scholarly journals Film Review: The Fruit Machine

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
Lynne Gouliquer ◽  
Carmen Poulin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Film Review ◽  
Dark Period ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Fruit Machine

The following is a review of The Fruit Machine documentary film directed by Sara Fodey. This documentary sheds light on a dark period in Canadian history. Using the testimonials of survivors and historical expert, The Fruit Machine film illustrates how a democratic state could legally wage a discriminatory campaign against its own citizens whose only crime was being (or suspected to be) “homosexual.” For fifty years, Canadian state institutions hunted down and interrogated thousands of individuals suspected of homosexuality. This film is a must see.

scholarly journals Principle of Laicity in Turkish and French Constitutions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebru Karaman
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Turkish Constitution ◽  
Religion And State ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Relationship

To be assumed as a truly democratic state of law; the state should not make law according to a religion and not have a religion-based structure. Turkey and France are two countries different from others being in the discussions on secularism examining the relationship between religion and state. Because the laicity is one of the foundations of the regime and takes part in the legal system as a constitutional principle. In the first chapter the provisions on laicity in the Turkish Constitutions before the date 1982 and in the Turkish Constitution dated 1982 are going to be explained then the discussions in Turkey are going to be evaluated according to the Turkish Constitutional Court's approach to the principle of laicity. In the second part the provisions on the principle of laicity in the French Constitution dated 1958 are going to be explained, afterwards the discussions on laicity in France is going to take place. State and religion relations continue to be relevant a subject. That is why it still gives form to Turkish political life. The freedom of religion and the separation of religious and state relations are the requirements of the laic state. For a state these includes not to have an official religion, be impartial to all the religion and to treat equal to all the believers to different religions, to distinguish the religious institutions and state institutions and not to have an accordance between the rules of and the rules of religion.

scholarly journals Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Positive Legislator

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir M. Simović ◽  
Miodrag N. Simović
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Corrective Factor ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Guardian

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on the basis of Article VI of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and an institutional guarantor of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms established by this Constitution and instruments of Annex I to the Constitution. Assuming that it is not part of the legislative, executive and regular judicial power (as positioned by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina), the Constitutional Court acts as a separate, autonomous and independent authority and a corrective factor for the other three segments of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, the Constitutional Court, as one of the key state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributes to the promotion of democracy, rule of law and the affirmation of the rule of law, especially in the first years after its constitution when it was necessary to protect the foundations of a democratic state and resolve a number of questions that have in some ways remained vague in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decisions of the Constitution are final and binding. In the end, the Constitutional Court has to seek and find out the ways for implementation of its decisions. If the legislator is not able to do that, the role of the guardian of the Constitution imposes on the Constitutional Court, even in the unpopular (realistically, rarely used) role of a positive legislator, to bring the procedure before the court to an end - by proclaiming a law on a temporary basis. The paper explains the concept of judicial activism, its limitations and self-limitations. Then, it points out some of the most impressive forms of its realization in the case-law of the Constitutional Court, taking into account mutual influences and differences. Special emphasis is placed on the constitutional framework of constitutional court activism of the Constitutional Court, which is also the basis for the interpretation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Trade Battles

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Kay ◽  
R.L. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Public Access ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
International Policies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
First Time ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Public Opposition

How did activists create a dynamic broad-based movement during NAFTA negotiations that politicized trade, making it a contentious issue for the first time in history? And how did their NAFTA mobilization influence trade policy and set the stage for future battles over trade? Trade Battles answers these questions using data from over 200 in-depth interviews, contributing to a vibrant and burgeoning literature that tries to understand how civil society shapes state policy. Trade Battles shows how activists created a new set of institutionalized and disruptive strategies around trade that leveraged broader cleavages across state and nonstate arenas. Activists exploited these leverage points by mobilizing across them, which enabled them to politicize trade policy and influence the content of the agreement itself. So powerful was activists’ pushback against NAFTA that future administrations closed many state institutional channels in order to thwart public opposition, curtailing public access, participation, and input. This forced activists to try to kill many subsequent trade agreements whole cloth rather than improve them, as they did during the NAFTA struggle. The analysis in Trade Battles therefore shows that the NAFTA battle was less about trade policy than the role of democratic state institutions in policymaking. By exposing the linkages between institutional opportunities and democratic practices, Trade Battles reveals how critical state institutions are for activists’ efforts to shape not only trade policy, but a plethora of international policies from climate change to migration. When the state closes institutions, it effectively severs policymaking from democratic intervention.

Standing “Aloof” from the State: Thoreau on Self-Government

2005 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Lane
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Democratic Experience ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

Long an icon of the American cultural tradition, Henry Thoreau has recently been welcomed into political theory as a theorist whose political writings go beyond the essays on resistance to government, and contain ideas deeply important for understanding the American contribution to democratic experience. I extend this new appreciation by showing how Thoreau presents a specific model of self-government, individual self-government, that occurs under the frequently irrelevant roof provided by liberal democratic state institutions. Thoreau's model of self-government imagines women and men who are largely free of, or indifferent to, the state; but fully involved in an everyday experience that is deeply political because it allocates values for the individual. Walden is, in this sense, less an escape from government than it is an escape to it. Thoreau spans the spectrum of political philosophy, from Socrates′ concern with justice in the individual, to Nietzsche's model of the self as a governable community, but Thoreau's work is unique, and distinctively American, in its model of a hard-headed individual self-government based upon an unsentimentalized natural world.

Documentary Film Review

1979 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-424
Author(s):  
Craig A. Everett
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Film Review

scholarly journals ‘Cut and Paste’ Constitution-Making in Timor-Leste

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-358
Author(s):  
Joanne E Wallis
Keyword(s):  
State Building ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Constitution Making

Abstract When Timor-Leste (re)gained its independence in 2002, it appeared to be a triumph of international state building. In a relatively short period, a massive United Nations (UN)-run mission had purportedly built the institutions of a liberal democratic state. State building took place in a highly globalized context; there was a large UN presence as well as international non-governmental organizations, academics, journalists, and activists. In addition, many exiled Timorese leaders returned to play a role. While constitution making was central to state building, there are questions about the legitimacy, effectiveness, and stability of the Timor-Leste Constitution and the state institutions that it created. This article focuses on three aspects of the interplay between the global and local during the constitution-making process. First, it considers the relationship between the UN and Timorese elites, finding that the UN adopted a hands-off approach that created space for certain elites to dominate and politicize the process. These returning exiles engaged in ‘cut and paste’ constitution making, with much of the Timor-Leste Constitution based on the 1989 version of the Portuguese Constitution (modified to an extent by the 1990 Mozambican Constitution). Second, it analyses whether the constitution-making process was a true exercise of the constituent power of the Timorese people and concludes that the dominance of certain elites contributed to social division. Third, it discusses the significance of public participation, noting that minimal participation has meant that the Constitution does not reflect the views of most Timorese people. This is even though the principle of ‘popular sovereignty’ implies that, at least in states that aspire to be liberal democracies, people should be given the opportunity to participate in making their state’s Constitution. It concludes by arguing that the Timorese people missed the opportunity for their Constitution to define the political bond between them and embed state institutions in the local context.

Documentary Film Review

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-168
Author(s):  
Eva Knoll
Keyword(s):  
Documentary Film ◽  
Film Review

scholarly journals Politik Hukum Pengujian Peraturan Perundang-Undangan dalam Penyelenggaraan Negara

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Anna Triningsih
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
State Administration ◽  
State And Society ◽  
System Review ◽  
The Law ◽  
Constitutional System

Legislation or commonly called the law is a  political  product.  Politics  is  a field in the society which relate to public goals, and the law as one of the fields in society is always linked to the goals of society. Because of being associated with these objectives, the law has its own dynamics side. In its socio-political dynamics there is always a message that wants to be heard, known, understood, and then executed by the addressee, which is the organizer of state power, political power holders. In the perspective of constitutional law that  message  then  becomes  a  goal in organizing the state and then organized into a political structure as the procedures in the administration of the state in order to reach the goal of the state. The meaning of a more democratic state administration and based on law as a goal in the amendment of the 1945 Constitution was to provide a constitutional basis, (i) equal relationship between state and society based on rights and obligations in reciprocal nature; (ii) the equal relationship between state institutions based on checks and balances system; (iii) strengthening the independence and impartiality of judicial authority to guard the running of the legal and constitutional system. Review of egal products in state administration through judicial mechanism aims to provide a guarantee for the implementation of these relationships and the running of the legal and constitutional system in accordance with the 1945 Constitution.

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