From July 8 to 10, 2024, the 10th Annual Conference of the International Society of Public Law (ICON·S) took place in Madrid under the title „The Future of Public Law: Resilience, Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence.“ The venue was the striking IE Tower, a state-of-the-art university campus located in a 180-meter-high skyscraper in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres Business Area.

Throughout the conference, the dynamic energy of two rising institutions – the ICON·S community and IE University – was palpable. With more than 2,000 participants from around the world and a wealth of high-level panels, the event provided an intense and enriching exchange on key challenges facing public law in times of global transformation.

I presented on the topic “Fourth Branch Institutions as Guarantors of Rights.” The focus of my talk was on “fourth branch” institutions, which are neither part of the traditional three branches of government nor vested with binding decision-making powers. Nevertheless, they contribute significantly to the protection of fundamental and human rights through their dialogical and often recommendatory practices. Despite the non-binding nature of their decisions, these institutions frequently achieve remarkable compliance rates – a testament to their distinct form of normative influence.

On the conference: https://www.ie.edu/law-school/news-events/news/10th-annual-icons-conference-unites-2000-global-experts-ie-tower/