The Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Act 23 of 2022 amends South Africa's anti-terrorism legislation, the Protection of Constitutional ...Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act 33 of 2004, by, among other things, removing the requirement of motive from the definitional elements of the offence of terrorism. Before the amendment of the original legislation, motive was the third and final requirement to be satisfied before the intentional (and possibly even the negligent) commission of the various listed acts could officially constitute the offence of terrorism. This commentary sets out the detail of the three original elements of the offence of terrorism and ultimately exposes the major problem with the removal of the motive requirement, particularly if negligence is found to also be the envisaged form of fault. A solution which could help overcome the identified problem and sustain the removal of the motive requirement, is suggested in the commentary.
Populism and Liberal Constitutionalism Szentgáli-Tóth, Boldizsár; Simonelli, Marco Antonio
Public governance, administration and finances law review (Online),
02/2023, Volume:
7, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Our paper focuses on the impact of populism on the functioning of constitutional democracy in Europe. To analyse such a complex issue, a survey has been elaborated, which tries to outline how the ...current populist tendencies influence the institutional framework of constitutional democracy and to what extent such parties aim and are able to undermine the long-term prevalence of rule of law. To achieve this goal, the survey monitors, amongst others, the use of referenda in European countries; the presence of instruments of participatory and direct democracy; which are the political programme of populist parties, and in particular what are their ambitions concerning institutional reforms; whether the status, the independence, the competence and the composition of the constitutional court and the judiciary are contested. The survey also examines whether the protection standard of the most important fundamental rights are relativized, or are intended to be relativized by the populist parties of the different countries. We approached young constitutional scholars from certain member states, at the initial stage of their academic career, and asked them to fill the survey.
Works on the quality of democracy propose standards for evaluating politics beyond those encompassed by a minimal definition of democracy. Yet, what is the quality of democracy? This article first ...reconstructs and assesses current conceptualizations of the quality of democracy. Thereafter, it reconceptualizes the quality of democracy by equating it with democracy pure and simple, positing that democracy is a synthesis of political freedom and political equality, and spelling out the implications of this substantive assumption. The proposal is to broaden the concept of democracy to address two additional spheres: government decision-making - political institutions are democratic inasmuch as a majority of citizens can change the status quo - and the social environment of politics - the social context cannot turn the principles of political freedom and equality into mere formalities. Alternative specifications of democratic standards are considered and reasons for discarding them are provided.
One of the most notable features in recent Confucian political theory is the advocacy of political meritocracy. Though Confucian meritocrats’ controversial institutional design has been subject to ...critical scrutiny, less attention has been paid to their underlying normative claims. This paper aims to investigate the two justificatory conditions of Confucian political meritocracy—the service condition and the reciprocity condition—in light of classical Confucianism and with special attention to moral disagreement. Finding the normative argument for Confucian political meritocracy both incomplete (in light of classical Confucianism) and implausible (under the circumstances of moral disagreement), it proposes Confucian constitutional democracy as an alternative that can meet the three conditions of the good Confucian polity—service, reciprocity, and remedy—by reconceiving the people's well-being in terms of their basic rights, as well as by promoting constitutional dialogue among the three branches of the government.
Abstract In his strategic political positioning and engagement in the nineteenth century, Groen van Prinsterer looked towards both the past and the future. Rhetorically, he appealed to the past as a ...vindication of the truth and practicality of his anti-revolutionary position. He also expressed optimism for the success of his convictions and political goals in the future. This optimism was reflected in the confidence with which he engaged politically, despite experiencing numerous setbacks in his career. Relying on the phenomenological-narrative approach of David Carr, I highlight the motives and strategies behind Groen’s political activity, and reveal that the past and the future in Groen’s narrative provide the strategic framework for his rhetoric, and the basis for his activism. I accentuate how the emphasis of his narrative shifts away from the status quo and thus enables a type of political engagement that proved historically significant for the early consolidation of the Dutch constitutional democracy.
The central question of Transition 2.0 is this: what (and how) may a new government do to re-establish constitutional democracy, as well as repair membership within the European Union, without ...breaching the European rule of law? This volume demonstrates that EU law and international commitments impose constraints but also offer tools and assistance for facilitating the way back after rule of law and democratic backsliding. The various contributions explore the constitutional, legal, and social framework of ‘Transition 2.0’.
Povodom dvadesete godišnjice smrti jednog od najznačajnijih suvremenih političkih i socijalnih filozofa, Johna B. Rawlsa (1921. – 2002.), autori se u ovome radu bave njegovim razumijevanjem odnosa ...između građanskog neposluha i slobode u okvirima liberalne ustavne demokracije utemeljene na vladavini prava. Temeljno polazište Rawlsove teorije građanskog neposluha, a samim time i ovoga rada, jest da je riječ o obliku izražavanja neposluha zakonu unutar granica privrženosti pravu, premda na njegovom vanjskom rubu. Ukoliko je sloboda mišljenja kojom se izražava neposluh nepravednim zakonima jedna od temeljnih sloboda, utoliko je građanski neposluh moguće shvatiti ne samo kao korektiv liberalne ustavne demokracije već i kao realni pokušaj njezina »spašavanja«. Riječ je o bitnoj temi suvremene političke filozofije s obzirom na sve prisutniji diskurs o suvremenoj krizi liberalizma uopće i utjecaju te krize na institucije liberalne ustavne demokracije, među kojima se osobito ističe država, a zapravo pravo i pravni sustav u cjelini.
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