As noted elsewhere in this volume (Chapters 5, 6 and 7 in particular), while the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 provided an opportunity for discussion of the role and scrutiny of ...intelligence agencies in a post-inreferencesdependence Scotland, plans in this area were relatively undeveloped. Moreover, while there was at least some debate about the development of an independent Scottish security and intelligence agency, plans for oversight of the new agency were minimal. The UK Government’s analysis, which emphasised the challenges involved in establishing a new intelligence agency, assumed that when it came to oversight, Scotland would simply seek to replicate
The death of James I marked the end of an era in English political life. Despite his shifting relationship with the Commons, he had managed his relations with his subjects with more than a little ...success. When he felt he had to back down, as in the impeachment of Bacon or the breaking-off of the treaties with Spain, he did so with reasonable grace. But he also got his own way on dozens of issues, such as peace abroad, because when crucial moments arrived he did not allow his high-flown notions of royal power to determine his actions. Even a
This article contains the results of research concerning parliamentary debate about voting rights for foreign residents in the Netherlands (1970-1996) using a discourse analytical framework. Due to ...the characteristics of the Dutch political field, a large majority of the political actors has to be willing and able to combine political interests and ideological narratives into one story line propagating franchise for foreign residents in order to grant voting rights to nonnationals. It is claimed that the success and failure of policy changes regarding the political participation of nonnationals is foremost determined by the extent of the discursive affinity of argumentative clusters used by parties of the "center-right" with the (leftist) discourse which propagates enfranchisement.
Consideration of the Conseil d'Etat and its role in the preparation of legislation helps us in Britain to appreciate how our own legislative process might be improved. The Hansard Society Report1 ...suggested in 1992 that Britain needed to look beyond just improving the drafting of legislation and needed to reform the legislative process, both before a bill is presented to Parliament and in its passage through Parliament. My reflection on the French process is to suggest that this offers us a further focus of attention—the questions which should be asked during the scrutiny process. There are two areas where we need to ask questions—on fundamental rights and practical effectiveness. I think that the British trust too much to the political process to ensure that questions concerning respect for fundamental values and also administrative workability are addressed before a bill is passed by Parliament. This paper is influenced by observations made in 1986 of the Interior Section of the Conseil d'Etat in its scrutiny of a number of government bills at the beginning of the Chirac premiership.
The Abortion Act 1967 made it possible for hundreds of thousands of women to access legal, safe and free abortions in Britain for the first time. Veteran campaigner for women’s reproductive rights, ...Dr Wendy Savage, has said of the impact of the Act that it ‘virtually eliminated deaths from unsafe abortions in Great Britain and freed women from the nightmare of unplanned pregnancy’.¹ It was the culmination of years of campaigning and pressure from below from women, the labour movement, medical staff and ALRA. Liberal MP David Steel led the Bill, but a sympathetic Labour government helped enable its success.
Mr Necessity Lee, David; Bridge, Carl; Lowe, David
Australia Goes to Washington,
12/2016
Book Chapter
Open access
Howard Beale was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 1957 at a critical time in American and indeed world history. The Cold War was well underway and tensions between the US-led West and ...Soviet Russia made the prospect of a ‘hot war’ with all its awful consequences a real possibility. Moved mainly by the inherent strategic limitations of ‘massive retaliation’, the US increasingly focused on winning ‘hearts and minds’ in former colonial territories in the Middle East, Asia and Africa during the 1950s and thereby stopping the spread of global communism.² This broadening of the policy of containment, based
Legislation is the most important source of law within the Scottish legal system. It emanates ultimately from the authority of a legislature and includes Acts of Parliament (the primary legislation ...of the UK, also referred to as “statutes”) as well as legislation passed by delegates such as the Scottish Parliament or local authorities. It also includes European Union legislation (discussed further in Chapter 8).
Historically, the pre-1707 Scottish Parliaments also created legislation. A few of these “Scots Acts” are still in force today. However, many have been either expressly repealed or have fallen into desuetude. That is to say, through
In 2005, sudanese men, women, and children, adopting the same route that smugglers and traffickers had used for decades, started crossing the Egyptian border to ask for refuge in Israel. In 2014, ...around 47,000 individuals who had taken the same path were present on Israeli territory, among whom were 8,852 Sudanese nationals and 34,475 Eritreans (Shani et al. 2014 ). While first depicted as survivors of genocide entitled to claim protection (Anteby-Yemini 2009; Willen 2010; Paz 2011), African asylum seekers¹ soon entered into a language of insecurity and criminality in the Israeli political discourse. The crossing of the Egyptian-Israeli border
The most powerful case for individual terrorism comes from the Old Testament. It is the story of Samson, the mighty warrior who was betrayed by his lover, and then blinded and imprisoned by his ...enemies, the Philistines. Moshe Machover, an Israeli dissident, provided the relevant passage from the Book of Judges, Chapter 16, reminding me that the story is widely taught to Israeli children ‘as an act of heroism on Samson’s part’. Moshe prefers to read it as a ‘useful antidote against Islamophobia and Judaeo-Christian arrogance’.
Certainly the Philistines in the story, as they taunt and mock the tortured warrior,
