Sandrine Brachotte defended her thesis

On 23 May 2022, Sandrine Brachotte defended her PhD thesis, entitled "The Conflict of Laws and Non-Secular Worldviews: A Proposal for Inclusion" and written under the supervision of Professor Horatia Muir Watt, before a jury composed of Professors Karen Knop, Ralf Michaels and Isabelle Rorive, Assistant Professor Jacco Bomhoff, and CNRS-MNHN-University of Paris Research Fellow Nadia Belaïdi.

The thesis is inspired by critical theories of law that challenge the liberal and secular values that underlie modern Western state law and justify its superiority as they are considered universally synonymous with a better life for all. These theories seek to demonstrate that liberal and secular values are suitable for Western culture, but not for other cultures, in particular those of minority religious groups and indigenous populations, which are thus structurally excluded by the law. In order to better include these rationalities in the law, the thesis proposes to review certain concepts of a branch of law whose ability to recognize and welcome otherness has been praised, namely the conflict of laws (also called private international law).