Affirmative action in employment: Recent court approaches to a difficult concept

Ever since its introduction, affirmative action to combat discrimination ba sed on race or sex has attracted controversy over its validity, allegedly u nfair, perverse or stigmatizing effects, and over whether;he available evid ence is conclusive. The author examines major decisions taken in the late 1 990s in the United States, South Africa and by the European Court of Justic e, in which the courts, faced with similar factual situations, reached diff erent conclusions. She suggests explanations for these differences and argu es that more rigorous reasoning by lower jurisdictions and new internationa l standards might enable courts to reach just and realistic decisions.