In Switzerland, law-making provides mechanisms that create a favourable context among political and social actors; mechanisms that also make it possible to include the people. One of them – the popular initiative – allows minority actors to submit their proposal to the vote of the people. Based on the incrementalism model-approach, this paper intends to...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM</span>
The 2014 Tunisian Constitution: New Constitution, New Constitutional Identity?
In Tunisia, the adoption of the 2014 Constitution was fraught with complications. The role of Islam in the Constitution, with its impact on the scope and recognition of human rights, or the choice of a semi-presidential system were among the key points of contention. Further, Tunisia is no exception to the widespread trend of the...
The Role of Law in National Identity Building in Putin‘s Russia
In Russia, the increasingly authoritarian regime is challenged by a populist anti-corruption agenda. Reaction to such challenges often involves crackdown on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the constitutional right to participate in state affairs. Traditional channels of political participation and accountability are narrowing down. At the same time, the state tends to encourage...
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND CORPORATE ACTORS
Constitutions and constitutional rights are predominantly designed to control the power and (non-)actions of state agencies within a given territory. Victims of corporate human rights abuses have very limited means – either in their home country or the country where the corporation in question is registered or, indeed, before an international forum – to seek...
DEVELOPING CONSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH THE INCREMENTAL MODEL
The concept of constitutional identity can be considered from the duelling perspectives of socio-cultural theory or positivism. It can be also considered as a descriptive tool or as for normative purposes. The malleability of the concept has resulted in a diverse range of uses: to protect the constitution against supranational norms, or as a firewall...
JUDGING IN CHINA AND THE EU
Our panel presents three empirical studies on adjudication in the areas of property law, family law and competition law, and in different jurisdictions including China and the EU.
DISCRETION AT WORK – QUALITY OF LAW-MAKING & MIGRATION POLICY I: THEORIES
Work on better law-making and quality of legislation has boomed over the last decade. It is often cast as a gateway to law that better lives up to its very nature of rule-making in a normatively valuable sense, where societal challenges can be meaningfully tackled and goals achieved. There is a growing literature on the...
POPULISM, AUTHORITARIANISM AND THE REGRESSION OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
This panel analyses the impact of populist regimes in recent liberal democracies and compares this to the constitutionalist struggle in illiberal or authoritarian states. Global democratic regression has almost become a buzzword in view of the rise of right wing populism, characterised by nationalism, xenophobia, and aggression towards ‘others‘. Populist or anti-pluralist movements claim to...