scholarly journals Protecting Freedom of Expression in Multicultural Societies: Comparing Constitutionalism in Indonesia and Canada

Yuridika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman ◽  
Sébastien Lafrance

This paper explores the similarities and differences in Indonesia and Canada regarding the constitutionally protected freedom of expression. While one may expect that both countries do not have much in common from a general standpoint, both do have several similarities in their approach to the interpretation and application of that freedom. The exercise of freedom of expression is also examined through the spectrum of jurisprudential examples from both countries, more specifically in the context of ‘hate speech’, ‘artistic expression’ and ‘language expression’.In addition, the social reality of both countries underlying the freedom of expression is uncovered. Further, the limitations imposed in both countries on that fundamental freedom are also discussed. Learning from the exercise that consisted in this paper to compare relevant laws of two countries, and despite the differences between their respective legal traditions, this study argues that freedom of expression, in two different countries such as Indonesia and Canada, can play a more effective role in a society with a multicultural character that complies with the rule of law.

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-603
Author(s):  
Peter Roudik

Russian society is currently struggling on its road towards recognizing the rights and freedoms of the individual, as well as towards establishing the rule of law and institutions, norms and procedures of a civil society. The current poor state of the legal profession is due significantly to lawyers with substandard qualifications. This fact has delayed the speed of progressive social, political and spiritual reforms, and has complicated the quest for freedom and legal rights by the Russian people. An analysis of the previous Russian experience and a creative interpretation of state and legal traditions might be useful to solve current problems. One such lesson may be learned from studying the history of the Bar (Advokatura), which once used to influence the social and political life in Russia.


Author(s):  
M. Medvedieva ◽  
E. Dibrivna ◽  
R. Kuharchuk

It is proved that the term hate speech used in international legal discourse does not have a generalized and precise definition. It is noted that when using the term «hate speech» there is a conflict between the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition of discrimination on any grounds. It is emphasized that the concept of «hate speech» in its current use contradicts the fundamental principle of the rule of law, because it represents a threat to the democratic foundation of society. The unconditional introduction of the concept of «hate speech» into the laws of European states may endanger the right to freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, as it provides grounds for establishing unreasonable restrictions on the exercise of these rights and freedoms.


Author(s):  
Angela Dranishnikova ◽  
Ivan Semenov

The national legal system is determined by traditional elements characterizing the culture and customs that exist in the social environment in the form of moral standards and the law. However, the attitude of the population to the letter of the law, as a rule, initially contains negative properties in order to preserve personal freedom, status, position. Therefore, to solve pressing problems of rooting in the minds of society of the elementary foundations of the initial order, and then the rule of law in the public sphere, proverbs and sayings were developed that in essence contained legal educational criteria.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Pirozhok

The relevance of determining the theoretical and methodological determinants of the Robert von Moll’s concept of the social state is due to the need to determine the patterns of evolution of ideas about the state and law, as well as the need to assess the ability to use the potential of the Robert von Moll’s theoretical and legal heritage, his predecessors and contemporaries to identify the optimal model of the social state. Modern Russia attempts to build such state. The proclamation and consolidation of Russia as a social state governed by the rule of law at the constitutional level requires attention both to the experiments carried out in social and legal development, and to the practices of social reform, and also to those ideas that have not yet been embodied. The ideas of European scholars regarding the evolution of the state-legal organization of society in the early modern period, based on which Robert von Mohl (1799–1875) developed original concepts of a social state and a state governed by the rule of law are discussed in the article. An analysis of the state of European political and legal thought and identification of the factors that have a significant impact on the development of Robert von Mohl’s doctrine of a social state governed by the rule of law are the purposes of the scientific article. The methodological basis of the study was the dialectical-materialistic, general scientific (historical, systemic) and special (historical-legal, comparativelegal) methods of legal research. The method of reconstruction and interpretation of legal ideas had great importance. As a result of the study, it was concluded that in the first half of the 19th century in European political and legal thought various approaches was formed to consider the problems of social protection and how to resolve them. The development trend of European political science became the transition from ideas and principles formed in the conditions of police states and enlightened absolutism to the ideas of a state governed by the rule of law (constitutional) that protects the rights and freedoms of a citizen. At the same time, it was a question of the rights and freedoms of only a part of the population: the proletariat growing in number and significance was not always evaluated as an independent social stratum. The axiological principles of state justification have also changed. Rights and utility principle became dominant principles. In the first half of the 19th century the social issue as an independent scientific problem of the European political and legal thought was not posed and not systematically developed. Questions about the social essence of the state, the specifics of the implementation of the state social function, the features of public administration in the new stage of socio-economic development of society predetermined the emergence of the idea of a social state. This idea was comprehensively characterized in the Robert von Mohl’s works. He went down in the history of political and legal thought as founder of the concepts of social and governed by the rule of law state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Andraž Teršek

Abstract The central objective of the post-socialist European countries which are also Member States of the EU and Council of Europe, as proclaimed and enshrined in their constitutions before their official independence, is the establishment of a democracy based on the rule of law and effective legal protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. In this article the author explains what, in his opinion, is the main problem and why these goals are still not sufficiently achieved: the ruthless simplification of the understanding of the social function and functioning of constitutional courts, which is narrow, rigid and holistically focused primarily or exclusively on the question of whether the judges of these courts are “left or right” in purely daily-political sense, and consequently, whether constitutional court decisions are taken (described, understood) as either “left or right” in purely and shallow daily-party-political sense/manner. With nothing else between and no other foundation. The author describes such rhetoric, this kind of superficial labeling/marking, such an approach towards constitutional law-making as a matter of unbearable and unthinking simplicity, and introduces the term A Populist Monster. The reasons that have led to the problem of this kind of populism and its devastating effects on the quality and development of constitutional democracy and the rule of law are analyzed clearly and critically.


Urban History ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Morris

ABSTRACTThe concept of civil society provides a useful means of evaluating the social and political relationships of British towns. Civil society refers to the non-prescriptive relationships that lie between the state and kin. Such relationships are associated with the existence of the free market, the rule of law and a strong voluntary associational culture. Both theoretical analysis and historical evidence link civil society with the nature of urban places, their complexity, their function as a central place and their operation as a focus for flows of information. Between 1780 and 1820 the agencies of civil society in Britain provided an arena for making choices, for reasoned informed debate and for the collective provision and consumption of services in an open and pluralist manner.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ramlani Lina Sinaulan

This paper discusses the effort Islamic Law norms in activities for overcoming pornography and porno-action on mass media. By using normative legal research, the result found that the concept of Islamic law, behave based on sharia, shows the importance of shaping the personality traits of Islam (syakhsiyya Islāmiyya) and based on the devotion and faith. Because of the relation to the formulation of the rule of law against pornography behavior, it can not be designed, prepared and formulated based on social values. Based on the facts of society, as a result of the moral decadence that led to a permissive attitude towards their cultural infiltration, the social values in assessing the behavior may become more permissive toward behavior. However, the use of religious norms which have universal properties will not change, and even capable of elastic with the times.


Author(s):  
N. W. Barber

The rule of law requires that law make the differences it purports to make; linking the formal demands of law and the reality of the rules that structure power within a community. The chapter begins by outlining the rule of law. There are two aspects to the principle: first, the rule of law requires that laws be expressed in a way that enable people to obey the law; secondly, the rule of law requires that the social context is such that people are led to obey these rules. The second part of the chapter examines the connection between the rule of law and the state. First, it will be contended that states need to comply—to a degree—with the rule of law in order to exist. Secondly, in societies such as ours, non-state legal orders require the existence of the state, and state legal orders, for their successful operation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Buschmann

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.


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