Around the globe, constitutional review is normally performed in a confrontational or hostile environment, where the reviewing organ, be it a court, or an institute in other forms, usually nullifies an unconstitutional legislation to uphold the authority of the supreme law of a specific jurisdiction. By contrast, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the de...
Repeal or Replace? Debating Ireland‘s Eighth Amendment and the Shadow of Judicial Intervention
Ireland is in the process of proposing removal of the 8th Amendment – the provisions, inserted in the 1980s, recognising the right to life of the unborn as equal to that of the mother. The process – which should result in a referendum in June of 2018 – has involved a Citizen‘s Assembly debating such...
Responses to the arrival of a large number of refugees as a ‘state of exception’ and the sovereignty of interdependent states
The paper observes the events of 2015 – 2017 when large numbers of refugees traveled through the countries in SE Europe. It focuses on the reactions of the states along the ‘Balkan route‘ to the large numbers of arrivals: the creation of a ‘humanitarian corridor‘, a mode of transportation through the territory of a country...
Religion and Constitutional Design: Divergences and Convergences in Malaysia and Indonesia
Malaysia and Indonesia are the two biggest Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia. The ways in which their respective constitutions address the majority religion (Islam), however, are very different. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia provides Islam as the ‘religion of the Federation‘, while in Indonesia, a special constitutional recognition for the majority religion was explicitly rejected...
Shades of Constitutions and Constitutionalism as a 3-Dimensional Concept: National, Post-National and Co-owned Elements
There are national constitutional examples that are so diverse in origin, character and scope as to create a constitutional spectrum consisting of shades of constitutionalism. What unities those diverse constitutional examples is the adherence to certain specific principles.Constitutional normativity is challenged by the supranational example. In addition, there is the complementing dimension of influencing the...
See and Avoid: exploring the role of lawyers who advise government in difficult politics
Drawing on models of expertise, developed by policy scholars this paper examines how values, and politics enter highly contested policy debates and into legal decision-making by government agencies. I will explore the findings of a case study on the controversial Australian airspace reform “NAS2b“ to highlight how lawyers advising different actors within that debate, positioned...
Separation of Powers in the Banking Union
This paper explores the horizontal and vertical separation of powers in the Banking Union in the light of fundamental principles of Union law. Regarding the vertical separation of powers, the allocation of supervisory powers to the ECB might lead to conflicting policy objectives between supervision and monetary policy, and supervision and restructuring. Yet, a different...
The authoritarian/nationalist pushback as a bottom-up challenge to regional integration organizations: an analysis of the EU and Mercosur
Nationalist and authoritarian contestation of global governance is both a recent trend and an old challenge to international institutions. Relying on case studies of the EU and Mercosur (Brexit, Poland, Venezuela), this research will focus on the reversal to authoritarianism and nationalism in member States of regional integration organizations. This research rests on the hypothesis...
The Academic Response to the Constitutional Zone of Twilight
Japan’s postwar constitution is reaching in the zone of twilight–Tasogaredoki or Ōmagatoki in Japanese. As “Your Name “(Kimi no na wa)–the animated film that became a megahit worldwide in 2016-17–shows to us, things contradictory coexist in such moment. Constitutional order and violation. Liberal-democratic and authoritarian regime. Social equality and neo-liberal market state. Judicial activism and...