CAN WE DESIGN AN OPTIMAL CONSTITUTION? OF STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY AND RIGHTS CLARITY

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 290-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Epstein

AbstractThe design of new constitutions is fraught with challenges on both issues of structural design and individual rights. As both a descriptive and normative matter it is exceedingly difficult to believe that one structural solution will fit all cases. The high variation in nation size, economic development, and ethnic division can easily tilt the balance for or against a Presidential or Parliamentary system, and even within these two broad classes the differences in constitutional structure are both large and hard to measure. The only confident claim is that some system of separation of powers coupled with checks and balances is needed. Deciding which system, however, is far harder. In contrast, that same level of doubt does not arise in connection with the correct specification of individual right. Strong systems of negative rights on matters of liberty, property, religion, and speech are preferable across a wide range of social organizations. On the other hand, any effort to create systems of positive entitlements will fail because of the negative effects that they have on wealth creation and the inability to define or limit the scope of the relevant entitlements.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sisay A. Temesgen

Abstract The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic (EFDR) Constitution is promulgated in 1994. Under Article (45) of the EFDR the country is restructured from presidential to parliamentary system of government. Since then, the country has been ravaged by the gross violation of the liberty of citizens and the crisis of national unity and consensus among the diversified ethnic groups. The impact of the parliamentary system in aggravating those critical challenges and the comparative advantage of presidantialism is the most ignored political research topic. In this Article, I investigated that the blurry separation of powers of the parliamentary structure of the country has created fusion of powers which has undermined the system of checks and balances. Thus, the executive organ of the government has enabled to concentrate unchecked and unaccountable power which has manifested in the gross violation of the liberty of citizens. Likewise, Article (73) of EFDR has declared that the prime minister and council of ministers of the country to be appointed by the legislators. This has deprived their boarder popular base and authenticity; and equivocally undermined their potency and decisiveness in addressing the existing crisis of national unity and consensus. Comparatively, the presidential structure of government is defined by the firm separation of powers and genuine system of checks and balances. The direct popular election of the president enables the president and council of ministers to secure broader popular base and authenticity. Thus, it is advantageous over parliamentarian structure in terms of protecting the liberty of citizens and addressing the crisis of national unity and consensus in Ethiopia.


PLENO JURE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Rizki Ramadani

Berdasarkan Pasal 1 ayat (2) UUD 1945 Sebelum Perubahan dan Penjelasannya, kekuasaan Negara yang tertinggi ada di tangan MPR. Sejak itu telah ada pengakuan bahwa MPR merupakan Lembaga Tertinggi Negara, bahkan sebagai penjelmaan seluruh rakyat Indonesia. Pasca Amandemen, UUD NRI Tahun 1945 resmi menganut pemisahan kekuasaan dengan ‘checks and balances’ yang lebih fungsional. Implikasinya, MPR kehilangan sebagian fungsi dan wewenangnya, dan tidak lagi berkedudukan sebagai lembaga tertinggi negara. Kini, bersamaan dengan munculnya wacana amandemen kelima, timbul pula pembicaraan untuk mereformulasi peran dan kelembagaan MPR. Artikel ini berupaya merespon wacana secara obyektif dengan berupaya memunculkan gagasan penyempurnaan MPR dengan pendekatan konsep parlemen dua kamar. Gagasan tersebut adalah melalui penegasan posisi kelembagaan MPR dalam sistem parlemen dua kamar dan perimbangan kekuasaan antar kamar. Abstract. Based on Article 1 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution Before the Amendment and its Elucidation, the highest state power is in the hands of the MPR. Since then there has been recognition that the MPR is the Supreme State Institution, even as the manifestation of all the people of Indonesia. After the Amendment, the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia officially adopted a more functional separation of powers with more functional checks and balances, making the MPR lost the vital parts of its functions and authority, and no longer has the position of the highest state institution. Now, along with the emergence of the discourse of the fifth amendment, discussions also emerged to reform the role and institutions of the MPR. This article attempts to respond to the discourse objectively by trying to come up with the idea of ​​perfecting the MPR with the concept of a two-chamber parliamentary approach. The ideas were, through the affirmation of the institutional position of the MPR in the two-chamber parliamentary system and the balance of powers between chambers.


Author(s):  
Alexey Shcherbakov ◽  
Valentin Zhezmer

Department of hydraulic engineering and hydraulics FGBNU «VNIIGiM them. A.N. Kostyakova «has a long history. For many years, the department’s staff has been such scientists and water engineers with extensive experience as M.A. Volynov, V.S. Verbitsky, S.S. Medvedev, N.V. Lebedev, B.C. Panfilov, T.G. Voynich-Syanozhentsky, V.A. Golubkova, G.V. Lyapin and others. The department solved a wide range of tasks, the main areas of research were the following: – theoretical and applied hydrodynamics and hydraulics, with reference to the open channel flows that affect the state and level of safety of the hydraulic structures; – integrated use and protection of water bodies – water sources and water sources of water resources used in land reclamation; – development of measures and technical solutions for the protection of objects from the negative effects of water; – theoretical substantiation of works to improve the safety level of the GTS (declaration); – development and implementation of digitalization methods for solving design, construction, operation and control of landreclamation facilities. Currently, promising areas of research is the development of a decision-making algorithm in the designation of measures to rationalize the provision of resources to water amelioration. The algorithm is developed on the basis of a detailed study, systematization and processing of data both on safety and on the efficiency of systems and structures, ensuring the delivery of irrigation water of the required quality and in sufficient quantity from a water source to the field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Emad Wakaa Ajil

Iraq is one of the most Arab countries where the system of government has undergone major political transformations and violent events since the emergence of the modern Iraqi state in 1921 and up to the present. It began with the monarchy and the transformation of the regime into the republican system in 1958. In the republican system, Continued until 2003, and after the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, the regime changed from presidential to parliamentary system, and the parliamentary experience is a modern experience for Iraq, as he lived for a long time without parliamentary experience, what existed before 2003, can not be a parliamentary experience , The experience righteousness The study of the parliamentary system in particular and the political process in general has not been easy, because it is a complex and complex process that concerns the political system and its internal and external environment, both of which are influential in the political system and thus on the political process as a whole, After the US occupation of Iraq, the United States intervened to establish a permanent constitution for the country. Despite all the circumstances accompanying the drafting of the constitution, it is the first constitution to be drafted by an elected Constituent Assembly. The Iraqi Constitution adopted the parliamentary system of government and approved the principle of flexible separation of powers in order to achieve cooperation and balance between the authorities.


2016 ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Monika Poboży

The article poses a question about the existence of the rule of separation of powers in the EU institutional system, as it is suggested by the wording of the treaties. The analysis led to the conclusion, that in the EU institutional system there are three separated functions (powers) assigned to different institutions. The Council and the European Parliament are legislative powers, the Commission and the European Council create a “divided executive”. The Court of Justice is a judicial power. The above mentioned institutions gained strong position within their main functions (legislative, executive, judicial), but the proper mechanisms of checks and balances have not been developed, especially in the relations between legislative and executive power. These powers do not limit one another in the EU system. In the EU there are therefore three separated but arbitrary powers – because they do not limit and balance one another, and are not fully controlled by the member states.


Author(s):  
M.A. Zemlianova ◽  
I.V. Tikhonova

Alumina refineries are among the leading sources of atmospheric air pollution with a wide range of pollutants hazardous to human respiratory organs. It is relevant to study and evaluate the occurrence of the risks for development of respiratory diseases in children living in the area affected by the emission components of an alumina refinery. We assessed air quality of the area under observation and comparison according to monitoring observations, risk of non-carcinogenic effects from the respiratory organs. The content of chemicals in the blood and urine adequate to risk factors was quantified. The structure of individual groups of respiratory diseases was analyzed. The causal relationships of violations of laboratory parameters with an increased content of chemicals in biological media were evaluated. It was found that an aerogenic exposure of chemical pollutants is formed on the territory with the production of metallurgical alumina. It determines the risk for development of respiratory diseases, exceeding an acceptable level up to 49.9 times. In the exposed children, the content of manganese, chromium, nickel, copper, xylenes, formaldehyde and aluminum, fluoride ion in the urine was increased to 4.2 times in relation to the indices in the comparison group. A high level of additional respiratory morbidity(1.8 times) was revealed. Chronic lymphoproliferative diseases of the nasopharynx and inflammatory diseases of the upper respiratory tract (up to 6.6 times more often), inflammatory diseases with a predominance of the mechanism of allergic inflammation ( up to 2.1 times more often)are more often detected in the framework of the respiratory diseases. Negative effects on the part of the respiratory system in the form of activation of antioxidant processes, the development of an inflammatory reaction, local, general and specific sensitization of the respiratory tract were established. It confirms the occurrence of the risks for the development of respiratory diseases in children in the exposure area of the chemical factors of alumina refinery-associated economic activity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8335
Author(s):  
Jasmina Nedevska

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool as societies steer towards sustainable development. Although the litigation mainly takes place in domestic courts, the implications can be seen as global as specific climate rulings influence courts across national borders. However, while the phenomenon of judicialization is well-known in the social sciences, relatively few have studied issues of legitimacy that arise as climate politics move into courts. A comparatively large part of climate cases have appeared in the United States. This article presents a research plan for a study of judges’ opinions and dissents in the United States, regarding the justiciability of strategic climate cases. The purpose is to empirically study how judges navigate a perceived normative conflict—between the litigation and an overarching ideal of separation of powers—in a system marked by checks and balances.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 974
Author(s):  
Irina B. Ivshina ◽  
Maria S. Kuyukina ◽  
Anastasiia V. Krivoruchko ◽  
Elena A. Tyumina

Under conditions of increasing environmental pollution, true saprophytes are capable of changing their survival strategies and demonstrating certain pathogenicity factors. Actinobacteria of the genus Rhodococcus, typical soil and aquatic biotope inhabitants, are characterized by high ecological plasticity and a wide range of oxidized organic substrates, including hydrocarbons and their derivatives. Their cell adaptations, such as the ability of adhering and colonizing surfaces, a complex life cycle, formation of resting cells and capsule-like structures, diauxotrophy, and a rigid cell wall, developed against the negative effects of anthropogenic pollutants are discussed and the risks of possible pathogenization of free-living saprotrophic Rhodococcus species are proposed. Due to universal adaptation features, Rhodococcus species are among the candidates, if further anthropogenic pressure increases, to move into the group of potentially pathogenic organisms with “unprofessional” parasitism, and to join an expanding list of infectious agents as facultative or occasional parasites.


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (01) ◽  
pp. 17-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Fisher

From World War II to the present, prominent scholars placed their hopes in the presidency to protect the nation from outside threats and deal effectively with domestic crises. Their theories weakened the constitutional system of separation of powers and checks and balances by reviving an outsized trust in executive power (especially over external affairs) that William Blackstone and others promoted in eighteenth-century England. The American framers of the Constitution studied those models with great care and fully rejected those precedents when they declared their independence from England.


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