How far has constitution-making in East Asian countries been influenced by the international law (and international society)? Many Asian countries established independence and stipulated their own constitutions for the first time after World War II. Therefore constitution-making was a new experience. It is not surprising that they overtly or covertly sought international or foreign aid....
The future of constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland
After two decades of democratic consolidation, two member states of the European Union, Hungary and Poland are now in the process of authoritarian backsliding. The presentation will describe the current state of affairs (from the lack of persistent and long term mobilisation on behalf of constitutionalism to the governmental attacks on the internal and external...
The identity of Public Law in view of the Constitutionalisation, Deconstitutionalisation and Europeanisation of French Administrative Law
This contribution aims at analysing the paths and the limits of the constitutionalizing process of French administrative law and to which extent the development of EU administrative law questions it. The peculiarity of France is that historically, administrative law used to develop outside the scope of constitutional law. Things started changing from the end of...
The Ethics of Judicial Profession in Brazil: Governing Adjudication Through Human Rights
This paper aims to present a project that address the significant gap between judicial practices and legal scholarship in Brazil and to foster closer engagement of Brazilian federal judges with scholars. The project will advance research, policy and practice in three main areas: a) mapping of judicial rulings that rely on arguments clearly disconnected with...
The EU‘s compliance with environmental law standards established in the Aarhus Convention: coming together or drifting apart?
The EU is a Party to the Aarhus Convention (the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters), which establishes a set of environmental law standards in those areas. While implementing the Convention, the EU sometimes went beyond but other times has fallen short of the standards...
The European Parliament‘s affair with the #MeToo movement
In October, 2017, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on combating sexual harassment and abuse in the EU. This document includes, among others, a statement that the EP “welcomes initiatives such as the #MeToo movement that aim to report cases of sexual harassment and violence against women“. The paper aims to consider the following...
The changes of criminal law and collective consciousness in contemporary China: A Durkheimian approach
Durkheim’s extensive analysis of crime, repressive sanction and penal law is carried on as a means of illuminating the changes of collective consciousness (CC hereinafter) and mechanical solidarity. Repressive sanctions are deemed as a social institution which is caused by CC. Durkheim, in this sense, tries to look for the underpinning moral substance in repressive...
The Concept of Citizenship as Means of Constitutional identity: Turkish case
Modern societies are characterised by ethnic, religious, linguistic and also ideological pluralism. Constitutional identity is an important tool to bind a society divided by various aspects. The concept of citizenship is a legal status and it refers to identification as a member of society. Hence, citizenship is inherently linked to the constitutional identity. The Turkish...
The popular politics of punitiveness: security, identity, and changing societies
The rise of populism has become a central feature of contemporary political and penal practices. What are the common (or country-specific) causes of these seemingly isolated strains of penal populism and how do they take shape in different social milieu? This paper addresses these salient questions. Its objectives are two-fold. First, it develops a typology...
The Past and Future of the Right to Petition the European Parliament: A Viable Alternative for Citizens‘ Participation in the EU?
This paper performs an institutional analysis of the EU citizens‘ right to petition the European Parliament (EP) and its legal regime under Article 227 TFEU and following the Schönberger judgment of the CJEU. Concerning inter-institutional relations, this right is first appraised from the perspective of the significant ‘human capital’ that was initially invested to prevent...