Hardly known twenty years ago, exclusion from public space has today become a standard tool of state intervention. Every year, tens of thousands of homeless individuals, drug addicts, teenagers, ...protesters and others are banned from parts of public space. The rise of exclusion measures is characteristic of two broader developments that have profoundly transformed public space in recent years: the privatisation of public space, and its increased control in the 'security society'. Despite the fundamental problems it raises, exclusion from public space has received hardly any attention from legal scholars. This book addresses this gap and comprehensively explores the implications that this new form of intervention has for the constitutional essentials of liberal democracy: the rule of law, fundamental rights, and democracy. To do so, it analyses legal developments in three liberal democracies that have been at the forefront of promoting exclusion measures: the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland.
With the rise of direct-democratic instruments, the relationship between popular sovereignty and the rule of law is set to become one of the defining political issues of our time. This important and ...timely book provides an in-depth analysis of the limits imposed on referendums and citizens' initiatives, as well as of systems of reviewing compliance with these limits, in 11 European states.
On 29 November 2009,58% of Swiss voters (with a turnout of 54%) approved a popular initiative for a constitutional ban on the construction of minarets. The outcome of the vote attracted attention ...from all over the world and was widely condemned, not least by the UN Human Rights Council and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as a discriminatory measure in violation of the right to freedom of religion. Almost exactly a year later, on 28 November 2010, a 53% majority of voters backed a proposal for a new constitutional provision requiring the automatic expulsion of foreign nationals convicted of certain criminal offences specified by law, including benefit fraud. Prior to the vote, the Federal Council (the federal government) had warned that the new provision would be incompatible with a number of human rights, in particular the right to private and family life, guaranteed by the Swiss Federal Constitution and international treaties ratified by Switzerland such as the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (ECHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopted General Recommendation No. 36 on Preventing and Combating Racial Profiling by Law Enforcement Officials at its 102nd session, ...which took place from November to December 2020.
Referendums: Tyranny of the Majority? Moeckli, Daniel
Swiss political science review,
September 2018, 2018-09-00, 20180901, Letnik:
24, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This response piece argues that one should be wary of generalised statements that referendums – or particular types of referendums – are good or bad. Whether a popular vote process has beneficial or ...damaging effects depends on a myriad of factors, in particular its formal design and the constitutional structure of the state concerned. Similarly, sweeping claims that referendums result in the oppression of minorities should be approached with a good dose of scepticism. A look at actual direct‐democratic practice shows that the danger of a tyranny of the majority is limited to very specific circumstances. Insofar as this danger does exist, damaging effects of referendums for minorities can be prevented through judicial review after the vote and exclusion of certain issues from referendums from the start.
Since 11 September 2001 it has become almost a mantra that the legal parameters need to be adapted to the new threat situation. The debate on the response to international terrorism has been ...dominated by calls for striking 'an appropriate balance between security and liberty, in the face of... new and different dangers' and for 'fitting the law to this unwanted new world.' It was in this vein that, after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, the then British Prime Minister announced: 'Let no-one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing.' Whilst this was primarily a reference to a change in the rules on the deportation of suspected terrorists and other new domestic legislation, the Prime Minister also suggested that there was a need for a different interpretation of the international legal framework 'in view of the changed conditions in Britain'., Since 11 September 2001 it has become almost a mantra that the legal parameters need to be adapted to the new threat situation. The debate on the response to international terrorism has been dominated by calls for striking 'an appropriate balance between security and liberty, in the face of . . . new and different dangers' and for 'fitting the law to this unwanted new world.' It was in this vein that, after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, the then British Prime Minister announced: 'Let no-one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing.' Whilst this was primarily a reference to a change in the rules on the deportation of suspected terrorists and other new domestic legislation, the Prime Minister also suggested that there was a need for a different interpretation of the international legal framework 'in view of the changed conditions in Britain'.
In recent years, the UN Security Council has repeatedly come under criticism for its inaction in the face of serious violations of international law. As a means to prevent further deadlocks, this ...article advocates the introduction of a duty to explain votes cast in the Council. In certain situations, such a duty to give reasons already exists today, although it is not implemented. We propose to extend this duty to all votes in the Security Council and to codify it in its Provisional Rules of Procedure. A comprehensive duty to give reasons has three major virtues: it increases the quality of Council decisions, it enhances legal certainty, and it improves the accountability of the Council and of its members. As opposed to structural reforms, our proposal does not necessitate amending the UN Charter and thus does not depend on the consent of the Council’s permanent members.
In recent years, the un Security Council has repeatedly come under criticism for its inaction in the face of serious violations of international law. As a means to prevent further deadlocks, this ...article advocates the introduction of a duty to explain votes cast in the Council. In certain situations, such a duty to give reasons already exists today, although it is not implemented. We propose to extend this duty to all votes in the Security Council and to codify it in its Provisional Rules of Procedure. A comprehensive duty to give reasons has three major virtues: it increases the quality of Council decisions, it enhances legal certainty, and it improves the accountability of the Council and of its members. As opposed to structural reforms, our proposal does not necessitate amending the un Charter and thus does not depend on the consent of the Council's permanent members.
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