Marxism and the Rule of Law: Reflections After the Collapse of Communism

1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 633-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Krygier
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Considerable Support

This article concerns the relationship between the thought of Karl Marx and the fate of law, and the rule of law, in the communist states of the Soviet Union and east and central Europe. It takes the rule of law to be primarily an attempt to institutionalize restraint on power through law, and it takes it to be realized to a far greater extent in Western liberal democracies than in once-communist states. It argues that Marx's thought offered no support for such institutionalization of restraint, but, on the contrary, considerable support to the repressive, ideological and purely instrumental uses of law and the rejection and destruction of the rule of law, which were characteristic of communism.

Commemorating the Soviet Deportations of 1945 and Community-Building in Post-communist Upper Silesia

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
EWA OCHMAN
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Regional Identity ◽  
Upper Silesia ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Post War ◽  
Separatist Movement ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article focuses on the remembrance of the deportations of Silesians to the Soviet Union in 1945, undertaken in Upper Silesia, Poland, after the collapse of communism. It explores the relationship between local elite-sponsored official remembrance of the deportations and the formation of regional identity in the context of the Upper Silesia's borderland locality and the post-war population movement. The article also investigates the role of public commemorations of the Silesian past in the construction of a Silesian national identity undertaken by the Silesian separatist movement that gained in popularity against the backdrop of the post-1989 de-industrialisation of the region, Poland's most important centre for coal mining industry.

Perestroika Observed

1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Gellner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Established Order

It is an attempt at moral regeneration, at expiation, at the purging of guilt;a would-be effort at performing a Wirtschaftswunder (so far without visible success);a political reorganization, the establishment of democracy, from above;an intellectual liberalization; a partial abandonment of pretensions at a monopoly of truth;the withering away, or at least conspicuous routinization of a secular faith;a reincorporation of the Soviet Union in a wider civilization, an international idiom;a recovery of traditional Russian culture (and of others), including ‘spiritual’ values, a much used phrase;the establishment of the rule of law;the re-creation of civil society;a re-orientation in foreign relations and policy.The legitimacy and the appeal of the perestroika regime has a curious double basis. It says, in effect: we claim your support because we are changing everything; and we also claim your support because we are preserving our established order, our Soviet, revolutionary, Leninist heritage and tradition. This may or may not be contradictory; but it is unquestionably the case and this is the manner in which the great restructuring is presented, advocated and defended.

Membership Eligibility in a Europe of Liberal Democracies, 1970–2005

2021 ◽  
pp. 159-193
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Fast Track ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter uses extensive archival evidence to demonstrate how the membership norm adopted by the community around 1970—that only liberal democracies respecting human rights and the rule of law are eligible for membership—shaped its decisions on Greece, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine over subsequent decades. The democratic governments that took power in Greece and Spain after the collapse of authoritarian rule in the mid-1970s used the community’s membership norm to pressure member states to fast track them to accession despite the hesitation of the European Commission and powerful domestic lobbies. Notwithstanding the growing controversy over Turkey’s membership prospects in this period, the community’s membership norm played an important role in keeping the relationship on track. Finally, the EU’s membership norm impeded Ukraine’s pursuit of closer ties after interdependence in 1991 because of widespread concern within the Union regarding the country’s actual commitment to liberal democracy and the rule of law.

scholarly journals Krajowa Rada Narodowa i Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego w państwie prawa. Stanowiska doktryny

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Ewa Kozerska ◽  
Katarzyna Dziewulska
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Normative Order

<p>The establishment of the communist regime in Poland in 1944 is a current subject of reflection in the doctrine and practice of legislation and judiciary. There has been no uniform position on these events, which means that the then sanctioned political and normative order continues to produce controversial assessments and, above all, certain legal effects. This results from the fact that the new people’s power, empowered by force, and not by legal or social basis, has given itself the competence to establish a normative order. The lack of legitimacy for the rightful rule and legislative activity, in principle – from the point of view of the idea of the rule of law – undermines the political and legal status of the people’s authorities. This is all the more so because the system of unified power and sources of law created at that time was evidence of building a totalitarian state modelled on the Soviet Union. The events and legal behaviours of that time led to numerous, often radical changes in many areas of private and public life. They caused certain social and material effects, difficult to reverse today, which Polish society still faces. Therefore, modern standards of the rule of law require that public authorities undertake comprehensive and effective activity. They require that the principles of just and fair compensation for material damage and compensation for moral losses resulting from the rule of this system be implemented. This seems all the more important because some regulations of the people’s power, especially those concerning changes in the ownership structure, are still in force and form the basis of court and Constitutional Tribunal decisions.</p>

Organized Crime in Russia

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaim Shinar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The West ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Criminal Organizations ◽  
State Employees

The breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s opened the gates of immigration to Israel and to the West. The wave of immigration to Israel also included criminal elements who wanted to evade the rule of law in their countries. The arrival of these people to Israel aroused my interest in the historical causes of corruption in Russia, forms of corrupt behaviour by state employees, and the processes of development and creation of criminal organizations in Russia.

Prospects for the Consolidation of Democracy in East Central Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEN BERGLUND
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Continuous Flow ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

Few events have drawn as much interest from the academic community as the breakdown of Soviet-style socialism in Central and Eastern Europe and the subsequent disintegration of the Soviet Union itself in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This paper might be classified as yet another in a continuous flow of scientific contributions, inspired by the collapse of communism. And this is indeed the case, but only in an oblique way.

The Soviet Union and the Rule of Law

1990 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Thornburgh
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Soviet Union

THE RULE OF LAW AS A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM: COMPARATIVE LEGAL ASPECT

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Dashkovska ◽  
◽  
Bohdan Kazarin ◽  
Yehor Zavialov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Aspect ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Times

The article considers the concept of "rule of law", identifies the main features, clarifies the ideological origins of the rule of law. The relationship between the concepts of "rule of law" and "rule of law" is analyzed. Attention is paid to the development of the doctrine of the rule of law in domestic legislation, the main stages of enshrining this principle in the system of national legislation are highlighted. It is noted that at this stage of development of the rule of law there is a problem of its insufficient regulation and definition of this concept in the system of Ukrainian law. The principle of the rule of law in the times of the Soviet Union and in the times of independent Ukraine is considered. It was concluded that many elements of the structure of the legal system were borrowed from the times of Soviet Ukraine. It was also found that the current state of the rule of law in Ukraine largely depends on the level of legal culture of the population, where Soviet stereotypes prevail. A comparison of the application of the rule of law in different types of legal families, namely: Anglo-Saxon, religious and traditional. It is noted that in our time in any legal system of the world one way or another is used and enshrined the fundamental principle of the rule of law. It is emphasized that for the development of our system based on the basic principles of law, it is necessary to further borrow the experience of other countries of different types of legal families. It is established that focusing on more developed Western countries will contribute to the renewal and development of the legal system of Ukraine. It is noted that this principle is one of the general principles of constitutionalism, it is necessary for the state to be considered truly democratic and legal. The conclusion emphasizes that respect for human rights, the prohibition of state arbitrariness, non-discrimination and equality before the law are the main elements of this principle.

Vanguard of the Revolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

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