The Law of Neutrality
In: International Law - Book Archive pre-2000
In: International Law in Historical Perspective 10
In: International Law - Book Archive pre-2000
In: International Law in Historical Perspective 10
In: The review of politics, Band 66, Heft 4, S. 633-648
ISSN: 1748-6858
The political ideal of neutrality toward conceptions of the good is unsustainable at the extremely abstract level proposed by some liberal theorists. Neutrality is nonetheless a valuable political ideal. One of the many ways that government can go wrong is to take a position on some question that it would, all things considered, be better for it to abstain from deciding. The classic example is the question of which (if any) religion is true. The idea of neutrality holds that government ought to avoid this pathology.
This Article traces two interwoven jurisprudential genealogies. The first of these focuses on the emergence of neutrality in speech and press doctrine. Content and viewpoint neutrality are now the bedrock principles of modern First Amendment law. Yet the history of these concepts is largely untold and otherwise misunderstood. Scholars usually assume that expressive-freedom doctrine was mostly undeveloped before the early twentieth century and that neutrality was central to its modern rebirth. But this view distorts and sometimes even inverts historical perspectives. For most of American history, the governing paradigm of expressive freedom was one of limited toleration, focused on protecting speech within socially defined boundaries. The modern embrace of content and viewpoint neutrality, it turns out, occurred only in the 1960s as the Supreme Court merged earlier strands of rights jurisprudence in novel ways. The emergence of neutrality, this Article shows, was more gradual, more contested, and more contingent than we now assume. Recovering this history reveals the novelty of the modern neutrality paradigm and casts new light on the history of other First Amendment concepts, like prior restraints, low-value speech, and overbreadth.To understand these developments, it is necessary to trace a second doctrinal genealogy that focuses on the concept of fundamental rights. Older views of expressive freedom were embedded in a different conceptual framework for thinking about rights. And once again, the role of neutrality within this tradition was radically different. Today, neutrality is ubiquitous in rights discourse, reflecting the prevailing view that rights are domains in which people can make their own moral choices. Thus defined, rights need not be absolute, but the government must at least maintain neutrality with respect to values. As this Article reveals, however, this neutrality-based view of rights emerged well into the twentieth century, reflecting a transmogrified synthesis of earlier ideas.Recovering these older paradigms powerfully illustrates how deeply our current perspectives shape the way that we view the Constitution. Principles that appear to be inherent to the very idea of expressive freedom or the very idea of rights, it turns out, are refracted through a modern lens. Integrating history into rights jurisprudence thus poses a substantial and unresolved challenge, warranting further engagement by scholars and judges. On its own, history cannot dictate whether our approach to rights needs adjustment. But it can refocus attention on values and choices that modern doctrine too often ignores.
BASE
In: American journal of international law, Band 34, S. 125-127
ISSN: 0002-9300
SSRN
In: Journal of peace research, Band 32, Heft 1, S. 37-48
ISSN: 0022-3433
World Affairs Online
In: Peace review: the international quarterly of world peace, Band 8, Heft 4, S. 521-527
ISSN: 1040-2659
HUMANITARIAN AID SHOULD BE NON-POLITICAL. THAT WAS THE CONCLUSION ADOPTED AT THE SPRING 1995 MEETING IN MADRID OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC) AND OTHER HUMANITARIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS). THIS WAS ENDORSED IN THEIR NEW CODE OF CONDUCT, WHICH INDICATES THAT AID WILL BE GIVEN "REGARDLESS OF THE RACE, CREED OR NATIONALITY OF THE RECIPIENTS." IT FURTHER STATES THAT "WE WILL NOT TIE THE PROMISE, DELIVERY OR DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE TO THE EMBRACING OR ACCEPTANCE OF A PARTICULAR POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS CREED." THIS PROVIDES A LAUDABLE STANDARD TO WHICH HUMANITARIAN ACTORS SHOULD ASPIRE. BUT IT IS SEVERELY BOUNDED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH AID ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE.
In: New Zealand international review, Band 11, Heft 3, S. 2-4
ISSN: 0110-0262
In: Journal of peace research, Band 32, Heft 1, S. 37-48
ISSN: 1460-3578
The article deals with the defining of Swedish neutrality in the initial years of the Cold War. The established truth that the Swedish interpretation of neutrality was adapted to US wishes is not challenged but the reasons for this development are discussed. The main reason for adaptation is identified as the Swedish government's ambitious economic policy which led to economic dependency upon the USA, acceptance of Marshall Aid and economic incorporation into the West. Sweden managed to show the US government that formal neutrality could be combined with practical measures that in fact meant adaptation to US wishes. The argument is also that the USA used economic pressure to achieve its purposes, as when Sweden submitted to US demands regarding strategic exports to Eastern Europe. Concern for the development of Swedish trade and economic growth was important when the Swedish government yielded to the US demands. By formulating the agreement with the USA as an expression of Sweden's autonomously decided policy, Sweden could still claim that formal neutrality had been maintained.
Most major economies around the world use a Value Added Tax (VAT) which is an offspring of the French 1954 taxe sur Ia valeur ajouté. Both the apparition in France and the spread around the world of VAT have been driven by economical reasons. This thesis focuses on one of these: the neutrality of VAT towards the functioning of the economy. It demonstrates that VAT was chosen in France and thereafter spread around the world for that it offered the possibility to collect governmental revenue while letting the economic forces of the market interact without being negatively affected or imposed by such tax. The prerequisite conditions for the existence of VAT neutrality are identified along an overview of the VAT mechanism which shows that the neutrality is built into the VAT system to allow the fulfilment of the goal of preserving the undisturbed functioning of the market. After the definition of VAT neutrality has been set forth, its elements are tested against the realities on the ground and the issues infringing the neutrality of VAT are being identified and analysed. In conclusion, remedies for these issues are being sought through a review of the identified causes of infringement of the VAT neutrality and in the perspective of selected proposals for VAT systems redefining the place where VAT should be levied or improving the means and control of the collection of VAT. But, in the end, the proposed solution goes back to the roots of VAT and with the help of the most advanced technology tools available, give back to VAT its power to levy revenue while letting the economic forces of the market interact without imposing any disturbing influence. Charlène Herbain enseigne la TVA à l'Université de Luxembourg et est chercheur postdoctoral à l'Université catholique de Louvain. Elle a été élue « indirect tax leader 2014 » par International Tax Review.
SSRN
In: American journal of international law: AJIL, Band 12, Heft 2, S. 241-250
ISSN: 2161-7953
Switzerland's neutrality, as exhibited during the present European conflict and also on the occasion of other wars of the past century, does not found itself simply upon principles of international law, but rests directly upon a series of explicit international and constitutional documents and is deeply interlocked with the historical development of the country and with the foundation and growth of its government. Differentiating itself widely from that attitude of mere aloofness exhibited by a nation which declines to join a struggle in which others may be engaged, Swiss neutrality is an essential element of the country's governmental existence and is intended by the nature and sanctions of its origin to be as permanent as the nation itself. Such an aspect of neutrality is termed neutralization; though in origin quite dissimilar to that of Switzerland, this international quality was also characteristic, at the outbreak of the present war in 1914, of Belgium and Luxemburg, as well as of a variety of smaller governmental entities or adjuncts.
The growing importance of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in the global marketplace has given rise to concerns about how to ensure competitive neutrality ? a level playing field ? where public and private entities compete. The book aims to serve as a resource for governments that intend to ensure that public and private businesses compete on equal terms. It provides a catalogue of relevant practices and experiences in OECD and other jurisdictions. The publication is structured around eight ?building blocks? of competitive neutrality including how to ensure debt, tax or regulatory neutrality; ca