Dr. habil. iur. Rafał Mańko, Ph.D. is a legal researcher at the European Parliamentary Research Service where he specialises in the rule of law and EU civil justice measures. In his academic work as legal theorist, Rafał blends legal philosophy, sociology of law and comparative legal history to study the multifaceted relationships between law and the political, with a particular focus on adjudication, on the one hand, and the continuity of legal institutions despite political transformations, on the other. Rafał received his master's degree in law from the University of Warsaw, followed by a PhD in law from the University of Amsterdam and a habilitation in law from the University of Wrocław. Before joining the CEU Democracy Institute, he was a fellow of the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (later Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law) at the University of Amsterdam.