Suchergebnisse

Examines the causes & consequences of the UN's shift from adherence to the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states to its recent involvement in a series of humanitarian interventions. The evolution of human rights law & laws of war since 1945 are traced. Provisions related to the use of force in the UN Charter are described, along with UN doctrine & practice before & after the Cold War. Disputes over humanitarian intervention within the UN; Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call to take the issue seriously; the General Assembly's lukewarm response; & challenges posed by the Bush Doctrine of September 2002 are discussed. Troublesome developments arising from interventions since 1991 that have the potential to weaken the UN are explored. Although international law does not definitively state whether states have a right to intervene in other states for humanitarian reasons, it is contended that some of these questions can be settled within the UN if that body can strike a balance between implementing international law & maintaining a limited norm of non-intervention. J. Lindroth

Traces legal scholar Ronald Dworkin's developing work in legal & political philosophy; describes both his constructive theory of law & his understanding of liberal equality; & summarizes his argument about the ethical foundations of liberalism. Dworkin views law as an interpretive concept & general theories of law as constructive interpretations. His definition of liberal equality links equality, liberty, & community into a general political ideal that emphasizes the need for compensatory strategies to reduce inequalities. Other issues discussed include Dworkin's recent defenses of the foundations of liberalism; distinctions he draws between volitional & critical interests; & dilemmas associated with critical interests. A look at differences between the impact model & the challenge model of value notes that Dworkin believes the ethical roots of political liberalism are found in the challenge model of ethics. Dworkin's most recent work is summarized to conclude that his legal theory needs further philosophical development, especially in regard to his argument about the superiority of the challenge model. J. Lindroth

Provides an overview of the status of gender in US hate crime policy. Discussion opens with a look at the concept of hate crime, highlighting its 1970s discursive emergence & three highly publicized cases during the late 1990s. How gender has & has not figured into institutionalized legal response to bias-motivated violence is then examined in terms of the parameters of hate crime law in general, content of state & federal hate crime law, & enforcement of gender provisions in hate crime law. Gender is seen as sort of second-class in the US social, political, & legal discourse. The inclusion/exclusion of gender in hate crime law raises the larger issue of how to resolve the dilemma of difference in policy & law making; this is taken up in closing, arguing that the inclusion of gender in hate crime policy allows the "sameness-difference" debate to be solved in a manner that treats (1) females as simultaneously a special category of crime victim & the same as other hate crime victims & (2) perpetrators of gender-based crime as simultaneously a special category of offender & the same as other types of bias-motivated offenders. 4 Figures. J. Zendejas

Argues that the long-term implications of the addition of the multiple-race response option to the 2000 decennial US census may not be apparent for some time. Several of these are considered here, highlighting (1) pressure to expand the number of racial categories, (2) growing scientific doubts about the reliability of racial measurement, (3) increasing public discomfort with racial classification in general, & (4) difficulties reconciling how race is measured & used in making law & public policy. K. Hyatt Stewart

Argues that the long-term implications of the addition of the multiple-race response option to the 2000 decennial US census may not be apparent for some time. Several of these are considered here, highlighting (1) pressure to expand the number of racial categories, (2) growing scientific doubts about the reliability of racial measurement, (3) increasing public discomfort with racial classification in general, & (4) difficulties reconciling how race is measured & used in making law & public policy. K. Hyatt Stewart

The article is written in form of pseudo dialogue between sociologist and lawyer. The data of interrogation of Kharkiv region in habitants in few indicators is showed in the article:
1. A part of victimized residents during last 12 months (population's victimization proportion).
2. General quantity of reported crimes during survey.
3. Quantity of police reports.
4. Degree of latency.
The so called "Latency paradox" as a world-view and as a methodological problem is discussed in the article. The author maintains the thought about necessity of developing the domestic sociology of crime in cooperation with other criminal-law disciplines.

Explores the theoretical orientation of judge & author Richard Posner who describes his general philosophy as "pragmatism." Posner applies an empirically & economically oriented social science approach to issues of law & justice. A socially liberal but economically conservative libertarian, Posner claims the legal formalism & "academic moralism" of political philosophers like John Rawls & Ronald Dworkin fails to pay enough attention to facts or consequences. He argues that debates about such contentious issues as affirmative action are "unproductive when they concern the moral requirements of an abstract ideal like racial equality." Posner's views on questions of sexual morality & public policy utilize an "economic" analysis that supports a diminished role for government. It is contended that Posner is best described as a "quasi-rule pragmatist" in regard to the role of the judiciary because he rejects both "act pragmatism" & "pure judicial formalism" in favor of a narrower kind of pragmatism that limits judges' freedom to ignore traditional sources of law. Similarities are pointed out between Posner's theorizing & the theories he critiques. J. Lindroth

"Formelle soziale Kontrolle basiert auf Rechtsprogrammen. Recht läßt sich als Medium oder Institution analysieren. Es basiert auf der binären Differenz von legalen und illegalen Handlungen. Als Medium steuert es staatliches Handeln. Es ist erstens eine letztlich rechtlich zu entscheidende Frage, ob, wann und wie Polizei, Justiz und Strafvollzug in Aktion treten. Diese Gesetzesbindung der Verwaltung schwindet allmählich. Es ist zweitens rechtlich festgelegt, welche Aufgaben in den Bereich hoheitlicher und welche in den Bereich privater Akteure fallen. Hier läßt sich ein Trend zur Entstaatlichung sozialer Kontrolle beobachten. Beide Entwicklungen gewinnen ihren normativen und kritischen Sinn vor dem Hintergrund eines spezifischen Verständnisses des modernen demokratischen Rechtsstaats. Es zeigen sich hier zwei scheinbar gegenläufige Entwicklungen: einerseits die Ausdehnung staatlicher Zugriffsmöglichkeiten, andererseits der partielle Rückzug des Staates aus genuin hoheitlichen Aufgabenbereichen. Beide Entwicklungen werden am Beispiel formeller sozialer Kontrolle, d.h. der Reaktion auf abweichendes Verhalten analysiert. Die Differenz von Staat und Gesellschaft verliert hier an Bedeutung. Daran gekoppelt sind eine Reihe weiterer erodierenden Differenzen: neben der Unterscheidung legal/illegal betrifft es die Differenzen von legitim/illegitim und konform/abweichend. Soziologisch entschlüsseln läßt sich das Problem der sich verändernden Differenzen ausgehend von Bourdieus Arbeiten zum Habitus. Seine Untersuchungen ein Beispiel ästhetischer Kategorien lassen sich auf den Bereich sozialer Kontrolle ebenfalls anwenden. Beispiele liefern die neueren Debatten über die Entwicklung sozialer Kontrolle und den Wandel des Strafrechts, über 'actuarial justice' und Privatisierung sozialer Kontrolle. Hier läßt sich zeigen, wie die zentrale rechtliche Leitdifferenz legal/illegal durch die auf Risikokalkulation basierende semantische Differenz von Sicherheit/Unsicherheit überlagert bzw. abgelöst wird. Bezogen auf eine demokratietheoretische Lesart des modernen Rechtsstaats ergeben sich hier Ansatzpunkte für eine Kritik sozialer Kontrolle." (Autorenreferat)

In France's Fifth Republic, founded in 1958 under General Charles de Gaulle, political parties for the first time were allowed by law to form & to undertake activities freely, though they were required to respect national sovereignty & democracy. De Gaulle, however, saw the president (himself at the time) as above parties & in direct dialogue with the voters. His vision proved naive. In 1965 he found himself in need of party support to campaign for re-election beyond what he could obtain from the Gaullist Party. Since then, the major parties' role in maintaining stability in the presidency & parliament has been relatively consistent. However, the party system might be described as one of 'bipolar multipartism', alternating periodically between right & left. The government alternates with the party system, creating economic as well as political shifts that affect the country itself & its participation in a global economy. Tables, References. J. Stanton

Comparison of the development of alien rights in the US, Germany, & the EU show that these liberal regimes responded to postwar immigration in different ways. The US has embraced immigration as a component of its identity, while Germany has moved to apply immigration rights to certain groups of immigrants. EU immigration rights have to be moderated according to its member states, eg, Germany. Courts & domestic legal orders have played a central role in the development of alien rights in these three regimes. When political & social conflict surrounding immigration is low, the courts can be more progressive on alien rights. Postnationalist concepts of universal human rights are discussed; universal human rights apparently apply only to asylum, since liberal-democratic states have had difficulty integrating alien rights & citizenship. The trend is toward a general liberalization of nationality law. 53 References. M. Pflum