BC-Department of Public Law
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Liberal Constitutionalism - Between Individual and Collective Interests s(Wydział Prawa i Administracji/Faculty of Law and Administration Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu/ Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń ul. Władysława Bojarskiego, 2017) Bień-Kacała, Agnieszka; Csink, Lóránt; Milej, Tomasz; Serowaniec, MaciejCan a democracy work without liberalism? Or in other words, is the concept of governing and being governed in turns sustainable without respecting individual rights? Or is a democracy doomed to be hijacked by authoritarian rulers, if not backed by robust mechanisms of individual rights protection, by a rule of law and as system, in which – as James Madison wanted – an ambition is made to counteract ambition and the abuses of government are controlled? A standard answer of the so-called ‘Western’ constitutionalism is still a clear ‘no’. The present volume offers study material on countries and historical situations, in which this clear ‘no’ faces challenges. It traces trajectories of democracy’s development as it embraced and rejected liberal ideas. The contribution by Timea Drinoczi and Agnieszka Bien-Kacała does it with respect to Hungary and Poland, while the contribution by Tomasz Milej focuses on Kenya and Tanzania. But before embarking on the developments in particular countries, Wojciech Włoch takes the reader through the contemporary thought on the relationship between democracy and liberalism. He argues from the philosophical perspective that the liberal ideal of equal rights of individuals enables a democracy to thrive and prosper. Tomasz Milej takes up this point showing on the examples of Kenya and Tanzania how the attempts to base a democratic regime on illiberal pillars eventually lead to a collapse of the same. In this vein, Timea Drinoczi and Agnieszka Bien-Kacała make a strong case against theorising violations of constitutional stipulations and disenfranchisement of judiciaries as some new concepts of democracy or political constitutionalism as opposed to the legal one; one of the terms they prefer to describe the departure from the liberal democracy is abusive constitutionalism. On such a dialogue focuses Faith Kabata documenting a poor record of Kenya in implementing of the UN monitoring bodies recommendations and even obstructionism by the state executive organs regarding civil and political rights. Her study shows that these rights were best implemented when individuals took their cases to the courts and that the biggest obstacle to the implementation was a lack of social and political internalisation of certain human rights provisions. Aren’t those internalisation deficits the same ones that derailed the liberal democracy – at least temporarily – in Hungary and Poland? One could look from this perspective at the failure of the direct democracy instruments to enhance people’s participation in public matters, as discussed by Zbigniew Witkowski and Maciej Serowaniec in the Polish context. Those more general accounts are supplemented by three case studies on a sensitive area of clash between the collective and individual interest. The contributions by Lóránt Csink and Réka Török, by István Sabjanics and by Václav Stehlík examine the relationship between the national security concerns and the individual freedoms. Quite interestingly, Stehlík’s research shows that the readjustment away from the individual movement rights towards the protection of national security concerns has also found its way into the case law of the Court of Justice if the European Union.Item Liberal Constitutionalism-Between Individual and Collective Interests(Wydział Prawa i Administracji, 2017) Bień-Kacała, Agnieszka; Csink, Lóránt; Milej, Tomasz; Serowaniec, MaciejModern democracy is not a simple and immediate realisation of an abstract idea of democracy2. After the experiences of World War Two ‘what emerged instead might best be described as a new balance of democracy and liberal principles, and constitutionalism in particular, but with both liberalism and democracy redefined in the light of the totalitarian experience of midtwentieth-century Europe’3. The model of democracy functioning in the socalled western states can be defined after F. Fukuyama as a combination of the principle of democratic accountability and participation, and the liberal principles of the rule of law * Wojciech Włoch – Assistant Professor, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland, wloch.wojciech@gmail.com. 1 The article has been prepared as part of the grant ‘Law-making delegation in representative democracy’ financed by the National Centre of Science, contest Opus 11, registration no. 2016/21/B/HS5/00197. 2 Cf. R. A. Dahl, On Democracy, New Haven-London 1998, pp. 35-43, 84-99. 3 J.-W. Müller, Contesting Democracy. Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe, New Haven-London 2011, p. 129.Item Legal Framework for Free Movement of People Within Africa – A View from the East African Community (EAC)(2017) Milej, Tomasz P.Cross-border movement of persons within Africa has been an important aspect of African regional integration since the 1970s. Since then, various treaty frameworks have been put in place to facilitate the free movement of people seeking employment in other African countries, as well as those crossing borders for purposes like study, visit or business transactions. While all those instruments were adopted through Regional Economic Communities (East African Community [EAC], Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa [COMESA] etc.) on the sub-regional level, the African Heads of State came up with the Free Movement Protocol in 2018, which is the first treaty instrument governing cross-border movement on the continental scale. The Protocol is meant to draw upon the experiences in the African sub-regions. However, as a matter of practice, the migration policies of African states have been viewing migrants rather as a risk to national security and the local labour market. The present article analyses the regulatory approach taken by the Free Movement Protocol (FMP) against the backdrop of the sub-regional instruments. The focus is not only on the treaty texts, but also on their political and ideological underpinnings as well as the practice of implementation. By comparing the various sub-regional legal frameworks, the article pays particular attention to the experience of the East African Community, regarded as one of the most advanced sub-regional integration regimes.Item KUSOL debater’s & speaker’s handbook 2010:guidance notes for a debating society(2010) James, T. DanielsItem Training Africa's Youth in Waste Management and Climate Change: A Textbook for the Youth in Africa's Primary and Junior Secondary Schools Training Africa's Youth in Waste Management and Climate Change: A Textbook for the Youth in Africa's Primary and Junior Secondary Schools(Xlibris Corporation, 2014-01-07) Idun, Y. N. A.This textbook is a guide for primary and junior high school pupils in African countries to promote greater levels of sustainable development/. The book seeks to help these pupils to become better environmental leaders by educating them on waste management and climate change. The reasons for putting forward lessons in waste management and climate change for training students lie in fact that as future leaders, students need to be aware of the need to preserve their environment for the use of future generations. According to an old African adage, the present generation holds the environment in trust for use by future generations. If we identify with this saying, we will develop appropriate means to educate our children about environmental sustainability at the earliest possible stage in their education. This conforms to the sustainable development principle which calls for the preservation of the environment for the benefit of future generations In order to arrive at its aim, this book discusses in simplified terms the reasons for promoting waste management and the need to fight climate change, two serious environmental problems which have had increasingly negative impacts on the ecology of countries. The book then puts forward a series of lessons in waste management and climate change for students to learn and practice so as to have a practical effect at school and in their respective communitiesItem Reflections on the Debate between Trade and Environment(XlibrisUK, 2014-01-08) Idun, YvonneThis book is intended to provide information for students, researchers, and academics in the field of international environmental law and the law of international trade. It could serve as a simple guide in this regard. It discusses the trade and environment debate with relevant case studies and legislation from WTO and EU jurisprudential perspectives. The book also pays attention to the relevance of this debate regarding African countries in their implementation of trade and environmental policies within the context of a green economy and how these relate to pertinent environmental issues, such as climate change, pollution, and waste trade."Item Promoting Free Trade(LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2014-03-20) Idun, YvonneThis book provides information which could be useful for students,researchers and academics. It discusses the rationale and benefits associated with promoting the ideal of free trade as opposed to protectionism. It then examines the approach of the GATT 1945 legal regime for regulating economic liberalism and that of the GATT 1994/WTO regulatory regime to promoting this ideal. Whereas the the former trading regime promoted free trade, the latter adopts a green approach to enforcing global trade policies in the advent of sustainable development-a contemporary principle which necessarily requires the integration of free trade, environmental protection and social upliftment. Free trade on the other hand may not always be desirable for a country, as this book evidently discusses. An example of such a scenario, in the current era of sustainable development is the possible adverse effect of trade on the environment. Discussions then centre on the detrimental effects which uncontrolled economic policy and practices could have on economic patterns could have on the environment.