Federalists and the Beginnings of the Council of Europe: Converting Institutions and Opinion to Supranationality (1949–1951)

In 1949, it seemed that Western governments were ready to accept some delegation of sovereignty, which met the ambitions of increasingly well-organised Europeanists. One of the most ambitious advances was the proposal for a European Assembly, which could have heralded the beginning of an integration process. However, on this point, as on many others, there was not total agreement between the unionists and the federalists: for some, the Assembly was simply a co-operation structure, while others thought it should be a constituent body. The federalists—who had been united since December 1946 within the European Union of Federalists (EUF), which claimed to have no fewer than 150,000 members—were very demanding. After the adoption of the Statute of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949, the EUF Central Committee approved a “motion on the Consultative Assembly” in which it openly demanded the drafting of a federal pact that would lead to real European power. Faced with the modest intergovernmental status of the Council of Europe, the EUF proposed that the Assembly of this Council should be transformed from a “consultative” to a “constituent” assembly, which amounted to condemning any kind of conciliatory attitude. Therefore, the constituent path was becoming more and more important within the federalist organisation: it was now a matter of pressing, without restraint, for the triumph of ideals freed from initial reluctance, in the most diverse forums. The most important of these remained the Council of Europe, which was, in the eyes of the federalists, an institution that could be improved. Defending an integrated Europe, the federalists called for the creation of a democratic power on the scale of the challenges of the time, which seemed to them to exceed that of the nation states. To achieve this, they defended a “political” vision of integration, of which the Council of Europe could be the spearhead. It is this struggle, which took place at a time when the construction of Europe seems to be based on a simple but firm act of will, that this article will examine.

Gender Discourses and the Making of the Indian Constitution

Indian democracy was constituted after a long struggle for self- determination, which ultimately culminated in the making of a constitution for independent India. This article seeks to revisit gender discourses during the constituent assembly debates when women members were seeking for complete gender equality to be written into the constitution. The nationalist discourses on ‘Indian womanhood’ prevalent during the years of the freedom struggle were articulated and reflected in the debates and impacted the writing of the text of the constitution. The final text contains gender progressive provisions on which consensus had been achieved during the nationalist struggle but excludes explicit provisions that would have challenged the roots of patriarchal structures. Thus, while the nationalist movement provided a platform for women to organise for their rights, it also constrained the agenda of transformation.

INTERPELACIJA O OBZNANI

Obznana (Proclamation) was a quasi decree, passed on December 29, 1920, which banned the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The debate on the interpellation on Obznana was held on April 8, 1921, according to the rules on interpellation contained in Standing Orders of the Constituent Assembly, dated January 28, 1921. The Minister of the Interior, the creator of Obznana, Milorad Draskovic, was the first to speak at the debate. He stated many reasons why Obznana was passed. Then, the Minister answered the interpellant, the leader of the communists Sima Markovic, for 30 minutes, according to the Rules of Procedure. After wards, several other government and opposition MPs spoke, presenting arguments in favor of or against Obznana. The head of the Agricultural Party, Jovan Jovanović, spoke about Obznana from a legal standpoint, stating that Obznana was passed by the Government in resignation, that it was not published, that it did not have the King's signature, that it was passed without legal authorization and without a legal basis in the Criminal Code. Lawyer Dragutin Pećić stated the opposite view, according to which Obznana had a legal basis in the Constitution, in the Criminal Code and in a few of other legal regulations. He proposed a motivated transition to the agenda, which the Prime Minister Nikola Pasic accepted "as an expression of the Assembly's trust to the Government". With the parliamentary acceptance of Pećić's proposal to move to the agenda, the communist interpellation on Obznana was rejected, and the previous work of the Government regarding Obznana was approved. This paved the way for the adoption of the "Law on Protection for the State".

Constitutional Design of Electoral Governance in Federal States

This article explores the constitutional politics of electoral governance in federations by focusing on the role of election commissions, drawing mainly on examples from Asia. All democracies face the challenge of insulating electoral governance from interference and capture. Compared to unitary states, federations confront the additional dilemma of how to disperse authority over electoral governance across multiple orders of government. Federal democracies must decide whether electoral governance should be a matter for the center or the states. I argue that the basic choice is between what I will call the ‘unitary model’ and the ‘division of powers model.’ The main institution of electoral governance is the electoral management body or ‘EMB.’ In the unitary model, a central EMB administers both national and state-level elections. In the ‘division of powers model’, both a central and state-level EMBs exist, with the state commissions administering elections in the component units of the federation. In federal democracies generally, but especially in Asia, the allure of the unitary model has been strong. The article draws on the example of the Constituent Assembly in India to illustrate what is at stake in how federal constitutions allocate authority over electoral governance.

Art. 11 of the Italian Constitution between text and context

Luigi Bonanate’s book “Costituzione italiana: articolo 11” analyses Article 11 of the Italian Constitution through the prism of its application. Bonanate provides the reader, in a clear and compelling style, with a complete interpretation of Article 11, combining the analysis of the preparatory work in the Constituent Assembly with its doctrinal interpretation and political application. The book does not only analyse the drafting of this article, but also focuses on the “political history of Article 11”, on the contemporary debate by the scientific community and, finally, on its relations with the international legal system.

Revisiting the legitimacy question of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution

This article revisits the legitimacy question as it touches the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, bringing to the discourse a review and application of pertinent theoretical perspectives on constitution making and constitutional legitimacy. This theoretical and pragmatic approach introduces a refreshing angle to the debate, revealing the paucity of any attempt to ascribe any legitimacy claim to a constitution with a doubtful normative claim and fraudulent attribution of its source and legitimacy to the people. The author finds the consent basis of constitutional legitimacy as most attractive to a divided state like Nigeria, and concludes by advocating the adoption of a blend of the principles of the constituent assembly and post sovereign constitution-making models for the production of a new people-driven and inclusive constitution to meet the needs of the Nigerian people.

Chromatin landscape signals differentially dictate the activities of mSWI/SNF family complexes

Mammalian SWI/SNF (mSWI/SNF) adenosine triphosphate–dependent chromatin remodelers modulate genomic architecture and gene expression and are frequently mutated in disease. However, the specific chromatin features that govern their nucleosome binding and remodeling activities remain unknown. We subjected endogenously purified mSWI/SNF complexes and their constituent assembly modules to a diverse library of DNA-barcoded mononucleosomes, performing more than 25,000 binding and remodeling measurements. Here, we define histone modification-, variant-, and mutation-specific effects, alone and in combination, on mSWI/SNF activities and chromatin interactions. Further, we identify the combinatorial contributions of complex module components, reader domains, and nucleosome engagement properties to the localization of complexes to selectively permissive chromatin states. These findings uncover principles that shape the genomic binding and activity of a major chromatin remodeler complex family.

ENGLISH: Islamizing Pakistan: The concept of Islamic Constitution Theory and Practice

Pakistan after independence faced many problems ranging from the settlement of refugees to the fragile economy and unsteady defence. One of the major issues was the framing of constitution as immediately after separation from India, Pakistan faced a severe challenge of unity. Pakistan was a diverse country with two geographically separated wings, different cultures, divergent languages and separate provinces. The Constituent Assembly which was set up under Indian Independence Act 1947 faced this huge responsibility to provide a document on which the country could be run. Regarding character of the state of Pakistan; the religio-political Parties, Jamiat Ulama-i-Islam (JUI) and Jamat-i-Islami (JI) argued that Pakistan means the land of pure; therefore, in order to bring purity, Pakistan should be made an Islamic state. In it, the affairs of the government should be run according to Quran and Sunnah. In this way the constitution of this newly created state of Muslims should be Islamic in its nature. The rationale put forward was twofold i.e. they (Muslims) achieved Pakistan in the name of Islam and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had promised that an Islamic system would be introduced in the newly established state. Secondly, according to them, Islam provides a complete code of life and it had laid basic principles in each aspect of life including the basic guidance for formulating an Islamic Constitution. This article deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of the Islamic Constitution propounded by the scholars of JUI, JI and comparative analysis has been drawn in this regard.