scholarly journals La suprématie législative et l'édiction d'une charte des droits britannique

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-655
Author(s):  
Guy Tremblay ◽  
Sylvain Bellavance
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
International Standards ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wrong Direction

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the enactment of a Bill of Rights in the United Kingdom is probable but that the constitutional entrenchment of the rights involved is not contemplated. It is submitted that the model proposed for the United Kingdom is very appropriate in a democratic society. The bills which are analysed incorporate international standards in British law, they operate upon Acts of Parliament and they preserve a normal margin of discretion for the political branches of the State. The authors conclude that in Canada the protection of fundamental rights has been more technicalized and that we should pause and reevaluate our approach in this respect. In particular, the repeal of section 33 of the Canadian Charter — which permits express exceptions to certain rights — would be a step in the wrong direction.

The Canadian Charter, the British Connection, and the Americanization Thesis: Toward a Montesquieuean Analysis of Rights and Their Protection

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1061-1081
Author(s):  
Samuel V. LaSelva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
Pierre Trudeau ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
Inalienable Rights

AbstractThis article examines the Canadian Charter with reference to “the British connection” and “the Americanization thesis.” It also attempts to demonstrate the importance of Montesquieu'sThe Spirit of the Lawsin addressing these issues. Pierre Trudeau insisted that a Charter of Human Rights would provide Canadians with a new beginning and settle difficult questions about the Canadian identity. His critics said that fundamental rights were already protected because Canada had a constitution similar in principle to the United Kingdom, and that the proposed Charter was a step in the Americanization of Canada. What a Montesquieuean analysis helps to identify are significant limitations in both “the British connection” account and “the Americanization thesis.” And, by the avoiding the abstract universalism of Trudeau's “inalienable rights” theorizing and Dworkin's “rights as trumps” regime, a Montesquieuean analysis also helps to demonstrate the distinctiveness of Canadian constitutionalism from Confederation to the Charter.

scholarly journals Putting Surveillance on the Political Agenda – A Short Defence of Surveillance, Citizens and the State

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-413
Author(s):  
Charles D. Raab ◽  
Benjamin J. Goold
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
House Of Lords

In February 2009 the House of Lords Constitutional Committee in the United Kingdom published the report Surveillance: Citizens and the State. Some have hailed this as a landmark document. Volume 6(3) of Surveillance & Society published 4 invited responses to this report written by prominent scholars. In the contribution below the two Specialist Advisers to this committee set the context for the report and provide a brief rejoinder to the four responses.

scholarly journals The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: going beyond declarations

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Hickman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Cultural Pressures

The process of capturing and entrenching fundamental rights remains very much a live one in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In both countries there is pressure to move on from the current bill of rights legislation: the UK Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA). While the two jurisdictions are subject to quite different political and cultural pressures, there remains a great deal of scope for exchange of ideas and experiences. 

Scotland, Britain, and the Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 688-704
Author(s):  
Ali M. Ansari
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
Political Union ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Economic Infrastructure ◽  
British State

This chapter argues for the continued relevance and importance of the United Kingdom as a liberal and progressive idea which has bound and harnessed the competing nationalisms of the peoples of these islands for the benefit and welfare of all. Assessing the stresses and strains which have been imposed on the idea of Britain over the last decade, the chapter acknowledges that much political capital has been expended during a series of crises, foreign and domestic that have afflicted the state, and that there is an urgent need to reinvest in the political, as well as the economic infrastructure of the country. Ultimately the strength of the British state and the ideals that have shaped it, lies in its ability to adapt and change according to circumstance and need, and it is this salient fact that has been a cornerstone of the most successful political union of modern times.

scholarly journals Are public service media distinctive from the market? Interpreting the political information environments of BBC and commercial news in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110121
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Television News ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
International Issues ◽  
Market Driven

Public service media face an existential crisis. Many governments are cutting their budgets, while questioning the role and value of public service broadcasting because many citizens now have access to a wide range of media. This raises the question – do public service media supply a distinctive and informative news service compared to market-led media? Drawing on the concept of political information environment, this study makes an intervention into debates by carrying out a comparative content analysis of news produced by UK public service broadcasters and market-driven media across television, radio and online outlets (N = 1065) and interviewing senior editors about the routine selection of news. It found that almost all BBC news and commercial public service media platforms reported more news about politics, public affairs and international issues than entirely market-driven outlets. Online BBC news reported more informative topics than market-based media, which featured more entertainment and celebrity stories. The value of public service media was demonstrated on the United Kingdom’s nightly television news bulletins, which shone a light on the world not often reported, especially BBC News at Ten. Most market-driven media reported through a UK prism, excluding many countries and international issues. Overall, it is argued that the influence of public service media in the United Kingdom helps shape an information environment with informative news. The focus of the study is on UK media, but the conceptual application of intepreting a political information environment is designed to be relevant for scholars internationally. While communication studies have sought to advance more cross-national studies in recent years, this can limit how relevant studies are for debates in national political information environments. This study concludes by recommending more scholarly attention should be paid to theorising national policy dynamics that shape the political information environments of media systems within nations.

scholarly journals What does it Mean to be a Man? Trans Masculinities, Bodily Practices, and Reflexive Embodiment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2110085
Author(s):  
Sofia Aboim ◽  
Pedro Vasconcelos
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
To Come

Confronted with the centrality of the body for trans-masculine individuals interviewed in the United Kingdom and Portugal, we explore how bodily-reflexive practices are central for doing masculinity. Following Connell’s early insight that bodies needed to come back to the political and sociological agendas, we propose that bodily-reflexive practice is a concept suited to account for the production of trans-masculinities. Although multiple, the journeys of trans-masculine individuals demonstrate how bodily experiences shape and redefine masculinities in ways that illuminate the nexus between bodies, embodiments, and discursive enactments of masculinity. Rather than oppositions between bodily conformity to and transgression of the norms of hegemonic masculinity, often encountered in idealizations of the medicalized transsexual against the genderqueer rebel, lived bodily experiences shape masculinities beyond linear oppositions. Tensions between natural and technological, material and discursive, or feminine and masculine were keys for understanding trans-masculine narratives about the body, embodiment, and identity.

Countering terrorism or criminalizing curiosity? The troubled history of UK responses to right-wing and other extremism

2021 ◽  
pp. 147377952198934
Author(s):  
Lucia Zedner
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Right Wing Extremism

The growth of right-wing extremism, especially where it segues into hate crime and terrorism, poses new challenges for governments, not least because its perpetrators are typically lone actors, often radicalized online. The United Kingdom has struggled to define, tackle or legitimate against extremism, though it already has an extensive array of terrorism-related offences that target expression, encouragement, publication and possession of terrorist material. In 2019, the United Kingdom went further to make viewing terrorist-related material online on a single occasion a crime carrying a 15-year maximum sentence. This article considers whether UK responses to extremism, particularly those that target non-violent extremism, are necessary, proportionate, effective and compliant with fundamental rights. It explores whether criminalizing the curiosity of those who explore radical political ideas constitutes legitimate criminalization or overextends state power and risks chilling effects on freedom of speech, association, academic freedom, journalistic enquiry and informed public debate—all of which are the lifeblood of a liberal democracy.

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