Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Tew
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
State Building ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
Colonial Legacies

Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts explores how courts engage in constitutional state-building in aspiring yet deeply fragile democracies in Asia. Yvonne Tew offers an in-depth look at contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, explaining how courts protect and construct constitutionalism even as they confront dominant political parties and negotiate democratic transitions. This richly illustrative account offers at once an engaging analysis of Southeast Asia’s constitutional context, as well as a broader narrative that should resonate in many countries across Asia that are also grappling with similar challenges of colonial legacies, histories of authoritarian rule, and societies polarized by race, religion, and identity. The book explores the judicial strategies for statecraft in Asian courts, including an analysis of the specific mechanisms that courts can use to entrench constitutional basic structures and to protect rights in a manner that is purposive and proportionate. Tew’s account shows how courts in Asia’s emerging democracies can chart a path forward to help safeguard a nation’s constitutional core and to build an enduring constitutional framework.

Dictators and Democrats

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Haggard ◽  
Robert R. Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Organizational Capabilities ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
Regime Changes ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Multiple Routes

From the 1980s through the first decade of the twenty-first century, the spread of democracy across the developing and postcommunist worlds transformed the global political landscape. What drove these changes and what determined whether the emerging democracies would stabilize or revert to authoritarian rule? This book takes a comprehensive look at the transitions to and from democracy in recent decades. Deploying both statistical and qualitative analysis, the book engages with theories of democratic change and advocates approaches that emphasize political and institutional factors. While inequality has been a prominent explanation for democratic transitions, the book argues that its role has been limited, and elites as well as masses can drive regime change. Examining seventy-eight cases of democratic transition and twenty-five cases of reversion to autocracy since 1980, the book shows how differences in authoritarian regimes and organizational capabilities shape popular protest and elite initiatives in transitions to democracy, and how institutional weaknesses cause some democracies to fail. The determinants of democracy lie in the strength of existing institutions and the public's capacity to engage in collective action. There are multiple routes to democracy, but those growing out of mass mobilization may provide more checks on incumbents than those emerging from intra-elite bargains. Moving beyond well-known beliefs regarding regime changes, this book explores the conditions under which transitions to democracy are likely to arise.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-220
Author(s):  
Yvonne Tew
Keyword(s):  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
Colonial Legacies

Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts offers at once an engaging analysis of Southeast Asia’s unique constitutional context as well as a broader narrative that should resonate in many countries across Asia that are also grappling with colonial legacies, histories of authoritarian rule, and societies polarized by race, religion, and identity. It explores the judicial strategies used for statecraft in Asian courts, including the elaboration of specific mechanisms that courts can use to employ to entrench constitutional basic structures and to protect rights in a manner that is purposive and proportionate. The book’s analysis informs its readers how courts in Asia’s emerging democracies can chart a path forward to help safeguard the constitutional core and to build an enduring constitutional framework.

Introduction Building Constitutionalism in Fragile Democracies

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Yvonne Tew
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
State Building ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
Facilitative Role

What role do courts play in developing constitutional democracy in Asia? Constitutional Statecraft in Asian Courts explores the role of judicial review and constitutionalism in safeguarding democratic governance and facilitating constitutional governance. It offers an in-depth look at contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, helping us understand how courts engage in constitutional state-building even as they confront dominant political parties and negotiate democratic transitions. The book considers how the judiciary can negotiate institutional power to consolidate its position vis-à-vis the dominant political branches of government. It also examines the facilitative role courts can play in crafting the foundational principles of an evolving constitutional order. The judicial strategies evident in Malaysia and Singapore suit the challenges of many other emerging Asian democracies, providing both guidance and caution as these states negotiate their emerging constitutionalism. At the heart of this book is an account of how judicial strategies of constitutionalism can sculpt the contours of state-building. It is, in brief, about how courts engage in constitutional statecraft.

scholarly journals Role of political parties in modern processes of state building in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Yuriy Kyrychenko ◽  
Hanna Davlyetova
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Power ◽  
State Building ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The People ◽  
Problematic Situations

The article examines the role of political parties in modern state-building processes in Ukraine. The place of political parties in the political and legal system of society is determined. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered. It is noted that political parties play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, act as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities, influence the formation of public opinion and the position of citizens directly involved in elections to public authorities and local governments. It is determined that in a modern democratic society, political parties carry out their activities in the following areas: the work of representatives of political parties in public authorities and local governments; participation in elections of state authorities and local self-government bodies; promoting the formation and expression of political will of citizens, which involves promoting the formation and development of their political legal consciousness. These areas of political parties determine their role and importance in a modern democratic society, which determines the practical need to improve their activities and improve the national legislation of Ukraine in the field of political parties. Political parties are one of the basic institutions of modern society, they actively influence the ac-tivities of public authorities, economic and social processes taking place in the state and so on. It is through political parties that the people participate in the management of public affairs. Expressing the interest of different social communities, they become a link between the state and civil society. The people have the opportunity to delegate their powers to political parties, which achieves the ability of the people to control political power in several ways, which at the same time through competition of state political institutions and political parties contributes to increasing their responsibility to the people. It is noted that the political science literature has more than 200 definitions of political parties. And approaches to the definition of this term significantly depend on the general context in which this issue was studied by the researcher. It was emphasized that today in Ukraine there are important issues related to the activities of political parties. First of all, it is a significant number of registered political parties that are incapable, ie their political activity is conducted formally or not at all. According to official data from the Department of State Registration and Notary of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, 352 political parties are registered, of which 48 political parties do not actually function. The reason for the liquidation of such parties is not to nominate their candidates for the election of the President of Ukraine and People's Deputies of Ukraine for 10 years. According to this indicator, Ukraine ranks first among other European countries. Thus, 73 political parties are officially registered in Latvia, 38 in Lithuania, 45 in Moldova, 124 in Romania, and 56 in Slovakia. However, despite the large number of officially registered political parties in Ukraine, public confidence in their activities is low. It is concluded that political parties occupy a special place in the political and legal system of society and play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, as well as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered, namely: introduction of effective and impartial control over activity of political parties; creating conditions for reducing the number of political parties, encouraging their unification; establishment of effective and efficient sanctions for violation of the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine by political parties.

scholarly journals European Constitutions as sources of Party Law and the Fundamental Law of Hungary = Las Constituciones europeas como fuentes de la Ley de Partidos y la Ley Fundamental de Hungría

2017 ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Peter Smuk
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
System A ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Election System ◽  
Fundamental Law ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
The Relationship

<p>La regulación de los partidos políticos parece un tema ligeramente descuidado en la literatura constitucional húngara. Así, a pesar de que hay un gran número de cuestiones que deben analizarse y entenderse en los ámbitos de la democracia representativa, en el sistema electoral y en la financiación de los partidos, derivadas de las particularidades del cambio del régimen político, y que hace necesaria la interpretación de nuestro sistema político actual. Un análisis sustantivo de estas cuestiones en términos de derecho constitucional (y desde las ciencias políticas) podría contribuir a una mejor comprensión de la democracia representativa húngara, el estado constitucional, así como la relación entre la sociedad civil y el Estado. En este documento voy a ofrecer una visión general de las normas constitucionales relativas a los partidos políticos europeos y comparar la redacción de la Ley Fundamental de Hungría con las normas constitucionales creadas en 1989.</p><p>The regulation of political parties seems a slightly neglected topic in the Hungarian constitutional literature. It is so despite the fact that there are a large number of questions to be analysed and understood in the fields of representative democracy, election system and party financing arising from the particularities of the change of the political regime, the recent constitution-making or the necessary interpretation of our current political system. A substantive analysis of these questions in terms of constitutional law (and political science) could contribute to a better understanding of the Hungarian representative democracy, constitutional state as well as the relationship between civil society and the state. In this paper I will provide a rough overview of constitutional rules relating to European political parties and compare the wording of the Fundamental Law of Hungary with the constitutional rules created in 1989.</p><div> </div>

Mobilizing Diaspora in Turkey and the Dominican Republic

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-120
Author(s):  
Katrina Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Turkish State

Chapter 5 compares the cases of Turkey and the Dominican Republic, both of which have above-average turnout in homeland elections by their citizens abroad. In each case, the prior “export” of domestic politics under authoritarian rule sparked the transnationalization of political parties and created incentives for political leaders to court migrants as an electoral constituency. As a result, diaspora-making became a mobilizing project aimed at cultivating partisan loyalties. The chapter also reveals two key differences between these cases. First, the Turkish state has pursued more heterogenous goals with a wider range of policy instruments, including both state-based and party-based mechanisms of outreach. Second, Turkey’s contested identity politics lend more resonance to nationalist appeals to migrant loyalty while sparking counter-narratives. These differences help explain why extraterritorial turnout is so much higher in Turkey than in the Dominican Republic.

scholarly journals Constitution-Building Bodies and the Sequencing of Public Participation A Comparison of Seven Empirical Cases

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abrak Saati
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Rules Of Procedure ◽  
Constitution Building

Constitution-building is one of the most salient aspects of transitional processes, from war to peace or from authoritarian rule, in terms of establishing and strengthening democracy. This paper is part of a research project that aims to identify the circumstances under which constitution-building can strengthen democracy after violent conflict and during transitions from authoritarian rule. Previous research has indicated that the actions and relations of political elites from opposing political parties when making the constitution has bearing on the state of democracy post promulgation, but that the careful sequencing of public participation in the process can be of relevance as well. This paper conducts a systematic analysis of seven empirical cases and focuses the investigation to the type of constitution-building body that has been employed and to during what stage of the process the general public have been invited to participate. It concludes that popularly elected constitution-building bodies tend to include a broad range of political parties and that they, additionally, tend to have rules of procedure that encourage compromise and negotiation, whereas appointed bodies are dominated by one single party or one single person and do not have rules of procedure that necessitate compromise. The paper also discusses the potential need for political elites to have negotiated a number of baseline constitutional principles prior to inviting the general public to get involved in the constitution-building process, and concludes that this is an area of research in need of further in-depth empirical case-studies. 

Conditions for new parties’ participation in a founding election in a democratic transition

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-443
Author(s):  
Myriam Aït-Aoudia
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
New Parties ◽  
First Time

The literature on democratic transitions considers the participation of new parties in the first pluralist election in a post-authoritarian context (founding election) as something to be taken for granted. As such, it is never questioned. Specialists in democratic transitions ignore the research on “new parties,” which is, nonetheless, essential to the understanding of the particular characteristics of a post-authoritarian situation. Using an original qualitative study on Algeria, this article proposes to bring to light the political, organizational, and legal conditions of new political parties’ participation or nonparticipation in a founding election. In particular, this research allows us to grasp the dilemmas and difficulties faced by leaders of new parties and the types of support on which they rely to engage for the first time in an electoral competition. The analytical framework stemming from this “case study” is applicable to other national case studies.

Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cavatorta ◽  
Azzam Elananza
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Religious Associations

AbstractThe lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan.

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