scholarly journals THE COMMONWEALTH PRINCIPLES (LATIMER HOUSE) ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT: TWENTY YEARS ON

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-119
Author(s):  
Peter Slinn ◽  
Karen Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
Specific Implementation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heads Of Government

2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Latimer House ‘process’ which commenced with the drafting of the Latimer House Guidelines for the Commonwealth on Good Practice Governing Relations between the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary. Since then the Latimer House Guidelines have been transformed into the Commonwealth Principles (Latimer House) on the Relationship between the Three Branches of Government which have been endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government on several occasions. This article assesses the role of the Latimer House process over the last two decades against the background of the Commonwealth’s evolving commitments to good governance and the rule of law. In Part 1 explores the role of the Commonwealth in supporting good governance and the rule of law whilst Part 2 considers and evaluates the Latimer House process itself. Part 3 reviews the development of the Commonwealth Principles in practice whilst in Part 4 some specific implementation issues concerning the Judiciary are discussed. Part 5 considers the future development of the Commonwealth Principles whilst Part 6 provides a conclusion and overview.

scholarly journals CORRUPTION, CAPITAL ABUNDANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: EVIDENCE FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlatka Bilas ◽  
Mile Bošnjak ◽  
Sanja Franc
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
European Union Countries ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this paper is to establish and clarify the relationship between corruption level and development among European Union countries. Out of the estimated model in this paper one can conclude that the level of corruption can explain capital abundance differences among European Union countries. Also, explanatory power of corruption is higher in explaining economic development than in explaining capital abundance, meaning stronger relationship between corruption level and economic development than between corruption level and capital abundance. There is no doubt that reducing corruption would be beneficial for all countries. Since corruption is a wrongdoing, the rule of law enforcement is of utmost importance. However, root causes of corruption, namely the institutional and social environment: recruiting civil servants on a merit basis, salaries in public sector competitive to the ones in private sector, the role of international institutions in the fight against corruption, and some other corruption characteristics are very important to analyze in order to find effective ways to fight corruption. Further research should go into this direction.

scholarly journals A European convergence towards a stare decisis model?

2015 ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Civitarese
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Stare Decisis ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Law System ◽  
Legal Space ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The article revolves around the doctrine of precedent within the so-called European legal space, wondering whether and to what extent we can speak of a convergence towards a stare decisis model boosted by the harmonizing role of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The article argues that although there are still some differences between civil law and common law legal systems they regard more the style of reasoning and the deep understanding of the relationship between the present decision of a court and past judicial decisions than the very existence of the constraints of the latter upon the former. The article concludes that a sort of mechanism of stare decisis has in fact been created, even though, on the one hand, uncertainty remains as to the way in which the binding force of a precedent concretely operates in the system, and on the other hand, this mechanism relates exclusively to the relationships between past and future decisions of higher courts (horizontal effect). This change, far from being a shift towards a truly judge-made law system or a consequence of the final abandonment of the dictates of the rule of law, enhances legal certainty contributing to the fundamental requirement of stability of law as a feature of the ideal of the rule of law.

UN Peacekeeping and the Rule of Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT A. BLAIR
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The UN is intimately involved in efforts to restore the rule of law in conflict and postconflict settings. Yet despite the importance of the rule of law for peace, good governance, and economic growth, evidence on the impact of these efforts is scant. I develop a theory to explain when UN rule-of-law reform is likely to succeed, then test the theory using original datasets capturing the number of civilian personnel deployed to each UN mission in Africa, the number of personnel assigned specifically to rule-of-law-related tasks, and the extent and nature of actual rule-of-law-related activities in the field. The correlation between UN presence and the rule of law is weak while conflict is ongoing, but robustly positive during periods of peace. The relationship is stronger for civilian than uniformed personnel, and is strongest when UN missions engage host states in the process of reform.

Promoting the Rule of Law through the Principle of Subsidiarity in the African Union: A Critical Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
O’Brien Kaaba ◽  
Babatunde Fagbayibo
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
African Union ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Consistent Approach

The relationship between African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (recs) frameworks, especially as it relates to the application of the principle of subsidiarity to intervention that aims to ensure strict adherence to democratic standards, is at the heart of this article. Although there exists a 2007 ‘Draft Protocol on the Relations Between the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities’, it is yet to be adopted, and more importantly, its provisions are ambiguous. The same problem of ambiguity applies to the 2008 ‘Memorandum of Understanding (mou) on Cooperation in the Area of Peace and Security Between the African Union, The Regional Economic Communities and the Coordinating Mechanism of The Regional Standby Brigades of Eastern Africa and Northern Africa’. The lack of a consistent approach to situations in Burundi, The Gambia and Zambia, has since raised the question of subsidiarity, or to put it more specifically, the vague articulation of the concept in the AU. In redressing this problem, the article provides some normative suggestions on how to ensure the effective application of the principle of subsidiarity in advancing democracy and good governance in Africa.

scholarly journals Digital Constitutionalism: Using the Rule of Law to Evaluate the Legitimacy of Governance by Platforms

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511878781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Suzor
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Private Governance ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Relationship

Platforms govern users, and the way that platforms govern matters. In this article, I propose that the legitimacy of governance of users by platforms should be evaluated against the values of the rule of law. In particular, I suggest that we should care deeply about the extent to which private governance is consensual, transparent, equally applied and relatively stable, and fairly enforced. These are the core values of good governance, but are alien to the systems of contract law that currently underpin relationships between platforms and their users. Through an analysis of the contractual Terms of Service of 14 major social media platforms, I show how these values can be applied to evaluate governance, and how poorly platforms perform on these criteria. I argue that the values of the rule of law provide a language to name and work through contested concerns about the relationship between platforms and their users. This is an increasingly urgent task. Finding a way to apply these values to articulate a set of desirable restraints on the exercise of power in the digital age is the key challenge and opportunity of the project of digital constitutionalism.

scholarly journals The role of records management in ensuring good governance in Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 103-123
Author(s):  
Olefhile Mosweu ◽  
Donald Rakemane
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
African Context

Proper records management is central to the promotion of good governance. Africa is a continent which has generally been riddled with poor governance. Principles of good governance such as accountability, transparency and the rule of law are ascertained with available records. Poor records management practices promote bad economic practices such as corruption and fraud. An assessment of the performance of government can thus be realised through proper records management and access to information. Good records management practices therefore lead to good governance and vice versa; thus, the role of records management in promoting good governance cannot be overemphasised. However, there are some likely impediments that may hinder the promotion of good governance through records management in the African context. This paper explored the role played by records management in ensuring good governance in Africa. It then suggests strategies to promote good governance through proper records management practices. The paper contends that outdated archival laws, backlog of unprocessed records and absence of access to information laws in some African countries are the major impediments to the promotion of good governance. The paper recommends an amendment of outdated laws and the promulgation of access to information legislation as major initiatives, among others, which put records management in the forefront of promoting good governance in the continent.

Weaving a Tangled Web:Hapeand the Obfuscation of Canadian Reception Law

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 55-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Currie
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Canadian Law ◽  
The Relationship

SummaryThe majority Supreme Court of Canada judgment inHape— a case concerning extraterritorial applicability of theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms— is premised on three aspects of the relationship between international and Canadian law: (1) the interaction of customary international law and Canadian common law; (2) the role of Canada’s international legal obligations inCharterinterpretation; and (3) the potential role of customary international law as a source of unwritten principles of the Canadian Constitution. This article reviews pre-existing law in all three of these areas and analyzes a number of innovations apparently introduced thereto, with little or no explanation, by the majority inHape. It concludes thatHapeseriously exacerbates an already uncertain relationship between international and Canadian law, with fundamental consequences for the rule of law in Canada.

‘Belief’ in the Rule of Law and the Hindu Nation and the Rule of Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 353-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratna Kapur
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Indian Nation ◽  
Indian State ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Relationship

Ratna Kapur illustrates how the Indian judiciary, through mobilizing a politics of ‘belief,’ has endorsed the identity of the Indian state as a Hindu nation through the discourse of rights and has underscored such practice through the constructed opposition between Islam and gender equality in the advocacy of the Hindu Right. The article analyses the role of religion in the constitutional discourse of secularism in India and how this has been used as a technique to establish and reinforce Hindu majoritarianism. The article focuses on the relationship between secularism, equality, and religion in law, which is pivotal to the Hindu Right’s project of constructing the Indian Nation as Hindu. Kapur notes that the judiciary has played a central role in legitimizing the Hindutva project, and that this project has gained traction in the legal arena to reshape the meaning of equality, gender equality, and religious freedom.

The Problem with Normality: Taking Exception to “Permanent Emergency”

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Neocleous
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
September 11 ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Emergency Measures

This article challenges the increasingly prevalent idea that since September 11, 2001, we have moved into a state of permanent emergency and an abandonment of the rule of law. The article questions this idea, showing that historical developments in the twentieth century have actually placed emergency powers at the heart of the rule of law as a means of administering capitalist modernity. This suggests we need to rethink our understanding of the role of emergency measures in the “war on terror” and, more generally, to reconsider the relationship between the rule of law and violence.

Roundtable of Heads of Government of Commonwealth Africa on Democracy and Good Governance in Africa

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-252
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
Heads Of Government ◽  
Opposition Parties

In the Harare Commonwealth Declaration of 1991, Commonwealth Heads of Government committed themselves to the promotion of democracy and human rights, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and just and honest government. They also agreed that the promotion of democracy, democratic processes and institutions would proceed in a manner which reflected national circumstances. This Roundtable provided Commonwealth African leaders with a forum in which to discuss their respective experiences of democratization since the 1991 Declaration and was a ground-breaking exercise, having no precedent in the history of the Commonwealth or any other comparable institution. In preparation for the Roundtable itself, representatives of both governing and opposition parties from 18 Commonwealth African countries met and agreed the following Report which seeks to crystallize the aspirations of the Harare Declaration.

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