Category: Analysis
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International Arbitration and the Transformation of Comparative Law
—Donald Childress III, Pepperdine University We are in the midst of a monumental shift in the way international law views the state. While at one time, the nation-state claimed near absolute authority over prescribing, adjudicating, and enforcing law, today we see many non-state actors competing for legal competence.
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The Surprising Cascade of Pro-Gay Marriage Decisions in Latin America
—David Landau, Florida State University College of Law Ten years ago, Latin America would have been one of the last places where one would have expected an avalanche of same-sex rights decisions and policies. But that’s indeed what has happened recently, bookmarked by a December decision of the Mexican Supreme Court.
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The New Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
—Anna Su, S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School, A new Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was signed with much rejoicing and fanfare last October 15. To be sure, the Framework Agreement is not yet a peace agreement.
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Reviewing Ireland’s Abortion Regime
—Eoin Carolan, University College Dublin The recent death of a woman from septicaemia following a miscarriage has focused attention on the legal regime regulating the carrying out of abortions within Ireland. Since the Constitution was amended in 1983 to insert a provision recognising the right to life of the unborn, the issue of abortion has…
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The Real Winner in the Egyptian Constitution? The Military
[cross-posted from the HuffingtonPost] As Cairo’s streets fill with protestors after the rushed passage of the new draft Constitution, all eyes are on the confrontation between the newly re-energized opposition and the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yet, while controversy swirls around the reach of Islam and the…
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The Illusion of the Romanian Constitution?
—Bianca Selejan-Guţan, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Simion Bărnuţiu Faculty of Law On July 29th, 2012, over 8 million Romanian citizens (i.e. over 46% of the electoral records) voted in the referendum organized for the dismissal of the President. More than 87% voted in favor of the dismissal.
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Tunisian Constitutionalism and Women’s Rights
—Adrien K. Wing, Bessie Dutton Murray Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law The world was in shock and awe in the winter of 2010 when Tunisia, a small North African country, was able to remove its twenty-three-year leader President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali from power in less than a month—and with…
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Comparative Access to Justice
— Steven D. Schwinn, Associate Professor of Law, The John Marshall Law School Access to justice is one of the more widely recognized privileges in constitutional law and international human rights today. All of the most progressive and contemporary constitutions and human rights instruments recognize some form of it.
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Five Electoral Systems that make even less sense than the Electoral College
–Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez and Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law School [reprinted from www.foreignpolicy.com] Grousing about our arcane and nonsensical Electoral College, and calling publicly for its end, have by now become time-honored election season traditions in the United States. This year, even the Russians, themselves no paragons of functional democracy, have gotten in on the…