Publicznoprawne instrumenty „demokracji walczącej” w polskim systemie prawa

The Polish system of public law has legal mechanisms that reflect the idea of ​​a militant democracy, assuming the need to equip the democratic system with instruments that will allow it to defend itself against actions aimed at its annihilation. They appear both on the constitutional level and in the acts of administrative and criminal law. As a result, the problem of the instruments of militant democracy becomes an interdisciplinary issue. The conducted analysis shows that the instruments in question, in spite of appearances, have a lot in common. Their use causes similar problems, the source of which are, among others, disputes arising around the concepts of Nazism, fascism, communism and totalitarianism.

Environmental protection in the Constitution of the Czech Republic

This article aims to analyse the constitutional order of Czechia and the decision-making practice of the courts to define the legal means of environmental protection at the constitutional level. The aim is also to provide the reader with an essential insight into environmental protection in Czechia at the constitutional level so that the legal regulation and decision-making practice can be compared with other countries.

Socialist idea and methods of constitutional implementation in 1918

This article demonstrates that socialism was the key political concept for the nascent Soviet constitutionalism. The matter is that the political-legal ideas of V. I. Lenin underlied the ideology of Bolshevism, which became the basis of the entire legal system of the Soviet state. The author traces the evolution of socialist ideas and their reception by the Russian social democracy. In the Bolshevik party, the idea of a socialist society has acquired rather utopian and radical forms than the initial European model. This was associated with the fact that socioeconomic, political and cultural conditions dictated certain framework for the implementation of socialism. The Communist Party had to establish the socialist principles and fundamentals of the Soviet society on the constitutional level. This led to robust debates on the issue in the constitutional commission. The discourse that emerged due to the adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 is poorly reflected in the scientific publications; therefore, the author provides brief biographical data of the key members of the constitutional commission. This allows correlating the political-legal ideas with the historical and personal contexts. It is worth noting that such concepts as “socialist society”, “association” and “union” underlie the comprehension of the essence of state and law. This served as the basis for further discussion of the goals and objectives of the councils, first steps, as well as rights and responsibilities of citizens.

THE DELIMITATION OF RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PRESIDENT OF POLAND WITH RESPECT TO ITS CONSTITUTIONALIZATION – SELECTED PROBLEMS

The legal foundations of the responsibility of the head of state are significant from the point of view of determining its political position and exercising administrative social control over the institution of the state. The mechanisms of institutionalizing the President’s responsibility established in Poland generally fulfill a protective role, but do not fully achieve the control and guarantee function for a democratic state of law. The structure of the constitutional and criminal liability of the Speaker of the Sejm or Senate, performing, pro tempore, the duties of the head of state, and the scope of the President’s responsibility partially have not been regulated at the constitutional level. These are controversial solutions from the standpoint of the hierarchy of norms and social practice

The Public Uses of Coercion and Force

The Kantian project of achieving perpetual peace among states seems (at best) an unfulfilled hope. Modern states’ authority claims and their exercise of power and sovereignty span a spectrum: from the most stringently and explicitly codified—the constitutional level—to the most fluid and turbulent acts of war. The Public Uses of Coercion and Force investigates both these individual extremes and also their relationship. Using Arthur Ripstein’s recent work Kant and the Law of War as a focal point, this book explores this connection through the lens of the (just) war theory and its relationship to the law. The Public Uses of Coercion and Force asks many key questions: what, if any, are the normatively salient differences between states’ internal coercion and the external use of force? Is it possible to isolate the constitutional level from other aspects of the state’s coercive reach? How could that be done while also guaranteeing a robust conception of human rights and adherence to the rule of law? With individual replies by Ripstein to chapters, this book will be of interest to students and academics of constitutional law, justice, philosophy of law, criminal law theory, and political science.

Introduction

This introductory chapter outlines the main themes of the volume as well as its structure and purpose. The editors explain why a discussion of Arthur Ripstein’s new work on Kant and the Law of War is particularly interesting from the point of view of several contemporary debates. The chapter provides a brief overview of the key questions discussed by the contributors in this book. The overall aim is to canvass how and why Kantian (just) war theory is so intriguing from the viewpoint of law, politics, and philosophy. The chapter’s main angle is the idea of a continuous spectrum of state power, spanning from the constitutional level all the way to the conduct of war.

Environmental protection in constitutional status in former Yugoslavian countries

As a result of the disintegration of Yugoslavia, a number of independent states were formed. However, their path to independence ran differently. Some of the countries took the pro-Western direction by joining NATO and the European Union, while others chose the Eastern direction, strengthening relations with the Russian Federation. The issues related to environmental protection in basic acts have also been regulated in various ways. There are a number of questions related to the current regulations on environmental protection in countries which were a unity a quarter of a century ago, and how comprehensive the issue was at the constitutional level in individual countries.

Human Rights in EU Development Policy

This chapter studies the role of human rights in EU development policy. The place of human rights in development policy was solidified at the constitutional level with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which made the promotion of human rights in all EU external action a legal obligation. As a result, different institutional mechanisms, thematic guidelines, and dedicated instruments and strategies have been put in place to consolidate a comprehensive operational framework aimed at ensuring that EU development programs advance human rights worldwide coherently and consistently. EU development policy is a shared competence, which means that both the EU and its Member States are entitled to act within this domain, as long as national actions do not undermine EU laws and positions. The sharing of competences, however, makes it more difficult for the EU to live up to the commitment of coherent and consistent promotion of human rights. In any case, substantial amount of coordination between the EU and the Member States is required in order to deliver coherence in development policy. However, the role of the EU as a normative leader in development cooperation remains subject to a multitude of long-standing criticisms and various evaluations of EU human rights policy point to a series of mixed results and missed opportunities.

Constitutional status of persons who are not citizens of the Russian Federation

Introduction. The constitutional and legal status of persons who are not citizens of Russia is directly related to their political, social, personal and economic rights and freedoms. This raises the problem of correctly determining the status of persons who do not have Russian citizenship due to the fact that the legislation contains many provisions covering the totality of legal relations related to the status of a foreign citizen and a stateless person, where the personal and social rights of a person do not depend on his / her citizenship of another state. Theoretical analysis. The article examines the content of the constitutional status of non-citizens on the territory of Russia. It follows from the content of the first chapter of the Constitution of the Russian Federation that the concept of personality includes any person who is both a citizen and a foreign citizen, or a stateless person, therefore, the rights and obligations established in relation to a person apply to non-citizens. Empirical analysis. The analysis of many rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation revealed that they are not related to citizenship and apply to all people, therefore, non-citizens should have the ability, enshrined at the constitutional level, to protect their rights in case of their violation by contacting state bodies and local self-government bodies. Results. Non-citizens enjoy the rights and bear obligations on the equal basis with the citizens of the Russian Federation, taking into account the peculiarities and restrictions established by federal laws and international treaties. There is a promising opportunity to improve Russian legislation by identifying an independent term of “non-citizens”, which will unite foreign citizens and stateless persons in order to implement comprehensive legal regulation for this category of persons.