Suchergebnisse

China's performance since 1949, compared with that of other Asian countries, using criteria from the Physical Quality of Life Index.

The People's Republic of China's social & economic rights performance since 1949 is evaluated & compared with other developing countries, using the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI). Data on Chinese performance since 1949 is presented for each major rights area identified in the 1966 Covenant on Social & Economic Rights. China's PQLI is then compared with other poor Asian countries. The data indicate that China's social & economic rights performance is among the best for comparably poor Asian countries. 1 Table, 16 References. AA

In this thesis, the South African Constitutional Court's emerging model for the adjudication of social and economic (SE) rights is used as a starting point from which to consider how courts may give effect to these rights whilst respecting principles of democratic decision-making. The court has chosen to measure government action in this area against a standard of reasonableness. Reasonableness has historically been employed as a highly deferential standard of judicial review in South Africa and other common law jurisdictions. It is also a flexible standard. These features have given rise to charges that an approach based on reasonableness cannot but result in vagueness and weak enforcement of SE rights. The argument in this thesis is that these flaws are not an inevitable consequence of a reasonableness-centred model for SE rights adjudication. The judges' approach is informed by evolving notions of judicial restraint. A range of factors impact on the intensity of review in SE rights cases. These factors will be relevant, whatever the approach adopted, because courts are bound to adjudicate SE rights within the limits of their constitutional mandate and institutional expertise. The most effective way of creating greater legal certainty and consistency in the judgments is for both judges and litigators to engage with these underlying factors. This thesis draws on Indian and United Kingdom jurisprudence. Studies of both these jurisdictions show that political sensitivity is no longer an automatic bar to the justiciability of disputes. United Kingdom administrative law jurisprudence is used to show that reasonableness, as a standard of review, has the capacity to place onerous demands on government bodies. The Indian case-study serves as a warning against an ad hoc approach to judicial intervention and restraint in SE rights cases. Cases from this jurisdiction illustrate the importance of identifying and working with the factors that inform the intensity with which judges will interrogate government decision-making in SE rights disputes. This kind of engagement will allow courts to move towards a stronger, more principled approach to the rights.

Pakistan is among the Asian countries which permits dual citizenship. However, the dual citizenship privileges availed by overseas-based Pakistanis spark intense debate making Pakistani dual citizens and their entitlements a contested subject in the country. A qualitative study was conducted in the city of Rawalpindi asking what the attitudes of Pakistani citizens on dual citizenship are, as well as their positions on the rights of dual citizens with regard to education, employment and property ownership in Pakistan. In-depth interviews were conducted with two groups of interviewees: 25 Pakistani citizens and 18 Pakistani dual citizens. The findings suggest that Pakistani citizens resist the unconditional provision of socio-economic rights to Pakistani dual citizens considering their "split loyalties." Most of the respondents argued against their employment in sensitive institutions such as the armed forces and judiciary, however, their right to education and property acquisition was supported in circumstances when it benefits Pakistan's development. The perspectives of dual citizens also reflect ambivalence over how to resolve the allegiance conundrum and as a result, display divergent views on their privileges and rights in their home country.

The term 'social market economy' was introduced in the Treaty on European Union in order to emphasise that social and economic objectives of the European Union are both important, and have to be reconciled with each other. This contribution describes how social objectives have been developed in EU law since the establishment of the European Economic Community. The Court of Justice of the European Union has interpreted Treaty provisions to give them maximum effect for the realization of these objectives. However, tensions with the economic objectives exist when economic freedoms are confronted with social rights. This contribution examines how the CJEU balances these interests, and how this relates to the social market economy. There are also areas where economic rights have no counterpart at the EU level, but where they interact with social policies of Member States. Here too, the concept of social market economy is relevant. After a discussion of these various dimensions of the term social market economy, the subsequent articles of this Special Issue are introduced.