirmative action, or diversity and inclusion policies within institutions. At the same time “diversity and inclusion” agendas have never been free from critics, including from those from equality movements, who support these principles and their transformative potential. For some, the law itself leaves many deep inequalities intact, for others, diversity became something of an institutional performance failing to truly tackle issues of resource and power distribution along gender, race, ethnicity, class – to name a few.

This conversation reflects on what diversity and inclusion may mean in this context, bringing together perspectives from law, feminist and critical theory, and education, and comparing developments across Europe and the United States.