This paper suggests that one response to growing scrutiny of authoritarian tactics is to turn to sub-constitutional public law, or private law. By using “ordinary“ law in ways that seem consistent with formal and procedural aspects of rule of law, autocrats can nonetheless frustrate the rule of law and consolidate power, while also avoiding drawing...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM</span>
“One Country, Two Systems“ after 20 years: From Semi-Democracy to Semi-Authoritarianism
This paper argues that the nature of Hong Kong‘s constitutional and political systems has changed from that of Semi-Democracy to Semi-Authoritarianism. The presentation will examine the reasons behind the change and its implications on the future of “One Country, Two Systems“ in Hong Kong.
“Populism versus Democratic Governance“
This paper shifts the focus to the engagement between populism and democratic governance as an institutional account of how democracies function. Post-2008 anti-elitism as a social commitment translated to a robust anti-institutionalism in terms of state authority. The aim is not so much to provide definitions of either populism or democracy as to call attention...
“Systemic democratic backsliding“: reflections on recent experience in the European Union
The integration processes is dealing with many paradoxes. The topic of my presentation focus on two such paradoxes: 1. The Union has strong mechanisms to guarantee the rule of law vis-à-vis states which are applying for accession, but it loses them after accession. 2. Union law is autonomous on national and international terms – we...
“The Decline of Political Parties and Constitutional Democracy“
This paper highlights how the decline of political parties has contributed to the decline of constitutional democracy across the globe.
“Will Democracy Die in Darkness? Calling Autocracy by its Name“
The asserted primacy of norms over rules and institutions raises perhaps the greatest challenge for scholars and practitioners of constitutional design. In the midst of the great crisis facing contemporary democracy, in America and globally, is there nothing that the law can do? In this paper, I suggest that with appropriate constitutional anchors, the courts...
A Deafening Silence? Non-Judicial Dialogues in a Dominant-Party Democracy
The Singapore judiciary is not known for actively or robustly pushing the national constitutional discourse in a way that can be observed in highest courts in other matured jurisdictions. That is however not to say that the Constitution leads a dormant existence: on the contrary, its role and the meaning of its provisions are very...
A Tale of Two Unions. Debate on the Investment Court System and Competing Visions of European Integration
The paper discusses competing positions and arguments of main European actors in the debate on the Investment Court System (ICS). The European Commission pushes for the ICS to replace investor-state arbitration, in bilateral agreements (such as EVFTA and CETA), as well as a future multilateral solution. The ICS mechanism is meant to remedy legitimacy deficits...
Administrative law at the crossroad between domestic safety and human rights
The paper aims to analyze from a comparative perspective the double role played by administrative law rules and institutions to ensure domestic safety and to provide basic guarantees for human rights
Arbitrary Law-making: Analysis of a Contested Concept
Arbitrariness is detrimental to the legitimacy of any rule in a deep and decisive way. Yet, it is poorly understood and underexplored. This is regrettable because we need a better and more articulate understanding of it in order to use this key notion, in particular with regard to the so-called constitutional quality of legislation. In...