Dr Alan Greene

Birmingham Law School
Reader in Constitutional Law and Human Rights
Deputy Head of Research

Contact details

Email: a.greene@bham.ac.uk

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Alan Greene is a Reader in Constitutional Law and Human Rights, specialising in constitutional law and human rights. His research focuses on the limits of constitutionalism, judicial review and the role of courts in vindicating the rule of law. He explores these themes in the context of emergency powers, counter-terrorism, constituent power, and the judicial protection of human rights more generally.

Qualifications

PhD, UCD School of Law (2014)
LLM, UCD School of Law (2009)
BCL, UCD School of Law (2008)

Biography

Alan's research focuses on the limits of constitutionalism, judicial review, and the role of courts in vindicating the rule of law. He explores these themes in the context of emergency powers, counter-terrorism, constituent power, and the judicial protection of human rights more generally. His first book Permanent States of Emergency and the Rule of Law: Constitutions in an Age of Crisis (Hart Publishing, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. His latest book is Emergency Powers in a Time of Pandemic (Bristol University Press, 2020) and explores how states can best protect human rights and the rule of law while responding to a pandemic.

In February 2021, Alan was appointed by the Irish Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, to the six-person Independent Review Group to examine the Offences Against the State Act—Ireland's primary counter-terrorism legislation. He was one of two authors of the Group's Minority Report along with Prof Donncha O'Connell (University of Galway.

Alan joined Birmingham Law School in September 2018. Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor at Durham Law School (2013-2018) and has also taught at University College Dublin School of Law during his period as a PhD Candidate there. Alan's PhD was supported by a UCD School of Law Doctoral Scholarship and Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship.

He has published widely in journals such as the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Global Constitutionalism Legal Studies, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, The Modern Law Review, Public Law, the European Human Rights Law Review and The Irish Jurist.

Alan is very interested in hearing from potential PhD candidates in the area of constituent power, states of emergency, counter-terrorism, and the judicial protection of human rights.

Teaching

Public Law
Counter-Terrorism Law
International and European Legal Responses to Terrorism

Postgraduate supervision

Constituent power
States of emergency
Counter-terrorism
Human rights

Find out more - our PhD Law page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

Alan's research focuses on the limits of constitutionalism, judicial review, and the role of courts in vindicating the rule of law. He explores these themes in the context of emergency powers, counter-terrorism, constituent power, and the judicial protection of human rights more generally. His first book Permanent States of Emergency and the Rule of Law: Constitutions in an Age of Crisis (Hart Publishing, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. He has published widely in journals such as Legal Studies, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, The Modern Law Review, Public Law, and The Irish Jurist.

Alan has held visiting positions at Durham Law School (2013) and Columbia Law School (2012). He is very interested in hearing from potential PhD candidates in the area of constituent power, states of emergency, counter-terrorism, and the judicial protection of human rights.

Publications

Highlight publications

Greene, A 2020, Emergency Powers in a Time of Pandemic. Bristol University Press.

Greene, A 2018, Permanent states of emergency and the rule of law: constitutions in an age of crisis. Hart Studies in Security and Justice, 1st edn, Hart Publishing, Oxford, UK; Portland, Oregon.

Greene, A 2021, 'Parliamentary sovereignty and the locus of constituent power in the United Kingdom', International Journal of Constitutional Law, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 1166-1200. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moaa100

Greene, A 2024, 'Hegemonic Constituent Power: Fear of the People and Lessons for Irish Reunification', Global Constitutionalism. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381723000370

Greene, A 2021, Emergencies and Illiberalism. in A Sajó, R Uitz & S Holmes (eds), Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism. 1st edn, Routledge, pp. 554-570. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367260569-40

Recent publications

Article

Greene, A 2021, 'Closing places of worship and COVID-19: towards a culture of justification?', Edinburgh Law Review, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 393-400. https://doi.org/10.3366/elr.2021.0723

Greene, A 2021, 'Derogations, deprivation of liberty and the containment stage of pandemic responses', European Human Rights Law Review, vol. 2021, no. 4, pp. 389-402.

Greene, A 2020, 'Derogating from the European Convention on Human Rights in response to the Coronavirus pandemic: if not now, when?', European Human Rights Law Review, vol. 2020, no. 3, pp. 262-276.

Greene, A 2020, 'On the Value of Derogations from the European Convention on Human Rights in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rejoinder', European Human Rights Law Review, no. 5, pp. 526-532.

Greene, A 2017, 'Defining terrorism: one size fits all?', International & Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 411-440. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589317000070

Greene, A 2016, 'Through the looking glass? Irish and UK approaches to Strasbourg jurisprudence', Irish Jurist, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 112-133.

Greene, A 2015, 'Questioning Executive Supremacy in an Economic State of Emergency', Legal Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 594-620. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12082

Greene, A 2014, 'The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: R v Gul', Modern Law Review, vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 780-793. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12090, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12090

Greene, A & Dzehtsiarou, K 2013, 'Restructuring the European Court of Human Rights: Preserving the Right of Individual Petition and Promoting Constitutionalism', Public Law, pp. 711-719.

Greene, A 2012, 'The Historical Evolution of Article 28.3.3° of the Irish Constitution', Irish Jurist, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 117-142. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26431221.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Greene, A 2023, “The Supreme Legislative Authority Speaking as the Mouthpiece of the People”: Constituent Power and the Irish Free State. in L Cahillane & DK Coffey (eds), The Centenary of the Irish Free State Constitution: Constituting a Polity? . 1 edn, Palgrave Modern Legal History, Palgrave Macmillan.

Greene, A 2022, Emergencies, Executive Power, and Ireland's Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. in N Morag (ed.), Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic: International Laws, Policies, and Civil Liberties. Wiley, pp. 23-40. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119812203.ch2

Greene, A 2017, The Future of Human Rights in a Culture of Control. in C-M Smyth (ed.), The Future of Human Rights in the UK . Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 4-26.

Chapter

Greene, A 2021, A less exceptional state of exception: the offences against the state act as an emergency response. in M Coen (ed.), The Offences Against the State Act 1939 at 80: A Model Counter-Terrorism Act? . 1st edn, Hart Studies in Security and Justice, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 221–238. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509932023.ch-013

Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

Greene, A 2019, Types and Effects of Emergency. in Max Planck Encyclopaedia of Comparative Constitutional Law . Oxford University Press.

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