Daniel Canales Ciudad

Junior Core Fellow
Period of Stay: 
January - June 2027
2026/27
Building: 
Budapest, Nador u. 13
Discipline: 
History
Institution: 
Independent Scholar, PhD, Universidad de Zaragoza (2023), Spain
Project Title: 
When Justice Crossed Borders: European Lawyers Against Franco (1959–1977)
Project Abstract: 

This project examines the role of European lawyers and international jurist associations in shaping transnational opposition to Franco’s dictatorship between 1959 and 1977. It analyzes how legal professionals mobilized their authority to denounce repression, torture, and the systematic denial of due process, turning law into a powerful instrument of political struggle within the emerging human rights internationalism. The study adopts a transnational and interdisciplinary methodology, combining legal history, the history of international solidarity, and the history of human rights to reconstruct the practices, discourses, and networks that sustained European anti-Franco activism. By tracing the strategies of lawyers who acted as observers, advocates, and organizers of international campaigns, the project shows how legal expertise was mobilized across borders. Beyond its historical contribution, it underscores the continuing relevance of professional authority and solidarity networks in confronting authoritarianism and defending democracy today.