The ECOWAS Court as a (Promising) Resource for Pro-Poor Activist Forces

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-148
Author(s):  
Obiora C. Okafor ◽  
Okechukwu J. Effoduh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Case Law ◽  
West African ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
The West ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines the extent to which the human rights case-law of the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States is either pro-elite or pro-poor. Without assuming that “pro-human rights” necessarily translates to “pro-poor,” the chapter discusses how the Court functions more as a resource for local pro-poor activists than as a tool in the hands of anti-poor elements. The chapter conceptualizes expressions such as “the poor,” “sovereign hurdles,” “brainy relays,” and “flipped strategic social constructivism” to undergird its analysis. For example, the authors analyze the extent to which activists’ forces, acting as brainy relays, co-created and enhanced normative resources in a process styled in the chapter as “flipped strategic social constructivism.” The chapter also demonstrates the ways in which the court has been a valuable resource to the domestic activist forces who together with the Court have worked to advance the social conditions of the West African poor. Finally, the chapter examines the gaps that militate against such pro-poor activism.

The Puzzling Paradox Presented within the African Supranational Judicial Institutions: The ECOWAS Court of Justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 86-109
Author(s):  
Kehinde Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West African ◽  
African Region ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Will ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
West African Region

The judgments of the ECOWAS Court, which are final and immediately binding, are vital for the realisation of ECOWAS aims and objectives. The enforcement of its judgments is particularly important in the case of individuals whose enjoyment of fundamental human rights, as guaranteed under the ECOWAS Community laws, is dependent on effective enforcement. Yet, an existential puzzling paradox emanates through a poor record in the implementation of the ECOWAS Court's judgments. This problem, which is not limited to the West African region deserves scrutiny and concrete proposals. Legal and political considerations surface in assessing the existence of this paradox, and despite the lack of a consistent political will, to implement the decisions of ECOWAS Court relevant judicial actors have roles to play. National courts could take a bolder approach in complementing the work of the ECOWAS Court. The ECOWAS Court itself could put in place concrete mechanisms and adopt certain practices to address this poor record of non-implementation. It is yet to be seen how substantive mechanisms would work in practice.

Towards an Analyses of the Mega-Political Jurisprudence of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-177
Author(s):  
Olabisi D. Akinkugbe
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
West African ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Scholarship ◽  
Political Disputes

This chapter fills the gap in the judicialization of mega-political disputes before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice (ECOWAS Court). Judicialization of mega-political disputes in this Court has until now been understudied. Although the ECOWAS Court lacks an express mandate to adjudicate over political disputes, the Court has been innovative in assuming jurisdiction over mega-political disputes when these disputes are intertwined with actual or potential human rights violations. The Ugokwe doctrine, enunciated in the case of, Dr. Jerry Ugokwe v. The Federal Republic of Nigeria and Dr. Christian Okeke, established the “cause of action” for the judicialization of mega-political disputes before the ECOWAS Court. By examining cases that have largely remained obscure, the chapter uncovers the judicialization of political disputes, particularly of electoral cases, before the ECOWAS Court. Unlike the traditional scholarship that measures effectiveness based on compliance with the decisions of the courts, the chapter argues that the significance of the mega-political disputes judicialized before Africa’s regional courts derives from the instrumental objectives of the litigants. By incorporating the social, political, and economic contexts that gave rise to the francophone and anglophone cases analyzed, the chapter illuminates the judicialization of mega-political disputes in ways that are not wedded to the traditional analyses of the functions of regional economic courts.

Property and Expropriation: Two Concepts Revisited in the Light of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-191
Author(s):  
Sabrina Praduroux
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Property Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Domestic Law

Abstract In the late 1950 s René Savatier foretold that the qualification of economic value itself as property (bien) would have been the ultimate evolution of the theory of property rights. This prediction has come true with regard to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the European Court of Justice (CJEU). This paper investigates the implications of the understanding of property developed by the two European Courts on the concept of expropriation itself as well as for the principles governing expropriation law. Hence, the paper illustrates the role played by both the ECtHR and the CJEU in laying down the parameters of legitimacy for national law, including property law. Within this context, the focus falls on cases in which the Courts characterize the facts as deprivation of property requiring for compensation, even though the relevant property could not be the object of expropriation under the domestic law of the defendant State. My contribution brings new insights into the current transformation of the traditional property categories and suggests the reinterpretation of some key concepts of expropriation law.

scholarly journals Welfare State Policy Model as A Poverty Reduction Strategy in the West Sumatra Districts and Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
Azwar Azwar Azwar ◽  
Emeraldy Chatra ◽  
Zuldesni Zuldesni
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
State Model ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Welfare State

Poverty is one of the social problems that the government can never completely solve. As a result, other, more significant social issues arise and cause social vulnerability, such as conflict and crime. As a province that is experiencing rapid growth in the last ten years, the West Sumatra find difficulty to overcome the number of poor people in several districts and cities.  The research outcomes are the models and forms of social policy made by West Sumatra regencies and cities governments in improving the welfare of poor communities. It is also covering the constraints or obstacles to the implementation of social policy and the selection of welfare state models for the poor in some districts and municipalities of West Sumatra. This research is conducted qualitatively with a sociological approach that uses social perspective on searching and explaining social facts that happened to needy groups. Based on research conducted that the social policy model adopted by the government in responding to social problems in the districts and cities of West Sumatra reflects the welfare state model given to the poor. There is a strong relationship between the welfare state model and the form of social policy made by the government.

Mess up the empire: Deploying and disrupting homonationalism

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072096129
Author(s):  
John Andrew G Evangelista
Keyword(s):  
Social Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Sexual Liberation ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Lgbtq Rights

Homonationalism refers to how the West folded LGBTQ rights into the nation through neoliberal economies, intervention, and surveillance of racialized communities. This shift relied on the exceptionalist narrative that reveres Western sexual liberation—liberal, bureaucratic, visible, and consumerist—while silencing queer narratives from Southern, racialized, and migrant communities. The literature found that some LGBTQ (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers) organizations deployed this imperial narrative, yet accounts on the social conditions facilitating such deployments remain scant. To expand the current discussions, my paper situates the Philippine LGBTQ movement’s affinity with homonationalism within the political, material, and ideological exigencies that confronted activists.

Between Informal Dialogue and Official Criticism

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 409-420
Author(s):  
Anna Podolska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Judicial Proceedings

Abstract There are various forms of jurisdictional dialogue. In addition to drawing from the case law of another court or seeking direct assistance of such another court in passing the judgment, we can notice in practice situations when by issuing a verdict the courts are communicating with each other. The rulings of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights regarding the free movement of judgments in the European Union and protection of fundamental rights are the example of such activities. Each of these bodies was interpreting separately the extent to which the mechanisms of recognising and executing the judgments may interfere with the level of protection of fundamental rights. A common conclusion concerns assigning the priority to protection of fundamental rights, while individual bodies were determining differently the standards of such protection. The analysed judgments can be construed as a communication between these bodies. Although no direct discussion takes place between these courts, this is still a form of interaction which affects the development of the case law and understanding of the boundaries of mutual recognition of judgments and protection of human rights within judicial proceedings.

scholarly journals Network Analysis and the Use of Precedent in the Case Law of the CJEU – A Reply to Derlén and Lindholm

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Frankenreiter
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
German Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interesting Contribution ◽  
Citation Practice ◽  
Acceptable Method

During the last decades, social network analysis has been established as a key technique in a number of disciplines in social science. Its main promise is that it provides tools for researchers to take into account the social context of individual entities or actors. Legal scholars, by contrast, have only recently started to make use of these tools. Nowadays, one particularly prominent application is the use of network analysis to analyze the citation networks of different national and international courts. The contribution by Derlén and Lindholm published in this issue of theGerman Law Journalforms part of this trend. It is the latest in a series of papers studying citations in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Unlike the authors' previous contributions, the paper specifically addresses the use of precedent by the CJEU and assesses the merits of criticism in the literature arguing that the citation practice of the CJEU lacks an acceptable method. The paper provides novel insights into the use of precedent by the CJEU and thus makes an interesting contribution to the emerging scholarship investigating the decision-making of the CJEU by means of quantitative analysis. At the same time, the design of the research raises severe doubts about whether the authors succeed in providing a conclusive response to the critics of the CJEU's citation practice.

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