Category: Analysis
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Writs but no Weapons? A Stocktake on Administrative Justice in Myanmar
—Melissa Crouch, National University of Singapore and University of New South Wales (from December 2014) The former Chief Justice Ba U of the Supreme Court of Burma once described the constitutional writs as ‘weapons’. The early years of independence in Burma were a time of significant judicial activism, when the Supreme Court did not hesitate…
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Video Interview: Unamendability and Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments Featuring Yaniv Roznai
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this latest installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Yaniv Roznai on unamendability and unconstitutional constitutional amendments. In the interview, we explore discuss the paradox of the concept of an unconstitutional constitutional amendment, the origins and modern legal implications of the concept, whether one can…
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Turkey Rolling Back the 2010 Reforms?
–Oya Yegen, Boston University, Department of Political Science Turkish judges and prosecutors cast their votes last week for the election of 10 regular and 6 substitute new members to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK)[1]. The council’s new makeup has been the center of speculation.
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Video Interview: Developments in Spanish Constitutional Law Featuring Benito Alaez Corral
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Benito Aláez Corral on developments in Spanish constitutional law. In the interview, we explore the constitutional implications of secession, the tension between realizing the promise of socio-economic rights and the increasing financial pressures on the state, the role of Parliament in…
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Which Citizens? – Participation in the Drafting of the Icelandic Constitutional Draft of 2011
—Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, Reykjavik University School of Law The Icelandic draft constitution of 2011 has received wide attention, including on this blog. One reason for that is the emphasis placed on public participation in the drafting process. In its (otherwise quite critical) opinion, the Venice Commission (the European Commission for Democracy through Law) wrote: The wide range…
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Amendments, Replacements and Constitutional Instability? The Case of the Dominican Republic
–Leiv Marsteintredet, Associate Professor in Latin American Area Studies, University of Oslo; Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, University of Bergen In a recent blog post on I-CONnect,[1] Jillian Blake discusses the very disturbing constitutional and legal developments on the right to nationality in the Dominican Republic and argues that they were facilitated by “…the unstable nature of the…
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Constitutional Stability Through Citizenship in the Dominican Republic
—Jillian Blake, University of Michigan In a 2010 article, Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez describes “Wiki-constitutionalism”—a phenomenon common to Latin American legal systems in which national constitutions are “changed with great frequency and unusual ease.”[1] The Dominican Republic’s system is a stark example of Wiki-constitutionalism; the country has had more than 30 constitutions since achieving independence in 1844.[2]
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Legislative and Executive Term Limits in Alberta
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School An important race is underway in Alberta, one of Canada’s ten provinces. In September, paid-up members of the Progressive Conservative Party will elect a new party leader, and the new leader will become the premier of Alberta.