Presidential politics of constitutional amendment in Francophone Africa: The case of Senegal

The paper is devoted to the role of the head of state in initiating and implementing constitutional reforms in Senegal. This country can legitimately be regarded as one of the few examples of a relatively successful democratization process in Africa, as evidenced, among other things, by the lack of military coups leading to the loss of power by civilian governments, as well as by two democratic transfers of power (in 2000–2001 and 2012), after which the main opposition parties gained the presidency and the majority of parliamentary seats. Both these fundamental political transformations generated important constitutional changes (for example, the adoption of the current Constitution of 2001, or the constitutional modifications of 2016 and 2019) that have influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, the position of the presidency in Senegalese systems of government. The author analyses their significance for the functioning of contemporary political institutions in the broader context set by the politics of constitutional amendment which was conducted by previous presidents of this country. The main goal of the paper is to examine to what extent the constitutional modifications introduced before and after the adoption of the 2001 Constitution were designed to contribute to the beginning or consolidation of pro-democratic trends, and to what extent they were created to strengthen the position of an incumbent president himself, leading to a political imbalance and regress in the democratization process. The author argues that the constitutional modifications adopted over the years have often gone in two opposite directions, influencing the efficiency and durability of Senegalese institutional structures.

The Effects of Constitutional Changes on the Judiciary System in Albania: The Process of Vetting

The adoption of laws in Albania is often achieved through consensus among legislators, declaring it as the best solution for a certain political or legal situation, which resulted ineffective in many cases. The focus of law improvements was concentrated on control/Vetting, that is, the exclusion from the judicial system of individuals who do not meet one of the three constitutional criteria (wealth, moral integrity, and professionalism). Vetting, control per se, is not a reform of justice, but only one of its constitutive phases. The Albanian Constitution changes aim to restructure the justice institutions to achieve the standards requested for the Albanian EU integration. The paper goes through the different constitutional reforms, focusing on the judicial system changes especially on the recent results of the vetting process in Albania. The questions like: How is the Vetting process affecting judicial standards, how are the new Albanian justice institutions reacting, what is the public opinion on this progress and the benefits of society, are essential to understand how this process was conducted in Albania, its problems and difficulties. The results are explained through underlining different studies, media interventions, and recent political and public statements of involved institutions. Received: 19 August 2021 / Accepted: 1 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

The Syrian Constitution at the end of the civil war: Is there a constitutional way to democratization?

The 2012 Syrian Constitution has been largely (dis)regarded as embodying a mere policy intent to placate contestation, leaving the resorts of monocratic power untouched. While this might be true, there were formal changes whose study is worthwhile to understand the possibilities for some degree of democratization. This article delves into the 2012 charter and its main innovations, asking, first, from a descriptive-analytical perspective, what are the main trends underlying contemporary Syrian constitutional politics? Second, from an explanatory perspective, what specific constitutional provisions prevent the rule of law and the material constitutional transformation in democratic terms? What legal-institutional mechanisms account for this phenomenon? While the 2012 formal constitutional changes can be conceived as a ‘blueprint’ revealing governmental priorities, the outstanding democratic deficits might help to identify the opposition's priorities. Together, they contribute to delineate a bargaining range for the ongoing constituent negotiations.

Posthuman rights struggles and environmentalisms from below in the political ontologies of Ecuador and Colombia

In a decolonial determination to resist the modern ontological separation of nature from culture, political ontologies and posthuman legalities in Andean Community countries increasingly recognize natural and cultural forces as inextricably interrelated under the principle of the pluriverse. After years of Indigenous struggles, new social movement mobilizations and citizen activism, twenty-first-century constitutional changes in the region have affirmed the plurinational and intercultural natures of the region’s polities. Drawing upon extensive interdisciplinary ethnographic research in Ecuador and Colombia, the article illustrates how Indigenous, Afro-descendant and campesino communities express multispecies relations of care and conviviality in opposition to modern extractivist development through the concept of buen vivir. These grassroots collective life projects and life plans articulate rights ‘from below’ to support new practices of territorialization that further materialize natures’ rights and community ideals. Although human rights have modern origins, the implementation of third generation collective biocultural rights to fulfill natures’ rights may help to materially realize community norms, autonomies and responsibilities that exceed modern ontologies. The ecocentric territorial rights struggles and posthuman legalities we explore are examples of a larger emergent project of decolonizing human rights in a politics appropriate to the Anthropocene.

South Tyrol

The sixth chapter looks at another case, South Tyrol, where secessionism has remained weak. While there has not been in Italy a series of constitutional changes affecting regional autonomy, the long-time slogan of the SVP, dynamic autonomy, speaks to the nature of South Tyrol’s autonomy within the Italian state. A striking feature of the Second Autonomy Statute for South Tyrol is that its implementation took 20 years (1972–1992). During this period, which followed a decade, the 1960s, punctuated by secessionist and irredentist violence, there was virtually no reason to adopt and support secessionist positions, as autonomous measures were gradually put into place. Most crucially, the bilateral commissions tasked with the implementations of the Second Autonomy Statute continued their work after 1992, keeping South Tyrol’s autonomy on the move, adjusting it to new circumstances, and even expanding it. These two bodies, the Commission of Six and the Commission of Twelve, play central roles in the governance of both the region of Trentino-Alto Adige and the province of Bolzano/Bozen as their enactment degrees become Italian law. The fact that South Tyrol still develops its autonomy has kept secessionist forces at bay. Indeed, incentives to support independence or reintegration with Austria are virtually non-existent in a context where autonomy can be progressively adapted, fine-tuned, and even developed in a way that largely shields South Tyrol from the broader Italian politics and maximizes the prosperity of the Alpine community.

The Church of England in Victorian London c.1837–1856

Recent constitutional changes had had a significant impact on the established Church’s self- identity and self-confidence. The recently appointed reforming bishops of London and Winchester, responsible for the metropolis, and leading laypeople set out to develop mission strategies to respond to this unprecedented situation in the face of London’s immense population growth and the confidence and challenge of Nonconformist churches. Anglicans adopted a strategy of subdividing densely populated historic parishes in poor districts and recruiting clergy to establish schools, gather congregations, and build churches as centres of spiritual, pastoral, and philanthropic care, with the associated need to secure voluntary funding and pastoral assistance, including women, for these initiatives. Contemporary evidence suggests that contemporary and subsequent criticisms of this strategy were overstated in claiming that the Church of England lost the allegiance of people in multiply deprived inner-urban parishes. Close examination discloses a more nuanced picture.

The value of the common cold in the etiology of disease. H. Much (Munch, med. Woch., 1926, No. 17)

At the time of Kos 1R the dogma prevailed that colds did not exist at all. At present, N. Much (Munch, med. Woch., 1926, No. 17) argues that the common cold is probably the cause of most infectious diseases, possibly due to the constitutional changes it causes.

Limitation Clauses and Constitutional Transformation: The Case of the New Arab Constitutions

Focusing on the constitutional changes undergone since 2005 in Iraq, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, this article explains how the constitutional limitation clauses affected the respective material constitutional transformations. The explanatory value of the limitation clauses is tested, with possible causalities (as well as non-causal relations) explored through a case study. Generalizing research arguments are offered, theorizing about the material constitutional transformation processes in authoritarian and post-authoritarian scenarios. The research arguments shed light on the limitation clauses’ potential to reveal the policy intent underlying the constituent power, as well as their negative implications for a proper democratic consolidation, their effects in keeping dynamics of political immobilism, and their consequences in terms of favouring instances of authoritarian regression.

KULTURNO I EKONOMSKO POVEZIVANJE ALBANIJE I KOSOVA I METOHIJE 1967–1971.

Major changes in the position of Kosovo and Metohija’s autonomy in the late 1960s affected the province’s relations with Albania. In 1967, the Yugoslav State Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the Yugoslav Federal Executive Council began to encourage cultural and economic ties between Kosovo and Metohija and Albania, justifying this as a strategy for the normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and Albania. Following the joint commemorations of the anniversary of Skanderbeg’s death in Priština and Tirana, an agreement was reached on the use of textbooks from Albania in the Kosovo and Metohija school system. The two sides organized mutual visits of folklore and art groups, as well as friendly matches of soccer teams. Kosovo companies were allowed small border traffic with Albania without any prior interstate agreements between Belgrade and Tirana. Constitutional changes in Serbia in 1969 enabled the expansion of economic and cultural cooperation between Kosovo and Albania. The University of Priština and the University of Tirana signed an agreement to hire professors from Tirana as lecturers at Priština faculties. In 1971, scientists from Tirana participated in the work of the Kosovo Archives, the Provincial Library, and the Priština Museum, while 41 Albanian professors gave lectures at the University of Priština. Reports by Albanian lecturers from Kosovo enabled the Albanian state leadership to be acquainted in detail with the political situation in Yugoslavia.