Month: April 2011
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New Developments: Jamaican Charter of Rights and Freedoms
After 17 years of debate and discussion, the Jamaican parliament adopted a Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms earlier this month. It will enter into force once signed by the Governor General. The adoption brings the Jamaican Constitution in line with the trend in commonwealth countries, represented by the UK Human Rights Act 1998 and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Arato: Orban’s (Counter) Revolution of the Voting Booth and How it was Made Possible
During the age of great revolutions, Joseph de Maistre distinguished between counter revolutions and the contraries of revolutions. Fearing, rightly, that counter revolutions may have the same horrible consequences as the Jacobinism that he witnessed, he expressed his preference for the contrary of revolutions, but never really explained how it would work.
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The Indian Supreme Court as Superlegislature
Does the Indian Supreme Court sometimes act like a legislature? Apparently so, according to Indian Supreme Court Chief Justice Shri Kapadia. In quite provocative comments delivered a few days ago at the 5th annual M.C. Setalvad Lecture on Canons of Judicial Ethics, Chief Justice Kapadia cautioned that the Indian Supreme Court “must refuse to sit as a super-legislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation.”
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Link to Egypt discussion
Nathan Brown and Kristen Stilt have a nice analysis of the current situation in Egypt, with a critique of the amendment process, here. –TG
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Arato on Constitution Making in Hungary and the 4/5 Rule
The worst thing about the current constitution making process in Hungary led by the FIDESZ government is the process itself: under an opposition boycott, and involving an absurd process of popular consultation through sketchy and deficient mail in citizen questionnaires, it lacks all genuine aspects of participation and inclusion.
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Mandatory Military Service and Broken Promises in Azerbaijan: The Case of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev
Last week, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev spent his 29th birthday in an Azeri jail for the crime of refusing military service. At present he has remained incarcerated for more than a month. In Azerbaijan, a country where extralegal detentions and human rights abuses are tragically normal, this particular arrest has caused a stir in the international media due to Mr.
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Petition on Hungary
Other than the fact that it would be the first national constitution drafted on an I-pad, Hungary’s proposed new constitution is engendering serious concern. Although the Orban government is associated with the political right, voices have been raised across the political spectrum, including the Wall Street Journal.
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Chess and French privacy issue.
A French chess player, and two confederates, have been found guilty of cheating at the recent world chess olympiad in a scheme that involved use of the Internet, use of a very strong computer chess program, use of a cell phone, as well as coded signals by the team captain (based on where he stood in the tournament room).
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The Future of the Canadian Supreme Court
Last week, Canada entered its 41st federal election. Voters will head to the polls in a few weeks on May 2. The contest will pit the incumbent Conservative Party, which held a minority in the last Parliament, versus the four major opposition parties: the Liberal Party, the separatist Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party.