Suchergebnisse

International legalization promises to civilize world politics with global legal norms that bind states' behavior effectively. However, international legal norm can also institutionalize unjust forms of cooperation and the dominance of powerful states. In order to challenge unjust global rules the concept of civil disobedience has to be extended to international law violations by sovereign states. In the national realm civil disobedience has contributed extensively to the establishment of human rights. In order to use the concept for international politics, this paper develops criteria for state civil disobedience which are then applied to the Argentine foreign debt repudiation and Bolivia's violations of international investment law. Furthermore two hypotheses concerning causes and consequences of state civil disobedience are formulated ; Internationale Verrechtlichung verspricht eine Zivilisierung der Weltpolitik durch eine effektive Bindung der Staaten an globale Rechtsnormen. Gleichwohl können internationale Rechtsnormen auch die Dominanz der mächtigeren Staaten institutionalisieren und ungerechte Kooperationsformen festschreiben. Um ungerechte globale Rechtsnormen zu verändern ist es notwendig den Ansatz des zivilen Ungehorsams auf staatliche Rechtsbrüche zu übertragen. Im nationalen Rahmen hat der zivile Ungehorsam durch begrenzte Rechtsbrüche einen erheblichen Beitrag für die Erkämpfung der Menschenrechte geleistet. Um dieses Potential für die internationale Politik nutzbar zu machen, werden Kriterien für staatlichen zivilen Ungehorsam entwickelt und auf die argentinische Schuldenverweigerung und Boliviens Verletzungen internationalen Investitionsrechts angewendet. Zudem entwickelt das Papier zwei Hypothesen zu den Ursachen und den Wirkungen von staatlichem zivilem Ungehorsam

Abstract:Civil disobedience has been theorised as an informal guardian of the constitution in democratic societies, but such accounts struggle to accommodate protest that has an international or global dimension. This article addresses this issue through offering a theory of civil disobedience as transnational disruption. Civil disobedience is 'transnational' insofar as it is an appeal to a national, international or global public that highlights failures to observe moral, political or legal values that are an appropriate source of normative authority in global contexts. Civil disobedience is 'disruptive' insofar as it obstructs the routine activities of relevant parties in order to draw attention to the demands of protesters. The core argument is that civil disobedience can uphold normative standards that have been incorporated into a dense network of treaties, conventions and global regulatory frameworks. It can thus make a modest but valuable contribution to the processes through which publics deliberate about the meaning and interpretation of these contested norms.

The tradition of civil disobedience in America seems to be in pretty good health. Recent examples, including the Occupy movement, disruption of the functioning of abortion clinics, and even the release of classified government documents by Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, suggest that it is alive and kicking. Yet a consideration of these examples also re-enforces how fuzzy the edges and undefined the essential core of civil disobedience are. Indeed, a main achievement of Lewis Perry's book under review here is to emphasize that what we now consider the definitive traits of civil disobedience—respect for the law in principle, willingness to accept punishment for violating an unjust law, and a commitment to nonviolence—have rarely all been present when civil disobedience has been engaged in. Perhaps Perry's minimalist description of civil disobedience is the best we can do: "the national heritage of resistance to unjust laws."

"Describes civil disobedience of individuals and organizations that break the law for the purpose of nonviolently promoting a change in legislation or public policy. It characterizes the responsible citizen as morally obligated to civil disobedience to preserve and improve the legal system, and clarifies the boundaries of democracy"--