Resumen de ‘Foot in the Door’ or ‘Door in the Face’? The development of legal strategies in European climate litigation between structure and agency

Carlotta Garofalo

• Following the landmarkUrgendacase, European social movements and legal networks have increas-ingly turned to courts to compel governments to more ambitious mitigation policies. The rapid pro-liferation ofUrgenda-like cases in the most diverse European jurisdictions, makes a compelling caseto investigate the motivations and goals animating European climate litigators, especially when fac-ing high legal barriers. While timely legal analyses of high-profile climate litigation abound in the lit-erature, an emerging body of research has focused on the genesis of climate cases , their strategies,and societal impacts. To contribute to this latter thread, the article investigates how legal barriersand considerations, and social movements' motivations and goals,have shaped a diverse range oflegal strategies in high-profile climate lawsuits inspired byUrgendain Europe. The article shows thatcourts might turn into very different arenas to pursue social change, in which actors elect cautiousor daring strategies, depending on the legal system and tradition they refer to, but also their visionand objectives.