Outlawing Opposition, Imposing Rule of Law: Authoritarian Constitutionalism in Cambodia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Benjamin LAWRENCE
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Empirical Fact

Abstract Cambodia's Constitution, promulgated in September 1993, was to be the foundation of a transition to liberal, multiparty democracy. Yet, despite the document's seeming commitment to those very principles, constitutional provisions are frequently used to undermine liberal rule of law and to impose restrictions on political processes, freedoms, and rights. Focusing on the events of 2016–2017, including the jailing of opposition politicians, controversial legal reforms, and the dissolution of the country's foremost opposition party, this article demonstrates how authoritarian practices in Cambodia are framed in terms of adherence – even fidelity – to the Constitution. Further, it explores how ideas of ‘stability’ and ‘law and order’ often elide with those of rule of law in discourses and practices that simultaneously exalt and hollow out the normative power of the Constitution. This article posits that a socio-legal approach that pays particular attention to discourse can shed new light on the empirical fact of authoritarian constitutionalism, but also the processes of meaning-making that accompany, facilitate, and legitimize its practice. Far from merely a sham, then, Cambodia's Constitution – like many others – is imbricated in a complex web of contestation and legitimation that extends far beyond the walls of any courtroom.

Russia and EU Countries: Partnership for Modernization

2013 ◽  
pp. 54-61
Author(s):  
T. Romanova ◽  
E. Pavlova
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Eu

The article examines how the normative power, which the EU puts forward as an ideological basis of its actions in the world, manifests itself in the national partnerships for modernization between Russia and EU member states. The authors demonstrate the influence of the EU’s normativity on its approach to modernization as well as the difference in the positions of its member countries. It is concluded that there is no unity in the EU’s approach to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and the new classification of EU member states, which is based on their readiness to act in accordance with the Union’s concept of normative power, is offered.

scholarly journals Correlation of Law and Order in Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (64) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Gabdrakhman H. Valiev ◽  
Sergey V. Kondratyuk ◽  
Natalia A. Prodanova ◽  
Irina A. Babalikova ◽  
Kermen I. Makaeva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Concrete Reality

The problem of the relationship of law and order is relevant to any modern society. The article tries to analyze this relationship, taking into account judicial, police and other activities. The named concepts are closely interconnected, but are not identical. They are correlated as cause and effect: there is a rule of law, there is no rule of law. One suggests the other. The rule of law as concrete reality logically precedes the rule of law as a doctrine, the connection here is hard, causal. The process is one. Law and order: a real indicator of the state of legality, reflects the degree of compliance with the laws, the requirements of all legal regulations. It is concluded that the rule of law is the end result of the implementation of legal requirements and, at the same time, the objective of legal regulation, since it is for the formation and maintenance of the rule of law that laws are issued, thus like other regulatory legal acts, various institutions and bodies and, above all, the justice system, the control system, various human rights organizations and social movements.

The Politics of Public Order, 1795–1802

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard G. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Road ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
National Convention ◽  
New System

The Thermidorian National Convention, despite some efforts at ‘transitional justice’, failed to master the legacies of the Terror. Therefore, the fledgling regime needed to impose the new republican political order while also restoring basic law and order—two tightly entwined tasks. The Constitution of 1795 articulated a liberal democracy based on the rule of law, but political instability and endemic lawlessness led first to multiple violations of the constitution, especially in the wake of elections, and a steady shift from democratic republicanism toward ‘liberal authoritarianism’. This shift received added impetus during waves of repression intended to restore order on strictly republican terms. The result was the creation a new ‘security state’, one that combined coercive policing, administrative surveillance, exceptional justice, and militarized repression. The emergence of the new system helped to restore order, and thereby to legitimize the Consulate, but it also paved the road to personal dictatorship in 1802.

4. The Rule of Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Webley ◽  
Harriet Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Antisocial Behaviour ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Complete Series ◽  
Explanatory Text ◽  
The Uk

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter explains the meaning and significance of the rule of law, briefly tracing the history of the rule of law and considering the main similarities and differences between various theories of the rule of law. It then assesses the impact of recent legal reforms on the operations of the rule of law in the UK. These reforms include the introduction of antisocial behaviour orders; the extension of detention without trial; and the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which reinforces the importance of the independence of the judiciary and puts measures in place to attempt to strengthen the separation of the courts from the other arms of the state. Finally, the chapter discusses judicial interpretation of the rule of law through a selection of cases that have examined the legality, irrationality, or procedural impropriety of the actions of the executive or public bodies, and whether their actions conform to the Human Rights Act 1998.

scholarly journals Protest und Demokratisierung in Myanmar: Erste Erkenntnisse aus dem „Myanmar Protest Event Dataset“

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Buschmann
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Standards

Abstract Myanmar has been perceived to be in a sociopolitical and economic transition since the semi-civilian government under President Thein Sein took office in 2011. Amongst other things, for a representative democracy to function, citizens have to have the freedom to express their opinions and deliberate them with fellow citizens. This requires the secure granting of fundamental civil liberties, as prescribed in the freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Hence, once in the process of democratization, a formerly authoritarian state has to make significant improvements in the granting and protection of these rights too. To empirically test whether Myanmar has made such improvements since 2011 is the goal of a greater research project I am working on. This research note introduces the project and summarizes first findings. By combining knowledge on legal reforms and protest data from the Myanmar Protest Event Dataset, it is suggested that, in Myanmar, the de jure exercisability and de facto exercise of fundamental civil liberties have significantly improved from 2011 to 2015. Informal methods of suppressing the right to protest, such as arbitrary violence, have increasingly descended while methods that are formally in accordance with the rule of law but still lack compliance with international human rights standards have ascended.

The General doctrine of the legal order. The rise of law and order

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Николай Черногор ◽  
Nikolay Chernogor ◽  
Дмитрий Пашенцев ◽  
Dmitriy Pashentsev ◽  
Максим Залоило ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
New Type ◽  
Normative Foundations

The monograph opens a series of studies, which set out the General doctrine of the rule of law. The first book is devoted to the Genesis of the legal order, its foundations and properties. The rule of law is regarded as a civilizational phenomenon and its evolution is characterized in the context of a combination of different principles and interests, social integration and differentiation, legality and justice, sustainability and its weakening. The socio-economic, intellectual-volitional, subject-institutional, normative foundations of law and order are revealed, its new typology is proposed, a detailed analysis of the archaic, traditional and modern law and order is given, the preconditions are shown and the forecast of its new type formation is presented. For researchers, legal practitioners, employees of state and municipal authorities, teachers, graduate students.

scholarly journals Formation’s Principles of the Judiciary of Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1001-1009
Author(s):  
Vitaliy Hudyma
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Political ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Supreme Council ◽  
The Status ◽  
Definition Of

The article reveals and researches the basic principles of the formation of the judiciary in Ukraine. It is established that judicial corps should be understood as an appropriate number of civil servants who hold the relevant positions as judges in the judicial bodies of Ukraine. It has been proved that judges make universally binding decisions, which determine, for example, other processes of maintaining law and order in the state. It is determined that the legislation lacks a clear definition of the term “judiciary” and lacks the primary grounds and principles by which the process of formation of the judicial corps in Ukraine should take place. It is established that the principles of formation of the judiciary in Ukraine should be based on the requirements for candidates for the position of judges, which are defined by Article 69, “Requirements for candidates for the position of the judge” of the Law of Ukraine “On Judiciary and the Status of Judges”. It is proved that one of the components of the procedure for the formation of the judiciary in Ukraine is the qualification assessment of candidates for the position of judges. It was found out that the qualification assessment of judges by the criterion of professional competence should be based on the principle of specialization and instance. It is established that the main principles based on which the appointment of judges-candidates for the positions of members of the Supreme Council of Justice are: the principle of the rule of law; the principle of professionalism; the principle of publicity; the principle of political neutrality. It is determined that one of the critical principles of formation of the judiciary in Ukraine should be the principle of non-political influence, namely its essence is revealed in the fact that entities that will participate both directly and indirectly in the formation of the judiciary should not, in any case, have any relation to the political sphere. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this area are the study of the holistic system and features of the formation of the judiciary in Ukraine.

scholarly journals Wolność jako zasada neokonstytucjonalna

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-180
Author(s):  
Justyna Holocher
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
Constitutional Rule ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Legislative Authority ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Legislative Measures

The liberal principal in dubio pro libertate is the philosophical foundation of the theory of constitutional rule of law and constitutes an incorporation of moral principles into the law and order. It is perceived as a circumstance to confirm the legitimacy for the thesis of passing from rule of law to the constitutional rule of law on the philosophical and dogmatic planes. It influences the process of constitutionalization, and especially the rules governing the judicial interpretation, forming thus the legal theory of interpretation built upon the argumentative nature of the law and its weight-based application which is essentially a matter of selecting the rule applicable as the parameter of control of constitutionality. It bolsters up constitutionalism conceived as a set of legislative measures aimed at limiting the legislative authority and jurisprudence by attaching a particular importance to the liberty arguments whose value will be eventually referred to the good of the individual.

Courts and Rule of Law in Developing Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Hilbink ◽  
Matthew C. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Judicial Behavior ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Impact

Under what conditions can courts be effective and the rule of law be meaningful in developing countries? A vast literature has emerged over the past several decades seeking to understand the factors that support or impede healthy judicial functioning in developing countries, as well as those that account for its stagnation and erosion. Scholars analyze four phenomena that shape the judicial role in politics: empowerment, activation, behavior, and impact. Works on judicial empowerment analyze identifiable moments of change in formal, de jure rules governing the jurisdiction, independence, accessibility, and efficiency of legal institutions, whether at the constitutional or at the legislative level. Studies of activation examine when, how, and why actors identify particular harms or grievances as legal wrongs and pursue litigation as a means of redress. Judicial behavior studies address how and why judges vote on issues or rule on cases, either individually or collectively as collegial bodies, with a particular eye to the factors that enable or constrain independent judicial decision-making. In developing countries, scholars have also begun analyzing off-bench judicial behavior. A final category of research on courts in developing countries seeks to assess the impact of judicial behavior on political processes, policy outcomes, and society at large. Compliance is a major focus of such works, but scholars also seek to understand how court decisions transform the way social actors frame their struggles and mobilize politically, and to assess the promise and pitfalls of the judicialization of politics. The great variation within and between the vast category of developing countries greatly complicates the task of building general theory on any of the four outcomes. This variation reveals that the assumptions of dominant theories hold more tenuously in less- institutionalized contexts, where information is less clear or complete and is under shorter time horizons, and where the costs are lower for flouting the law or interfering with courts. These observations signal the need to delimit or moderate theoretical arguments about core relationships of interest according to political and economic conditions and contexts. Yet insights regarding developing countries might become increasingly relevant for understanding judicial politics in developed countries, as politics in developed countries take on features more common to developing countries, including polarization, populism, and even authoritarian tendencies like open attacks on political opponents, press, courts, and independent investigative agencies.

Cambodian legal gaps could hit economy and society

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political System ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Reforms

Significance A spate of recent judiciary-related controversies is raising questions about the political system and the rule of law in Cambodia. Impacts Lack of confidence in the judiciary will probably trigger incidents of politicised social unrest. Ineffective legal reform could reduce investors' appetite for Cambodia. Inadequate legal reforms could cause Cambodian business disadvantage, for instance in ASEAN integration.

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