Suchergebnisse

California is experiencing a period of crisis and some accuse its Constitution, which was already inflated when it was ratified in 1879 and has been expanded with each new electoral ballot. Indeed, through popular initiatives the Golden State electors have kept adding constitutional amendments. Today, they agree that the system is jammed but disagree about the possible remedies: should they engage in a piecemeal revision of the Constitution or dare to engage in the writing of a new text, better adapted to a large modern state? Adapted from the source document.

January 7. Amendment 'medically assisted Procreation' (LDCs) is removed from the draft law 'marriage for all'. January 8. Opening a preliminary investigation of the Paris prosecutor's office against Mr Cahuzac, budget minister. January 11. An agreement on security and labor flexibility is concluded between the social partners, except the CGT and FO. Adapted from the source document.

Uses the case of the lesbian & gay rights movement to consider whether & how the Canadian Charter of Rights shaped the discourse & strategies of social movement politics. Given that the 1982 constitutional amendment is widely seen as politically illegitimate by many francophone Quebecers, the impact of the Canadian Charter on social movement politics in Quebec is compared to its impact in the rest of Canada. It is concluded that nationalism has shaped the responses of the movements to new political opportunities. Adapted from the source document.

Although many elements of the Canadian political system were changed by the 1982 constitutional reform, the system has, in its limited capacity, managed to maintain the political regime. For instance, the organic duality of the written & unwritten law, which has always defined Canadian constitutionalism, remained unaltered. This article attempts to shed some light on how the Supreme Court of Canada has continued to lean toward the preservation of the "constitutional regime," exercising a fundamental function in a democracy of a monist type where formal resort to constitutional amendment is seldom used. The author demonstrates how the Court attempted to register the democratic changes of the regime & to harmonize them with its immutable principles. In doing so, the Court nevertheless diminished the value of constitutional written law & advanced an essentialist conception of judicial power. Adapted from the source document.

Les juges égyptiens se sont mobilisés au printemps 2005 en faveur d'élections transparentes et d'une réelle indépendance de la magistrature. Leur rôle comme acteurs du processus de démocratisation s'est toutefois heurté à la résistance du régime, qui leur a fait payer leur révolte au prix fort. Un amendement constitutionnel au printemps 2007 a ainsi retiré aux magistrats la supervision des opérations de vote, et le ministre de la justice a adopté toute une série de mesures de rétorsion à l'égard du Club des juges, principal vecteur du soulèvement des juges. (Politique africaine/GIGA)

This article highlights the effect on the French Parliament of the 1996 constitutional amendment, creating a new tool of government, the "lois de financement de la securite sociale". If this new budgetary law doesn't go against the general weakness of the French legislative Institution because, formally, it holds several procedures limiting parliamentary initiative, it has however deeply shaped the parliamentary mobilization in the two Chambers. Some MPs, belonging to social parliamentary committees, can now be seen as social protection's specialists. Their specialization allows them, indirectly, to have more influence on social policies. Adapted from the source document.

The first Egyptian presidential election contest occurred in September 2005. President Moubarak, seeking a fifth term, won the elections. The results were no surprise, considering the constitutional & judicial precautions framing these elections. In fact, the close links between the governing party & the State apparatus, guaranteeing the perpetuation of the majority, remain unchanged. But by taking the initiative of a constitutional amendment providing for a presidential election -- in a country where referendums had been the rule for choosing presidents -- the regime will have to face the new constraints that presidential elections impose: respect for the rules of the game defined by the regime itself & the political mobilizations denouncing the infringements of these rules, or even their content. What impact do the September 2005 electoral results have on the redefinition of the presidential question? How can one describe those candidates competing against President Moubarak? What kind of image of the President did this campaign give, though it was meant to promote him? And lastly, which were the mobilizations of an opposition which, even if it did not attain its objectives, experienced new forms of contestation? Adapted from the source document.