Putin-Style “Rule of Law” & the Prospects for Change

Daedalus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Popova
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Evolutionary Change ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Positive Shift ◽  
Negative Change ◽  
The Law

In Putin's Russia, the regime uses the law and legal institutions to fulfill political goals, to communicate them to society, and to manage the authoritarian coalition that helps the president govern. As a result, the law is highly consequential and important, but its use tends to be arbitrary, expedient, and instrumental, rather than predictable and principled. Can we expect any major shifts in the role of law and the courts over the next ten years? Russia's legal regime is unlikely to undergo major evolutionary change and may outlive Putin's tenure: both foreign and domestic pressures for change toward constitutionalism are limited. If a positive shift were to take place, Russia would inch toward authoritarian constitutionalism. But negative change is also possible. If Putin's regime weakens, the politicized use of the courts against both dissidents and political competitors within the authoritarian coalition will increase.

Sex-Positive Feminism’s Values in Search of the Law of Pleasure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Frelich Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Law ◽  
Sex Positive ◽  
The Way

In challenging traditional stereotypes of female sexualities centered on passivity, subordination, harm, and repronormativity, proponents of sex-positive feminism criticize legal feminism generally for undervaluing women’s pleasure, which they celebrate. Yet these proponents often struggle with charting a supportive and affirmative course for law and legal institutions, which have long fostered sex negativity. Part I of this article identifies sex positivity as a thread that runs through multiple feminisms and that offers a potential answer to criticisms and problems. Along the way, this part demonstrates the importance of power and power disparities in sex-positive feminism and of the role of gender. Part II turns to the place of law and legal institutions in sex-positive feminism, juxtaposing prevailing critiques of law’s sex negativity with promising opportunities for change. Part III continues on this note of optimism, consulting popular culture for possibilities to support a more fully developed sex-positive and feminist legal regime.

Lawlessness in Russia? Rethinking the Narratives of Law

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hendley
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Fundamental Value ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
At Will

This book examines how ordinary Russians experience the law and the legal system. Russia consistently ranks near the bottom of indexes that measure the rule of law, an indication of the country's willingness to use the law as an instrument to punish its enemies. The book considers whether the fact that the Kremlin is able to dictate the outcome of cases seemingly at will—a phenomenon known as “telephone justice”—deprives law of its fundamental value as a touchstone for society. Drawing on the literature on “everyday law,” it argues that the routine behavior of individuals, firms, and institutions can tell us something more about the role of law in Russian life than do sensationalized cases. Rather than focusing on the “supply” of laws, the book concentrates on the “demand” for law. This introduction discusses the perceived lawlessness in Soviet Russia and the dualism that lies at the heart of Russians' attitudes toward law and legal institutions. It also provides an overview of the book's chapters.

scholarly journals The Role of Specialized Civil Society in Challenge Corruption with Glance to I.R.I

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
AmirNezam Barati ◽  
Ali Babayee Mehr ◽  
Mohsen Sharifi
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The Law ◽  
In Transit ◽  
And Control ◽  
Civil Societies

Combating against corruption is one of the most important factors for establishing Good Governance. Corruption is a social, political and economic phenomenon that defect the democratic institutions and stop establishing good governance. This study using analytical – descriptive, analyses the role of civil society in combat corruption with glance to I.R.IFindings of this study show that the role of special civil societies has remarkable efficiency and effectiveness in combat corruption. In challenging corruption different actor such as government, private sector and specialized civil society have function, but the role of civil societies is more effective than others.In relating to the I.R.I actions against corruption, the country enacted different laws such as the law of access to information, the Law of United Nations Convention against Corruption and this process will send a clear message that the country is determined to prevent and control corruption. In pathology of corruption in I.R of Iran the concentration on fighting against corruption, is concentrated on "The Staff of Combat against Economic Corruption" and civil society don’t have effective or remarkable role to fight against this abnormality and this Staff is most important centers to harmonize the actions against corruption. Finally, the most important causes of corruption in every developing Nations in Transit such as Iran are big government and interference of Government in economy, the weakly embedded rule of law, the ineffective and inefficient of government policy, lack of accountability and institutional transparency.

Cooperation of International Judicial Bodies Considering Maritime Disputes

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
E. S. Orlova
Keyword(s):  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Maritime Disputes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Relationship

The paper is devoted to the cooperation of international judicial bodies operating based on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea This cooperation is determined by the Convention, which sets out four procedures for the resolution of international maritime disputes. The relevance of the paper is determined by the important role of international judicial bodies in resolving international maritime disputes by amicable means. The subject of the study is the relationship between international judicial authorities on the interpretation and application of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The purpose of the paper is to determine the rules of law on cooperation of international judicial bodies considering international maritime disputes based on the Convention on the Law of the Sea. The hypothesis of the study is that the cooperation of international judicial bodies operating within the framework of a single legal regime causes competition among the jurisdictions of international judicial bodies and is productive.

scholarly journals ПОКРЕТАЊЕ ПОСТУПКА НОРМАТИВНЕ КОНТРОЛЕ ПРАВА У РЕПУБЛИЦИ СРБИЈИ

TEME ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1419
Author(s):  
Bálint Pásztor
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Institutional Values ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The One

The author of the article analyzes the specificities of the normative control of the law, i.e. the procedure of assessing the constitutionality and legality of the law in the Republic of Serbia, with the aim of detecting historical and legal preconditions of the effective functioning of the rule of law. The historical perspective of the development of the constitutional judiciary in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, as well as the analysis of the experiences of various systems of control of constitutionality and legality, open the contextual, scientific-historical and pragmatic dimensions of understanding. The specificity of the system of normative control is reflected in its triplicity, meaning that three institutes are known that characterize different procedural possibilities (to initiate the process of assessing the constitutionality and legality of general acts). The paper is written in order to point out the dichotomy of the proposal and initiative of the procedure of the assessment of constitutionality and legality, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the ex officio procedure. Furthermore, the author wanted to point out the essential and procedural differences between the proposal, the initiative and the constitutional complaint, especially analyzing the purpose of retaining the institute of the initiative in the light of the existence of the constitutional complaint and the fact that the initiative does not imply the automation of the initiation of proceedings. The dilemma that the article opens concerns the possibility that in the case of abolishing the initiative as an institution accessible to all, is it possible to preserve the democratic culture and the participation of citizens, furthermore is it possible to abolish the fundamental institutional values and freedoms of a legal state and the rule of law? The paper opens other issues of importance for the establishment of an effective constitutional architecture that concern: the width of the circle of authorized proposers of normative control before the Constitutional Court; the dual role of the constitutional judiciary: on the one hand protection of the Constitution, constitutionality and legality, on the other hand effective protection of human and minority rights and freedoms.

The Duty of Loyalty and the Scope of the Law of Fraud

2020 ◽  
pp. 116-133
Author(s):  
Hugh Collins
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Employment Contract ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
The Law ◽  
Contractual Obligations ◽  
Disclosure Obligations ◽  
Property Offences

This chapter explores the role of criminal law as an additional sanction against the breach of existing civil obligations in the contract. In the modern context, this chapter examines the ways in which property offences in criminal law might be used to deter contractual breaches. It focuses on the offence of fraud in the Fraud Act 2006, and in particular the role of criminalization where there has been a failure to disclose information. To this end, the chapter examines the current scope of disclosure obligations under the employment contract, focusing on the implied duties of trust and confidence and loyalty. There is considerable uncertainty about the scope and content of disclosure obligations, which raises serious rule of law concerns where these contractual obligations are, in effect, criminalized as instances of fraud. There is also a more general reluctance in English criminal law to criminalize omissions rather than positive acts, and a failure to disclose is an omission.

scholarly journals Comments on Roger Cotterrell’s essay, ‘The struggle for law: some dilemmas of cultural legality’

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin West
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Side Constraints ◽  
The Law ◽  
Anglo American

First, many thanks to Carrie Menkel-Meadow, the editors of The International Journal of Law In Context and the sponsors of this series for facilitating this lecture, and for inviting my participation. And a special thankyou to Professor Roger Cotterrell for sharing with us such a generous, humanistic and hopeful account of law’s moral possibilities, when faced with multicultural conflict within a society governed by a liberal rule of law.1 I very much appreciate the opportunity to reflect on this set of claims, although I feel somewhat an outsider to the task, as I’ll explain below. I understand Professor Cotterrell as arguing, first, that traditional Anglo-American jurisprudence has not sufficiently theorised the role of culture and cultures,2 second, that multiculturalism renders inadequate, for different reasons, both Weberian and non-positivist or non-instrumental accounts of law’s liberal aspirations,3 and third, that one possible way for law to contribute constructively to a moral and peaceful multicultural society would be to conceive of itself not just as an instrument for the fulfilment of private and conflicting individual purposes, not just as the target of passions from a more-or-less unified culture, but rather, as a means of respectful communication between cultures,4 albeit one that imposes individualist and liberal side-constraints on the conversation so fostered: to wit, that the law itself, and its parts, must be rigorously respectful of the autonomy and decency of all individuals, and must demand as much from citizens.5

scholarly journals Constitutional Justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (33) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Author(s):  
Anca-Florina Moroșteș ◽  
Narcisa-Mihaela Stoicu
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Constitutional Justice ◽  
The Law

Abstract The paper with the title “Constitutional Justice” aims to analyse a topic of urgent actuality and of particular importance in the contemporary society. We have tried to show in this paper the importance of the Constitutional control in the rule of law. Starting from the idea of necessity of existence of a Constitution in a democratic State and, implicitly, of a body to follow-up the compliance with its provision, we have tried to highlight in this paper the role of Romanian Constitutional Court and not only, by presenting one of its most important attributions which is the control of the law constitutionality.

Aspects of the Law of International Water Resources

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 213-221
Author(s):  
M. Hirsch ◽  
D. Housen-Couriel
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
The Law ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Point Of Departure

As a result of the nature of lakes, rivers and aquifers, which ignore national boundaries, states are often presented with the problem of how to share and manage these limited resources. The role of law is to clarify the rights and responsibilities of states in such situations. Two aspects of the law of international water resources will be explored in this article. The point of departure for the analysis is public international law itself, which contains principles and guidelines for the utilization and management of water resources by the states which share them. The international legal regime applying to surface water will first be discussed. The second part of the article will consist of a comparison of several treaty regimes which presently apply in a situation of shared water resources between states.

Sources and the Enforcement of International Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Tzanakopoulos ◽  
Eleni Methymaki
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Important Position ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter examines the role of domestic courts in the ideal continuum commencing from sources and ultimately ending in the enforcement of the law in a specific case. It asks whether domestic court decisions are a cause (source) or an effect (enforcement) of international law. The chapter argues that the enforcement of international law is reflexive, rather than reactive. There is thus no real continuum, with domestic courts occupying this or that position on it. Rather, domestic court decisions are both part of the cause and of the effect of international law. The enforcement of a rule of law in a specific case constitutes, in accordance with the sources doctrine, yet another brick in the wall of that same ever-changing rule. And given the increasingly important position that domestic courts are assuming in the enforcement of international law, they become ever more important agents of the development of that law.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document