scholarly journals Constitution-Making in Bhutan: A Complex and Sui Generis Experience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat Iyer
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Meaningful Role ◽  
Constitution Making

Abstract The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which had remained isolated from the rest of the world until the 1970s, embarked on a series of transformational reforms in the new millennium that included the replacement of the country’s century-old absolute monarchy with a parliamentary democracy and the enactment of a written constitution based on Western principles, such as the separation of powers and the rule of law. The ‘democratization’ process was unique, not least for the fact that the impetus for change came from the monarch, who pressed ahead with his modernization agenda in the face of palpable opposition from his people, arguing that popular democracy was the only viable way forward for Bhutan in the modern age. The process of constitution making involved the striking of a delicate balance between tradition and modernity and ensuring that the monarchy continued to play a meaningful role in the country’s affairs. This article argues that, although the process itself ran smoothly, it is too early to judge the durability and long-term success of Bhutan’s new constitutional arrangements.

scholarly journals Introduction: Pluralism, Contestation, and the Rule of Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Cherry
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Indigenous Nations ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Democratic Election

Around the world, the current political conjuncture is one of profound challenges for constitutionalism and the rule of law. In the United States, the executive has willfully engaged in a prolonged attempt to weaponize the machinery of the state and radicalize public opinion in order to undermine a democratic election. In the European Union, the increasingly authoritarian relationship between the executive and the judiciary in Poland and Hungary is posing the most profound threat to European constitutionalism in decades. In Hong Kong, the Chinese state is actively seeking to undermine legislative and judicial independence in the face of unprecedented pro-democracy mobilizations. In India, Lebanon, Bolivia, and elsewhere mass mobilizations are challenging, and being suppressed in the name of, the rule of law. Here in Canada, the Wet’suwet’en and their supporters, as well as the Tsleil Waututh, Haudenosaunee, L’nu (Mi’kmaq), Inuit, and members of countless other Indigenous nations are contesting the very nature of the rule of law, as they assert Indigenous laws against the law enforcement of the colonial state. Around the world, the use of emergency powers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is also raising profound constitutional concerns.

scholarly journals Achmea versus the Rule of Law: CJEU’s Dogmatic Dismissal of Investors’ Rights in Backsliding Member States of the European Union

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitry Vladimirovich Kochenov ◽  
Nikos Lavranos
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Face ◽  
Judicial Protection ◽  
Ultimate Control

AbstractWe demonstrate that the CJEU’s Achmea judgment has resulted in significantly more damage beyond the termination of intra-EU BITs. It made the application of EU law difficult, if not impossible. Indeed, it has opened the floodgate to deficient judicial protection in the face of structural backsliding of the rule of law in some EU Member States. While the motives of the CJEU and by extension the European Commission to safeguard their ultimate control over the internal market by exclusively relying on the preliminary ruling system of integrated European judiciary may be understandable, they cannot serve as a credible justification for the long-term consequences of disempowering investors in the name of an ideological stance regarding EU judiciary, which cannot work in the backsliding Member States, where the ‘integration of the EU’s judiciary’ could stand for the absence of independent adjudication. Consequently, the Achmea judgment and post-Achmea developments such as the recently signed Termination Agreement to terminate the intra-EU BITs have been leading to significant—possibly irreparable in the short- to medium-term—lowering of the procedural and substantive protection standards for European investors in times when they are in need of more rather than less protection.

Open Access Order and Interconnected Institutions in Brazil: A Challenge

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Guanghua Yu
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Economic Organizations ◽  
Property Rights Protection

AbstractThis article examines the evolution of democratic practice in Brazil. The article begins with a discussion on the country’s performance in terms of social equality, violence, and weak economy after the consolidation of democracy in 1985. Based on historical evidence, the article offers explanations concerning the weak performance in Brazil. The case of Brazil provides a challenge to the theory of open access order of North and his colleagues in the sense that open access to political organizations and activities does not necessarily lead to either better political representation or better economic performance. The case of Brazil also shows that open access to economic organizations and activities in the absence of the necessary institutions in the areas of property rights protection and contract enforcement, the financial market, the rule of law, and human resources accumulation does not lead to long-term economic growth.

Crisis of the Rule of Law in Europe: The Cases of Hungary, Poland and Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-398
Author(s):  
David Parra Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
European Democracy ◽  
Aggressive Interference

Democracy is an instrument at the service of a noble purpose: to ensure the freedom and equality of all citizens by guaranteeing the civil, political and social rights contained in constitutional texts. Among the great principles on which this instrument rests is the division of powers, which consists, substantially, in the fact that power is not concentrated, but that the various functions of the State are exercised by different bodies, which, moreover, control each other. Well, the increasingly aggressive interference of the Executive and, to a lesser extent, the Legislative in material spheres that should be reserved exclusively for the Judiciary, violates this principle and, for this reason, distorts the idea of democracy, an alarming trend that, for some time now, are observed in European Union countries such as Hungary, Poland and Spain. Preventing the alarming degradation of European democracy, of which these three countries are an example, requires not only more than necessary institutional reforms to ensure respect for these principles and prevent the arbitrariness of the public authorities, but also a media network and an education system that explains and promotes these values and principles, that is, one that makes citizens aware of and defend constitutionalism. Keywords: Rule of law; Democracy; Separation of powers; judicial independence; Europe.

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.

The Rule of Law: The New Leviathan?

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olufemi Taiwo
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Global Level ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Ordering ◽  
Soviet Communism ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
The Ideal

These are the best of times for the Rule of Law. In all parts of the world, states, governments, and individuals, have found in the rule of law, at various times, a rallying cry, a principle of social ordering that promises the dawn of a just society that its supporters in Euro-American democracies claim to be its crowning glory, or a set of practices that is a sine qua non of a good society. The pursuit of the ideal is nothing new: after all, even those states where it was observed more often in its breach always paid lip service to it. And the defunct socialist countries of Eastern Europe, while they existed, could not escape its lure even as they sought to give it a different nomenclature—socialist legality. The movement towards the rule of law has accelerated after the collapse of Soviet communism and its foster progeny in different parts of the world. Given the present momentum towards the rule of law and the widespread enthusiasm with which it is being embraced and pursued at the global level, some would consider it somewhat churlish for anyone to inject any note of doubt or caution. This is more so when such a note emanates from Marxist quarters. But that is precisely what I wish to do in this essay. Although I do not intend to rain on the rule of law’s entire parade, I surely propose to rain on a segment of it: the Marxist float. I propose to look at the issue within the context of the Marxist politico-philosophical tradition.

Anti-Corruption Legislation In Turkish Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 903-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Güne Okuyucu-Ergün
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Union Member ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Almost All

Corruption poses an increasingly serious threat against Turkey as well as the rest of the world in many respects. The fight against corruption is crucial, in particular, to achieve an economic and political stability, to attract foreign investors and to establish the rule of law. In addition to those interests, which are common for almost all countries, anti-corruption has a particular importance for Turkey in the achievement of its goal of becoming a European Union member, since anti-corruption is expected to feature prominently in Turkey's talks on European Union accession.

scholarly journals Obama's National Security Exceptionalism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudha N. Setty
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Security ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Global Community ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
The World ◽  
International Obligations

Published: Sudha Setty, Obama's National Security Exceptionalism, 91 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 91 (2016).This Article discusses how continued national security exceptionalism engenders a view of the United States as considering itself to be above international obligations to investigate and prosecute torturers and war criminals, and the view by the global community that the United States is willing to apply one standard for itself, and another for the rest of the world. Exceptionalism not only poses real challenges in terms of law, morality, and building useful relationships with allied nations, but acts as a step backward for the creation of enforceable international norms and standards, and in efforts to restore a balance in the rule of law when it comes to national security matters.

scholarly journals Teoria crítica e direito internacional: uma visão pachukaniana de China Miéville

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-174
Author(s):  
Luiz Felipe Brandao Osorio
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Critical Legal Studies ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Legal Relationship ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

RESUMO:Dentro do emaranhado teórico cunhado como teoria crítica do direito, cabe aqui resgatar a sua vertente mais radical, aquela que vai à recôndita essência do fenômeno jurídico, e que consequente perpassa a face em que suas fraturas ficam mais expostas: a teoria materialista do direito internacional. O britânico China Miéville brinda-nos com uma reflexão original sobre a seara internacionalista, partindo e retomando as pistas legadas por Evguiéni Pachukanis, no início do século XX, para atingir o cume da crítica do direito, pela teoria da forma mercantil, ressaltando o caráter violento, de coerção, presente inerentemente na relação jurídica. É neste mundo, o do império do direito, é que reinam a miséria e o horror cotidianos e banalizados. ABSTRACT:Within the theoretical entanglement coined as critical legal studies, it is needed to address its most radical aspect, that goes inside the hidden essence of the legal phenomenon, and which consequently touches the face in which its fractures are most exposed: the materialist theory of international law. British China Miéville brings us an original reflection on the internationalist scenario, starting with and returning to the trails left by the early 20th century by Evguiéni Pachukanis to reach the summit of the critique of law, by the theory of commodity form, emphasizing the violent side, coercive, inherent in the legal relationship. It is in this world, the one of the rule of law, that daily and banal misery and horror reign

scholarly journals Risk and the Rule of law

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet McLean
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Face

In this article the author argues for the importance of law even in the face of a global pandemic, suggests some ways that law helps to reveal and articulate the moral issues at stake, and sketches the legal controversies surrounding the Covid-19 lockdown.

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