Suchergebnisse

The report is categorized into three categories: (I) Religious Law and Its Application in U.S. Courts, (II) First Amendments Issues Related to Prohibition on Religious Laws in Courts and (III) Selected Proposed Prohibitions on Application of Religious Law.

In this article, we incorporate the study of diasporas into international relations (IR) theory by focusing on diasporas as independent actors who actively influence their homeland (kin-state) foreign policies. We argue that diasporic influences can best be understood by situating them in the 'theoretical space' shared by constructivism and liberalism; two approaches that acknowledge the impact of identity and domestic politics on international behavior. We also maintain that the exploration of diasporic activities can enrich both constructivism and liberalism. First, diasporas' identity-based motivations should be an integral part of the constructivist effort to explain the formation of national identities. Second, diasporic activities and influences in their homelands expand the meaning of the term 'domestic politics' to include not only politics inside the state but also inside the people For the liberal approach, this is a "new fact" in the Lakatosian sense of the word. We theorize that the extent of diasporic influence on homeland foreign policy is determined by three components that make up the 'balance of power' between homelands and diasporas. We then test this theory by delving into the interaction between the newly established state of Armenia and its powerful diaspora, and by comparing this case with examples taken from the relations between Israel and diaspora Jews.

Some of the most important phenomena in international conflict are coded as "rare events": binary dependent variables with dozens to thousands of times fewer events, such as wars and coups, than "nonevents." Unfortunately, rare events data are difficult to explain and predict, a problem stemming from at least two sources. First, and most important, the data-collection strategies used in international conflict studies are grossly inefficient. The fear of collecting data with too few events has led to data collections with huge numbers of observations but relatively few, and poorly measured, explanatory variables. As it turns out, more efficient sampling designs exist for making valid inferences, such as sampling all available events (wars, for example) and a tiny fraction of nonevents (peace). This enables scholars to save as much as 99 percent of their (nonfixed) data-collection costs or to collect much more meaningful explanatory variables. Second, logistic regression, and other commonly used statistical procedures, can underestimate the probability of rare events. We introduce some corrections that outperform existing methods and change the estimates of absolute and relative risks by as much as some estimated effects reported in the literature. We also provide easy-to-use methods and software that link these two results, enabling both types of corrections to work simultaneously.

Natural resources have been defined by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Polisario Front, and a number of non-governmental organisations not only as an essential part of the Western Sahara conflict, but also as a battlefield that has attracted the interest of the international community. This article explores how the ethical trade guidelines of two large institutional investors - the Norwegian and Swedish pension funds - have affected the behaviour of companies that export and exploit the natural resources of Western Sahara. The results of applying a triad-network model suggest that as pension funds have more instruments of influence, their strategy becomes more effective. Moreover, investments that follow ethical trade guidelines play a key role in pressuring companies to modify objectionable behaviours.

HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE BEEN SEEN AS BASIC TO THE ETHICAL DISTINCTIVENESS AND LEGITIMIZATION OF STATES. THEY ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CULTURE OF STATE MORAL STANDARDS. INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN STATES IS BASED ON A MINIMUM OF SHARED VALUES OR ACCEPTED RULES, INCLUDING HUMAN RIGHTS, WHICH SYMBOLICALLY CONSTITUTE A UNIVERSE OF CONSTRAINTS. THE CODIFICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS AND AFRICA'S EXPERIENCE IN THE AREA OF INTERNATIONAL ETHICS SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS OF AN INTERNATIONAL CULTURE OF MORAL STANDARDS.

After the recent enactment of General Defense Competition Law No. 42‐08, of the Dominican Republic and the culmination of a discussion process of more than a decade, it is of special relevance to perform an economic analysis of this new law, from a substantive, institutional and procedural approach. In this paper, the authors perform a comprehensive economic analysis of the new legislation, reviewing each individual section of the piece, and using as reference for the analysis the regulatory framework of the United States of America Antirust Law and the European Union Competition Law provisions.

The relationship between law and politics is one of the most debated topics in legal theory. There is no consensus on the range and scope of the political and the legal element in law. Legislation or lawmaking is conceptually ambiguous because it indicates the law which has been promulgated, and therefore the primary object of many modern theories of law, but also the process of making it, that many theories of law usually locate outside the scope of jurisprudence and more specifically in the realm of politics. The first section sets the problem of legislation by distinguishing a number of different problems that often appear indistinctly under this label. Standpoints can be viewed according to a spectrum stretching from legal theories holding politics to essentially permeate the law to those claiming the opposite. The aim is to situate Hägerström's view on law-making along this spectrum. My claim is that Scandinavian realism holds middleground in that ideological constructs structurally affect the law yet legal normativity cannot be reduced to the will of de facto holders of power: law cannot be reduced to any idea of will, including that of the majority or of the people. To substantiate this claim the article investigates Hägerström's view on the foundation of a new constitution pursuant to a political revolution, the ultimate touchstone for maintaining the (in)distinctiveness of law and politics. His bottom line is that the problem cannot be explained in terms of discovery of public interest, because of his non-cognitivist approach. But it cannot be explained in terms of decision-making either. Law-making here amounts to access and control of technical procedures grounded in a form of faith, or in his own terms "ideas governing men's minds". ; La relación entre derecho y política es uno de los temas más debatidos en la teoría del derecho. No hay un consenso sobre el alcance y extensión del elemento político y del elemento jurídico en el derecho. Legislación es un concepto ambiguo porque designa a la ley que ha sido promulgada, y, por tanto, el objeto primario de muchas teorías jurídicas modernas; pero también el proceso de crearla, el cual muchas teorías del derecho, por lo general, colocan fuera del ámbito de la teoría del derecho y, de modo más específico, en la esfera política. La primera sección plantea el problema de la legislación al distinguir un número de diferentes problemas que a menudo aparecen indistintamente bajo esta etiqueta. Los distintos puntos de vista pueden mirarse de acuerdo con un espectro que va desde teorías jurídicas que sostienen que la política permea la ley de manera esencial, hasta aquellas que sostienen lo contrario. El objetivo es situar en este espectro la perspectiva de Hägerström acerca de la legislación. Mi postura es que el realismo escandinavo se mantiene en un punto medio entre la idea de que las construcciones ideológicas afectan al derecho y aquella en que la normatividad jurídica no puede reducirse a la voluntad de quienes, de facto, detentan el poder; así, el derecho no puede reducirse a ninguna idea de "voluntad" o "intención", incluyendo a aquellas de la mayoría o el pueblo. Para fundamentar este argumento, este artículo investiga la perspectiva de Hägerström acerca del establecimiento de una nueva constitución a través de una revolución política, última piedra de toque para mantener la (in)distintividad de la ley y la política. Su conclusión es que el problema no se puede explicar en términos del descubrimiento del interés público, debido a su enfoque nocognitivista; pero este tampoco puede ser explicado en términos de la toma de decisiones. Aquí legislar equivale al acceso y control de procedimientos técnicos basados en una forma de fe, o en sus términos propios, "ideas que gobiernan las mentes de los hombres".

Introduction: The Assembly of the Republic of Albania, by virtue of Law no.76 / 2016 On some amendments to the Law 8417 dated 21.10.1998 "Constitution of the Republic of Albania" (as amended) approved a series of new articles and a special "annex" for "Vetting", by which it clearly demonstrated its interest and willingness to undertake a wider reform of the justice system. The reasons leading to this initiative of fundamental importance underlie the real confrontation of Albanian citizens with the element of corruption in almost every area of life, but more evidently in capturing of this phenomenon within justice system. The presence of corruption in this system is not only an experience, perception or media news, but it is an evil also accepted by the protagonists of justice, judges, according to whom our system is not "liberated" from external influences. Issue to be addressed: The constitutional amendments package, approved by Law no. 76 dated 22.07.2016 brought the introduction in the Constitution of Albania of some new legal norms, which in their application, posed the need to establish ad hoc institutions as a necessity to render justice reform process more appropriate and efficient. New institutions, which will constitute the pillars of change in our justice system, and referred to as such in this Law are the High Judicial Council, the Council of Appointments in Justice, the High Prosecutorial Council, the Committee on Re-evaluation of judges, the High Inspector of Justice, etc. In particular, the scope of this paper will be the Law N.84 / 2016 adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Albania "for the transitional revaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania", or the so-called "Vetting Law "which constitutes per se a body of standards regulating every aspect of work to be conducted by the Committee on Re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors. Anticipated result and methods of research: For the very first time in Albania, through inclusion of this legal instrument there will be controlled in specific fashion determined by law the work and professional integrity of judges and prosecutors, and the effect from its implementation is the professional enhancement of accountability of all judicial stakeholders and therefore improvement of the quality of the whole justice system. The anticipation of this work will be the reflection of key theoretical and practical elements where this law is based upon and ways how to apply. The opening and tackling of a theoretical debate as long as the concrete law implementation has not begun, both on its efficient way of implementation and the credibility of results it will bring in the fight against corruption in justice. The research methods will be based upon the analytical and comparable method of the paper material in this field. Conclusion: The justice system in Albania is not going well for years due to profound corruption affecting the bodies of this system. It has always been a belief that the main problem in Albania is not the lack of laws, on the contrary where we want to apply we encounter their severity and rigorousness, perhaps until the lack of tolerance, while the main problem is the lack of will to observe the laws. The reasons stay at frequent strong interventions of politics, another time at bribes in huge amounts that judges or prosecutors themselves receive in order to sidestep responsibility in a judicial process. The current reform tries to initiate work in order to remove and eliminate these problems once and for all. How much will it achieve? The interest of the entire Albanian society is strong, but will it manage to oppose strongly to the will of political stakeholders in order to accomplish this initiative. What is the opinion of our society with regard to credibility of law implementation on vetting and how much will it serve to assess in reality the professional qualification, the moral integrity and the degree of independence in their work from the influence of organized crime, corruption and political power on judges.Keywords: Constitutional Amendments, Transitory Reassessment Law of Judges (Vetting), Independent Qualification Commission, High Judicial Council.