The EU has established itself as a leading actor in the field of data protection and privacy with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entering into effect in spring 2018, replacing the outdated 1995 Data Protection Directive, and enshrining the protection of “European data subjects“ everywhere. Further legislation, on e-privacy and trade secrets protection, aspires...
The EU Transformation of Social Market Economy
The paper develops five interconnected claims: 1) the appropriation of the principle of social market economy by the European Union has not generated a pan-European social market economy 2) the incorporation of this principle contributes to a socially-minded recalibration of previous EU regulatory strategies and enables the expansion of EU powers in the social sphere...
The European Promise: EU integration as a post-conflict constitutionalisation of fundamental rights — and why it matters today
The starting point of most histories of the European project is post-WWII, with the Schuman declaration and the establishment of the European Steel and Coal Community. Indeed, one of the main justifications for the continuity of this project — now as the European Union — is to avert the horrors of inter-European war. One could...
The Dynamic Constitutional Order Focusing on the Issues of Sharing Economy
I explore the dynamic constitutional order in risk society focusing on the issues of sharing economy. Sharing economy provides not only the chance to use asset and take free time but also convenience and low cost service to customers. On the other hand, there are some problems. For example, there are problem between landlord in...
The ECHR Article 8‘s Right to Privacy: Cordon Sanitaire or Isolation Tank? Homosexuality, Transsexualism, and Sado-Masochism in the ECtHR Case-law.
The paper would deal with the interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights given by the European Court of Human Rights in its case-law regarding homosexuality, transgender rights, same-sex partnerships, sadomasochism. Initially intended as the provision of the Convention protecting family and private life against the whole gamut of fascist and...
The core case for weak form judicial review
This paper contributes to debates over the democratic desirability of judicial review, by stating a quasi-general case for the desirability of judicial review that is “weak“–or broad but non-final–rather than “strong“-form in nature. Judicial review of this kind, the paper argues, can help counter blockages in the legislative process–such as legislative “blind spots“ and “burdens...
The Constitution of Airbnb
On 1 November 2016, Airbnb introduced a “strengthened and more detailed“ nondiscrimination policy, of which terms “are stronger than what is required by law.“ “The Airbnb community,“ the binding policy declares, “is committed to building a world where people from every background feel welcome and respected, no matter how far they have traveled from home.“...
The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal, Shahbag protests and political violence: a rather peculiar penal popularism, political vendetta or defence of national identity and democracy?
Since 2010 the Awarmi League Government has instituted War crimes Trials of alleged colloborators in the 1971 ‘War of Liberation‘ that provided the constitutional moment and founding narrative of Blangadeshi national identity. Massive street protests broke out in February 2013 – the Shahbag movement – when Adbul Quarder Mollah was sentenced to life imprisonment demanding...
The political sociology of constitutions and the material constitution
This paper will discuss a political sociology of constitutions and constitutional politics. To this end, first, it will engage with the crucial question of the normative and sociological legitimacy of constitutional orders. Second, it will discuss the status of the political in sociological constitutionalism, and it will make a case for the recuperation of a...
The Limits of Political Rights in China as Seen in Cases
Although the Chinese Constitution includes a comprehensive list of political rights, courts are prohibited from applying fundamental rights in judicial practice. However, this does not mean that judges do not cite fundamental rights in the reasoning part of court decisions. According to the Supreme People‘s Court open access court decision database courts have cited the...