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The author's starting point is Locke's classical thesis that the rulers & the ruled are subject to universal laws & that their abuses are prevented by the institutional means of power sharing. The rule according to which nobody can be a judge in their own affairs unconditionally applies in all court or administrative proceedings. The problem arises when this legal thinking is applied to parliaments. Namely, in parliamentary work the incompatibility of the mandates of the legislative & the executive branch is annulled since the executive power gains the upper hand in the composition & substance of the legislature. Besides, The basic law (Grundgesetz) provides MPs with indemnity in their voting behavior & guarantees to them immunity from punishment for certain acts that other citizens would not be able to get away with. This relative freedom & independence of MPs is corrected by the rule books on the behavior of MPs that envision the necessity of their ethical conduct. The violations of the rules are sanctioned not so much by moderatorial law as by political means. The author's opinion is that deciding on their own affairs cannot be universally granted to parliaments. Constitutions allow, even call for, certain decisions on one's own affairs to be made. However, due to insufficient outside control, self-control must be increased, which implies legal obedience on the part of MPs so that laws become meaningful for all participants. Besides the ethical & political pressures that force the MPs to behave in a law-abiding manner, laws also exert positive pressure on them to see to it that their decisions serve the public good. Adapted from the source document.

The author analyzes the concept of balance of power in International Relations through critical overview of Realist tradition (both Classical and scientific), and its horizontal understanding of balancing of power as a principle per se. The first part analyzes the pessimistic phase (Classical Realism), with the emphasis on the works of H.J. Morgenthau, who promoted the balance of power as a principle per se in the hands of international power politics. In the second part, the scientific phase (Neorealism) empirically establishes the value-free balance of power concept in International Relations. By examining materialism and empiricism of Realism, in the third part the author indicates the limitations of the horizontal approach as a consequence of permanently ignoring the vertical aspect: ideational approach and norms and rules as the first principle of international system of society of states. Adapted from the source document.

The topic under discussion is the correlations between respect of the sovereign equality of all states, the balance of power in the World Community, & the capability of that Community for certain joint enforcement actions when necessary. All attempts throughout the history of radical elimination of the principle of sovereign equality of states by imposing hegemony by one power, or by several powers, finally failed. That happened with the rule of Napoleon I over continental Europe prior to 1815, or with attempts to impose a "New Order" by the Axis powers during WWII. At the same time, efforts to replace the balance of power by some integrated collective security systems failed. Within the League of Nations & the UN, that balance of power continued to operate among the leading member states. There is, however, a paradox in the fact that respect of the principle of sovereign equality of all states in the presence of a balance of power considerably diminish the probability of joint enforcement actions when they prove necessary. Today, only the US has the military potential & political will to face large-scale commissions of international crimes, as well as acts of international terrorism. At the same time, the lack of the balance of powers in the present World Community results in some distorted attitudes & practices by this unique superpower that are not always in perfect harmony with basic values of our civilization. 9 References. Adapted from the source document.