Studying contemporary legal controversies: An Actor-Network Theory Approach of the European Union legal order

Legal orders are subject to controversies, i.e. to situations in which pre-existing interpretative schemes are challenged are even break down. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) can provide a fruitful complement to doctrine in cases where black-letter approaches are no longer sufficient to explain legal change. Coming from the field of Science and Technology Studies, ANT provides a moderate conceptual toolbox and an intuitive methodological apparatus for the legal scholar. It proposes to give agency to non-human objects and to simply follow the actors in their quest for legal stability or change. Its aim is to provide an empirical account of legal change, but one that will still take the law seriously. It will not impose broader social considerations behind the law, but study concretely how social controversies pass into the legal realm. This article uses examples from the European Union, where cases of legal controversies have proliferated in the 21 st century.