scholarly journals The faces of freedom in the concepts of a liberal and non-liberal state

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Justyna Przedańska
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Slight Improvement ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual

The last decade has exposed the recession of freedom throughout the world. It arises from the latest Freedom in the World 2020 report that civil liberties and political rights have deteriorated in 64 countries, while only 37 have seen a slight improvement in these areas. The principles of liberal democracy (the rule of law, free elections, minority rights and freedom of expression) in Europe, historically the best-performing region in terms of freedom in the world, have come under serious pressure in recent years. In the article, starting from an analysis of the categories of freedom presented in many aspects, followed by a discussion of the assumptions and concepts of liberalism, as well as the political project referred to as non-liberal democracy, which has grown out of their criticism, the author identifies the problem of instrumentalization and relativization of freedom, which leads to the restriction of freedom of speech, freedom of minorities, religious freedom and sexual freedom, replacing the individual freedoms of the citizens with the so-called collective freedom.

scholarly journals Protest und Demokratisierung in Myanmar: Erste Erkenntnisse aus dem „Myanmar Protest Event Dataset“

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Buschmann
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Standards

Abstract Myanmar has been perceived to be in a sociopolitical and economic transition since the semi-civilian government under President Thein Sein took office in 2011. Amongst other things, for a representative democracy to function, citizens have to have the freedom to express their opinions and deliberate them with fellow citizens. This requires the secure granting of fundamental civil liberties, as prescribed in the freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Hence, once in the process of democratization, a formerly authoritarian state has to make significant improvements in the granting and protection of these rights too. To empirically test whether Myanmar has made such improvements since 2011 is the goal of a greater research project I am working on. This research note introduces the project and summarizes first findings. By combining knowledge on legal reforms and protest data from the Myanmar Protest Event Dataset, it is suggested that, in Myanmar, the de jure exercisability and de facto exercise of fundamental civil liberties have significantly improved from 2011 to 2015. Informal methods of suppressing the right to protest, such as arbitrary violence, have increasingly descended while methods that are formally in accordance with the rule of law but still lack compliance with international human rights standards have ascended.

A discussion of Paul M. Sniderman, Michael Bang Petersen, Rune Slothuus, and Rune Stubager's Paradoxes of Liberal Democracy: Islam, Western Europe, and the Danish Cartoon Crisis

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 466-467
Author(s):  
Rebekah Tromble
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Randomized Experiments ◽  
The World ◽  
Cartoon Crisis

The 2005 Danish cartoon crisis has been the topic of much discussion among political science scholars. In September 2011 we ran a symposium on Jytte Klausen’s The Cartoons That Shook the World that centered on the tensions between multiculturalism, civility, and freedom of expression disclosed by the controversy. Paul M. Sniderman, Michael Bang Petersen, Rune Slothuus, and Rune Stubager’s Paradoxes of Liberal Democracy: Islam, Western Europe, and the Danish Cartoon Crisis (Princeton 2014) revisits the Danish crisis. Drawing on randomized experiments linked to broader survey research, the authors offer a nuanced account of Danish public opinion, and argue that the sensitivity of Danes to civil liberties concerns explains why the cartoon controversy did not result in an anti-Muslim backlash. The topic, the argument, and the methodology are important, and so we have invited a range of political science scholars to review the book. — Jeffrey C. Isaac

scholarly journals Facets of Democracy: An Overview

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 15-29
Author(s):  
Aswasthama Bhakta Kharel
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
The World ◽  
Elected Representatives

 Democracy allows the expression of political preferences of citizens in a state. It advocates the rule of law, constraints on executive’s power, and guarantees the provision of civil liberties. It also manages to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms of people. In democracy, people are supposed to exercise their freely expressed will. Ordinary people hold the political power of the state and rule directly or through elected representatives inside a democratic form of government. Democracy is a participatory and liberal way of governing a country. Different countries in the world have been practicing various models of democracy. There remains the participation of people in government and policy-making of the state under democracy. But when the majority can pull the strings of the society without there being legislation for protecting the rights of the minority, it may create a severe risk of oppression. Many countries of the world at the present time are facing democratic deficits. In several countries, the democratic practices are not adequately regulated and governed, as a result, the rise of violations of rules of law is observed. Even a few countries practicing democracy are not living peacefully. This situation has put a significant question about the need and sustainability of democracy. Democracy is a widely used system of governance beyond having several challenges. Here the concept, origin, models, dimensions, practices, challenges, solutions, and future of democracy are dealt to understand the structure of ideal democracy.

scholarly journals Does Indonesian COVID-19 Emergency Law Secure Rule of Law and Human Rights?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Emergency Situation ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
New Development ◽  
The Government

President Joko Widodo announced a public health emergency at the end of March 2020. This policy demonstrates denial, too late and limited in responding to the spread of Covid-19. On the other hand, the state security approach during the pandemic has pressured civil liberties, especially criticisms against government policies. This phenomenon is not a new development in Indonesia whereby attacks on freedom of expression and academic freedom are common. This article analyses how the COVID-19 health emergency situation is handled by the government from the perspective of human rights law standards and the rule of law. This article argues the Indonesian COVID-19 emergency law violates many guarantees of legal protection under the rule of law standard. It is apparent how the issue of human rights has not yet become an effective strategy or approach in this non-natural disaster emergency situation.

Temporary Appointments and Judicial Independence: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Findings from the Supreme Court of Israel

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 481-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli M. Salzberger
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Individual

Judicial independence is regarded as an essential condition for the rule of law and separation of powers — two pillars of liberal democracy. Judicial independence ought to include components to secure independence on the individual level, as well as components to secure independence on the institutional level of courts. The most important objects of judicial independence are the other branches of government, but some degree of independence from the general public and from other judges is required as well. These features of independence can be achieved by rigid and entrenched arrangements regarding tenure, immunity from wage decrease, special procedures for appointment and promotion of judges, mechanisms for the allocation of cases to judges and the composition of the benches, and more.

scholarly journals Why there is a need for Street Law programmes?

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Michal Urban
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Positive Feeling ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
The World ◽  
Imperfect System

<p>Winston Churchill famously noted that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.<a title="" href="file:///X:/Academic%20Library%20Services/Research%20Support%20Team/Scholarly%20Publications/OJS/International%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Legal%20Education/07%20Michal%20Urban.docx#_ftn1">[1]</a> He was talking about constitutional liberal democracy in Fareed Zakaria’s terms,<a title="" href="file:///X:/Academic%20Library%20Services/Research%20Support%20Team/Scholarly%20Publications/OJS/International%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Legal%20Education/07%20Michal%20Urban.docx#_ftn2">[2]</a> combining classical liberalism with the rule of law, and he had no illusions about its weaknesses. After all, he was a witness to fall of many of those European democracies under the pressures of Nazism, fascism or communism in 1930s and 1940s.  However imperfect system this kind of democracy may be, it is the system that most European countries currently have, for better or worse, and all the alternatives to it we are currently observing across the world, be it in China, Russia, Hungary or Turkey present no tempting substitute. On the contrary, these more or less illiberal democracies evoke pleasantly positive feeling towards our version of democracy, even with all its flaws.</p><div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div><p><a title="" href="file:///X:/Academic%20Library%20Services/Research%20Support%20Team/Scholarly%20Publications/OJS/International%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Legal%20Education/07%20Michal%20Urban.docx#_ftnref1">[1]</a> See https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government.</p></div><div><p><a title="" href="file:///X:/Academic%20Library%20Services/Research%20Support%20Team/Scholarly%20Publications/OJS/International%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Legal%20Education/07%20Michal%20Urban.docx#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Zakaria, Fareed. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. W.W. Norton &amp; Company,  2003.</p></div></div>

African Union (Au): Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption

2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African Union ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Council Of Ministers

Considering that the Constitutive Act of the African Union recognizes that freedom, equality, justice, peace and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspiration of the African peoples; Further Considering that Article 3 of the said Constitutive Act enjoins Member States to coordinate and intensify their cooperation, unity, cohesion and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa; Cognizant of the fact that the Constitutive Act of the African Union, inter alia, calls for the need to promote and protect human and peoples' rights, consolidate democratic institutions and foster a culture of democracy and ensure good governance and the rule of law; Aware of the need to respect human dignity and to foster the promotion of economic, social, and political rights in conformity with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights and other relevant human rights instruments; Bearing in mind the 1990 Declaration on the Fundamental Changes Taking Place in the World and their Implications for Africa; the 1994 Cairo Agenda for Action Relaunching Africa's Socio-economic Transformation; and the Plan of Action Against Impunity adopted by the Nineteenth Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in 1996 as subsequently endorsed by the Sixty fourth Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers held in Yaounde, Cameroon in 1996 which, among others, underlined the need to observe principles of good governance, the primacy of law, human rights, democratization and popular participation by the African peoples in the processes of governance.

Wherefore the Liberal State?

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jørgen Møller
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Fiscal Sociology ◽  
Liberal Constitutionalism ◽  
Liberal Rights

The post-Soviet setting is characterized by a disheartening political paradox. Since the fall of communism, some kind of electoralism has been spreading to almost every corner of the former empire, yet liberal rights and the rule of law have not been its fellow travelers; nor do they seem destined to provide companionship in the imminent future. Revisiting the long-standing German current of fiscal sociology, it is possible to solve this paradox. In the Europe of yesterday, liberal constitutionalism was the product of a quid pro quo between the rulers and the ruled: an exchange of rights for revenue. Historically, this “grand bargain of the liberal state” was a prerequisite for liberal democracy, and the very same social mechanisms—or lack thereof— seem to be operating in the post-Soviet world of today.

Locke on Freedom

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Liberal Politics ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines how John Locke's account of government in his Two Treatises can be a solution to the problem of reconciling freedom and authority—a central problem of liberal politics. It argues that Lockean individualism allows the individual no ultimate freedom to decide his or her own ends—these being set by God—but disagrees with the notion that this sort of freedom is necessary to a defense of the rule of law. The chapter first considers the connections between liberty and Locke's account of property, as well as the connections between freedom and republicanism, before discussing Hannah Arendt and Sheldon Wolin's dismissal of liberalism as an essentially “privatized” view of the world. It suggests that Locke's vision of freedom is not a particularly political one, although this is not a knockout blow for the “privatization” thesis.

scholarly journals The Blizzard of the World: COVID-19 and the Last Say of the State of Exception

2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Przemysław Tacik
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World

The paper aims to grasp the COVID-19 pandemic as a socio-political catastrophe in the Benjaminian sense. As argued in the article, the scope and nature of the COVID-19 crisis eludes us due to our closeness to its inner core. What is obfuscated in this moment is the politico-legal framework on which the international community is based, where sovereignty and turbocapitalism join their forces to produce biopolitical devices. The paper looks into uses of the state of exception in particular countries, concluding that the rule of law in the pandemic was generally put on the back burner even by the countries that officially praise it. Sovereignty clearly returned to the stage, undermining parliamentarism and civil liberties in the sake of necessity. International law remained incapable of addressing this return, let alone of enforcing responsibility of China for infringing WHO rules. As a conclusion the paper argues that COVID-19 opened new-old paths of governing the living that will play a planetary role in the future fights for dominance and imposing a new face of capitalism.

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