Constitutional Aspects Research Articles

Constitutionalizing care: How can we expand our constitutional imaginary after Covid-19?

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has no doubt caused serious disruptions to lives across the globe. These range from minor inconveniences to major consequences to personal, social, political, economic, and constitutional aspects. With the pandemic still present but its biggest effects waning, this framing article for our symposium on Covid-19 seeks to address the question of whether constitutional law should be rethought, recalibrated to create a more resilient, more egalitarian, and more protective constitutional order. It offers a series of provocations centered around the idea of care as a constitutionalist ideal by which to organize a refreshed post-Covid constitutional order. By care, I mean that which is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and safety of persons. The constitutionalization of care could mean a further reorientation of our constitutional focus from the usual “hard” subjects of constitutionalism, i.e. emergency power, pandemic regulation, and the continued working of the legislature, towards what may, so far, have been marginalized as “soft” constitutional subjects like social relations and families. These, I argue, are critical as Covid-19 has shown us that it is these “soft” constitutional subjects that have had the widest and deepest impact on the ground. This article therefore seeks to reconsider our constitutional epistemology.

Strategie di divulgazione scientifica e nation building nel primo Ottocento

Abstract The history of popular science in early nineteenth-century Italy constitutes a broad but little investigated research field. This article aims to explore the topic from the viewpoint of the pre-unitarian authors who contributed to the growth of this publishing sector. To shed light on the relationship between their narrative strategies and the nation-building process, it focuses on a major case study: the analysis of the role played by unexpected events in several travel memoirs written by Francesco Cusani Confalonieri, a historian, publisher and Lombard patriot (1802–1879). To capture the attention of the reader, and determined to both delight and instruct, the author resorted in two instances to the device of self-narration, based on his travel journals. In 1838, he published „Remembrances of a Trip in Bavaria, Saxony and Prussia“ in a periodical that he had established for young people entitled „Historical and Picturesque Museum for the Youth“. Later, between 1846 and 1847, he printed his first original work, addressed to an adult audience: „Historical and Statistical Memoirs“ of Dalmatia, the Ionian Islands and Greece, countries that he had visited in 1840. By examining the ways in which order and disorder were integrated into these two texts, the study underlines the connection between Cusani’s narrative choices and his cultural objectives, also thanks to research on his personal letters, hitherto untouched. It thus shows that, through the writing process, the unexpected events encountered by the narrator during his trips underwent a transformation: from constitutive aspects of the scientific experience to romantic elements that the writer deemed crucial to earn the favour of his readers and convey to them new historic-geographical knowledge as well as a vision of the world in line with his liberal ideals.

Comparison of Pericarp Functional Traits in Capparis spinosa from Coastal and Inland Mediterranean Habitats.

The caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is a winter deciduous, perennial plant that grows and completes its life cycle entirely during the dry season in the Mediterranean region. Mature caper fruits and their pericarp, collected from the wild shrubs of the Capparis spinosa grown in the inland and coastal sites of Greece during summer, have been studied in order to improve and complete our knowledge of the successful establishment of the C. spinosa in Mediterranean ecosystems. Caper fruits possess substantial nutritional, medicinal and ecological properties that vary according to the developmental stage, agroclimatic and geographical parameters; however, the fruit pericarp and pedicel, unlike the other aboveground plant parts of the caper, have not hitherto been studied. The higher sugar and starch content in the pericarps and fruit pedicels harvested from wild caper plants grown in coastal habitats was investigated in comparison with those from inland habitats, while the higher proline and nitrogen content in pericarps and fruit pedicels harvested from wild caper plants grown in inland habitats was investigated in comparison with those from coastal habitats. The PCA, based on the considered functional traits underlying the constitutional aspects, reveals groupings of fruit pericarp specimens of the C. spinosa collected from coastal and inland habitats that are grounds for adaptive variation.

Aspects of Democratic Constitutionalism In The Appointment of Acting Regional Heads

The upcoming General Elections and Regional Head Elections, which will be held in 2024, will reap probelmatics. One of them is about the appointment of acting regional heads which is considered contrary to democratic aspects, because there is no community involvement or inaccessibility to the mechanism for appointing acting regional heads. On the one hand, the Government does not heed the Decision of the Constitutional Court to issue implementing regulations as a follow-up to Article 201 of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning Regional Elections. In fact, it is clear that the Constitutional Court is the guardion of constitution as well as the guardion of democracy. This is what makes the author want to do more research to answer the above problems. To answer this, the author uses a normative research method, namely by researching library materials or secondary data as basic materials for research. The approach used is a conceptual and statute approach.

Vulnerabilities in Kantian Constructivism: Why they Matter for Objective Normativity

Abstract In section 1 we present moral constructivism as a metaphysical project which grounds moral norms in the attitude of valuing by rational agents. In section 2 we establish that Kantian Constructivism – opposed to Humean Constructivism – seeks objective and universal moral norms through a process of rational construction and ratification of norms that does not draw on any kind of subjective attitude of valuing. In section 3 we explore whether Kant is a moral constructivist or moral realist, arguing that he might be read as a proto-moral constructivist whose formulas impose standards of correctness upon our moral judgments, from which we formulate moral norms as necessary facts of reason. In section 4 we argue that: 1) vulnerabilities have moral relevance which adds merit to the project of finding objective moral norms, and 2) the inclusion of vulnerabilities as empirical contingencies is compatible with Kantian Constructivism. We do so by considering vulnerabilities a constitutive aspect of finite rational agents which must, therefore, be implied and considered in the process of moral construction.

A Comparative Theological Approach to Virtue Ethics: Making Space for an African Perspective

The twenty-first century world has radically been defined by multiple crises, including wars and grandiose exploitation of the poor by those with political and economic power. To address these crises, one must turn to virtuous life notions. In doing this, society has to learn from different religious and cultural wisdom. Consequently, a case is being made in this work that African ethical thoughts can enrich Christian notions of the virtuous life. African philosophical and cultural notions of community are relevant to understanding the virtuous life in Christian theology as a constitutive aspect of what it means to be human.

Noninvasive mechanical auxiliary circulation (NMAC): A general concept and the technological trends

A series of noninvasive mechanical auxiliary circulation (NMAC) technologies, such as intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC), external counterpulsation (ECP), and anti-G suit, had been widely used to realize noninvasive intervention of human cardiovascular system for different purposes, such as treatments of cardiovascular diseases and protecting pilot from G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) during exposure to sustained accelerations. There are lots of similarities among these NMAC technologies, especially on aspects of hardware constitutions and their physiological effects. However, these technologies were almost independently developed in the past few decades. The similarities and differences were summarized on aspects of hardware constitutions and physiological effects of IPC, ECP and anti-G suit in this paper, and a general concept for NMAC technologies was proposed. This concept did not include a restrict definition, but generally focused on the physiological benefits, while any non-invasive mechanical methods that can achieve such benefits are welcomed. Trends for these typical NMAC technologies, especially about the strategies to realize personalized therapy or to meet new challenges, are discussed. This paper provided a unified perspective for non-invasive mechanical technologies aiming at cardiovascular benefits, and might inspire new technologies to be introduced in.

Contrasting Modern and Contemporary Populist Regimes

Abstract The article analyses populism as a specific logic of governmental exercise that sets into motion the pattern of transformation of contemporary democratic regimes: democratic hybridization. Democratic hybridization entails the piecemeal dismantling of key aspects of liberal constitutionalism that take place in already democratized societies and is carried out by democratically elected administrations. The proposed pattern of regime hybridization differs from the one described by the literature on competitive authoritarianism since it does not take place within an authoritarian regime but in a democratic one. If carried out to the end, the pattern of democratic hybridization might lead to the replacement of democracy with authoritarianism. Such a pattern of political change (and not the traditional pattern of regime rupture) is the main threat faced by liberal democracies nowadays.

Constitutional Aspects of Compulsory Vaccinations in USA and EU Law

Constitutional Aspects of Compulsory Vaccinations in USA and EU Law

The instrumental abuse of constitutional courts: how populists can use constitutional courts against the opposition

ABSTRACT If populists capture the constitutional court, the system of separation of powers will change. The constitutional court does not act as a counterweight to the ruling majority but rather as a tool for the ruling majority itself to advance its interests. This article unpacks this aspect of populist constitutionalism, which I referred to as the instrumental abuse of constitutional courts. Most importantly, it presents and analyses five different techniques by which populists can abuse the constitutional court as an instrument against opposition. These techniques are the ‘governing, do not disturb’ technique, consisting in not quashing unconstitutional acts; the legitimation technique, through which populists justify their actions; the delegation technique, through which populists shift responsibility for potentially unpopular actions to the constitutional court; the outright counter-opposition technique, through which populists can achieve the liquidation of their opponents; and the extra-legal technique, involving the use of the authority of judges in the media.

The Demands and Contests of Constitutional Amendment in Ethiopia: Analysis on the 1995 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Constitution

The objective of this article is to explain the existing demands and contestations on the amendment of the current constitution of Ethiopia. It also aims at analysing the effects of the un-amendable constitution on the political system of the state. A qualitative study was employed to collect and analyse the required data. Both primary and secondary sources of data was collected through interview and the analysis of documents. Accordingly, the study indicated that the demands of constitutional amendment on the part of FDRE constitution is related to the illegitimate constitutional-making process, inadequate constitutional provisions and the presence of new emerging political dynamics. The rigid amendment rules, undemocratic nature of the regime and the deviation among political actors on the issue of amendment are the main contestations against the stated demands. At the end, the investigation showed that the political insecurity and declining of constitutional legitimacy are major effects of the un-amendable aspects of the FDRE constitution, which in turn undermine the required political reforms in the country.

The hermeneutic problem posed by digital humanities

This article aims to present the hermeneutic problem related to the emergence of the research field widely known as digital humanities. In general, at the epistemological level, this problem involves the consideration of a theory of historical interpretation that articulates research methods and techniques with digital objects in their symbolic character. At the ontological level, it highlights the need to take into account the constitutive aspects that make this theory of interpretation possible. By examining the historical-philosophical foundation of the hermeneutic paradigm, as well as the engagement of human sciences at large — and history in particular — with digital technologies, we have come to the conclusion that a digital historical hermeneutics needs to go beyond epistemological and methodological reflections towards the questioning of the ontological conditions not only of human understanding but also of machine interpretation.

Conceptualizing Information Systems Development as an Organizational Routine

Research acknowledges that information systems development (ISD) teams experiment with, overlook, or adapt the methods that they purportedly use. Given this, one stream of research adopts a perspective focused on prescriptions based on the idea of a method. Another stream of research adopts a perspective anchored in the view that human agency plays a critical role in the unfolding of ISD projects. We suggest that our understanding of ISD can be enriched by mobilizing both perspectives. Specifically, we propose a conceptualization of ISD as an organizational routine based on the ontology developed by Feldman and Pentland. We build on the elements of this ontology- (1) the idea of a routine (the ostensive aspect) and (2) its enactment (the performative aspect) as the two mutually constitutive aspects of organizational routines; and (3) the role of artifacts as mediators of the relationship between actors and the ostensive and performative aspects of organizational routines - to develop theoretical arguments explaining the benefits of applying this ontology to the ISD phenomenon. Extending the contextual boundaries of Feldman and Pentland's ontology, we propose research avenues that have the potential to contribute to our understanding of this core phenomenon of the IS discipline.

The Complexities of Comparative Climate Constitutionalism

Abstract Climate constitutionalism is a relatively novel legal field that has nonetheless adopted a very distinct character. Picking up on the classical liberal tack, it is marked by a distrust of state power as it relates to climate action or inaction. This is a venerable approach. In his 1967 classic, MJC Vile recounts that the ‘great theme of the advocates of constitutionalism [had been] the frank acknowledgement of the role of government in society, linked with the determination to bring that government under control and to place limits on the exercise of its power’. This mode of distrust has been ported to the climate constitutionalism literature and in particular its focus on adjudication of constitutional rights provisions for climate purposes. This, we argue, is but one aspect of climate constitutionalism that no longer speaks to the needs of the world when we think about the relationship between climate change, the doctrines and institutions of comparative constitutional law, and the underpinning theory of constitutionalism for this relationship. The institutional dimension of the constitutional management of climate change must go beyond courts and rights to processes and institutions in the two political branches of the state. The normative theory of climate constitutionalism—why should climate change be a constitutional subject on a global scale?—should address itself to the matter of how that question can be answered from a wider and more pluralistic set of normative standpoints than simply only liberalism. In other words, how can climate constitutionalism be normatively justified beyond, although not against, liberalism?

THE REGULATION OF CORPORATE CRIMINAL LIABILITY IN SOUTH AFRICA: A CLOSE LOOK* (PART 1)

Like many other countries South Africa is faced with the challenge of dealing with corporations that commit crimes. In this article the concept of corporate criminal liability in the South African context will be closely examined with the aim of highlighting its importance. The discussion will include, inter alia, the basis for corporate criminal liability in South Africa, the common law regulation of corporatecriminal liability, the development of the statutory regulation thereof, as well as constitutional aspects of corporate criminal liability.

COVID-19 AND THE MIGRANT POPULATION: THE RESILIENCE OF SOUTH ASIANS

Migration has appeared as a constitutive aspect of global reality today. While the COVID-19 pandemic has spared no single community, the migrant population has been the hardest hit. The woes of this population have been exacerbated by imposed immobility, restrictions, xenophobic treatment, residential status, poor living conditions, and limited access to health and protection. Millions of jobs have vanished. Millions of migrants got stranded either in their destination or origin countries and are unsure if they can return to their work. Against this backdrop, they try to stand up by seeking resilience. This study looks into how migrants in varying situations—those who returned home, those trapped in transit, and those who remained in the host nations—gain stability in the devastating pandemic. While a wealth of literature has been generated, the issue of migrants’ resilience has received little attention. This article employs content analysis to examine the gravity of the impact of the pandemic on the migrants and the process of developing their resilience. This article contributes to the broader debate about the dynamics of migration, COVID-19, and resilience. This research has implications for the policymakers of both the receiving and sending countries.

Municipal reform in the context of state building in Ukraine: constitutional and legal aspect

Purpose. The aim of the work is to highlight in the constitutional and legal aspect of the practice of municipal reform as an integral part of statehood in Ukraine, to clarify the peculiarities of accelerating the process of its successful implementation, which is an objective need to democratize social processes in the country. Methodology. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of available scientific and theoretical material and the formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The following methods of scientific cognition were used during the research: terminological, logical-semantic, functional, system-structural, logical-normative. Results. The study recognized that the driving force of the democratic, legal process in Ukraine is the implementation of municipal reform as a factor in ensuring the decentralization of public power, where the core component of change is local self-government, which is the basis for potential stimulation of socio-economic and cultural development. their capabilities and self-sufficiency, which are one of the basic components of civil society. Scientific novelty. The study found that municipal reform, as a kind of legal reform, is generally an integral part of nation-building in the formation and development of democracy, and directly aimed at establishing the basic principles of organization and functioning of local government, which is the basis for socio-economic and cultural development of local communities. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in law-making and law enforcement activities in the process of improving the constitutional and municipal legislation of Ukraine, while further identifying the features and prospects of municipal reform.

Analysis of Verbal Language from the Theory of Human Movement as a Complex System

The objective of this manuscript is to carry out a conceptual analytical review of verbal language from the theory of Human Body Movement as a Complex System (HMCS). This theory is proposed by the Body-Movement Research Group from the Autonomous University of Manizales, Colombia. This model assumes that language production is essentially an embodied motor function. The analysis here presented involves postulates of both structural and functional theories of language, as well as cognitive linguistics, since the HMCS theory encompasses these multiple possibilities of approach. It is this conjecture of a holistic vision of language from its different approaches that leads to the proposition that, in effect, the different levels of linguistic analysis find several analogous components in the HMCS model. A conceptual analytical review is carried out, and structured in two main components. In the first part, the HMCS theory is exposed with its three levels of interaction: the objectified aspects of movement, the potentiality of movement and the external context of human movement. In the second part, an analysis of verbal language is carried out from this conceptual framework, also analyzed from the three levels of interaction: the objectified aspects of verbal language as a motor expression, the potentiality of verbal language and the context in the production of verbal language. Definitions, concepts, interactions and analogies are presented during the development of the article. In conclusion, body movement is language and language is, in essence, human movement. Both are intricate, integrated, indivisible, and inherently constitutive aspects of the same cognitive processes. The analogy achieved highlights the theory of the shared resource between motor control and cognitive control. In the same way that verbal language allows communication based on communicative intentions, body movement allows the exchange of information, constituting a bridge between cognition and the world.

The constitutional aspect of regulations limiting agricultural land transactions in Poland

The article aims to analyse the constitutional aspects of the regulation on land transactions in Poland. After the general introduction, it scrutinises the notion of agricultural real estate and the self-farming obligation. In the end, it concludes by shedding light on the constitutional law problems arising from the regulation in force. Moreover, the article gives an in-depth analysis on the current Polish land transaction regime.

Affective Polarization of a Protest and a Counterprotest: Million MAGA March v. Million Moron March

Protest movements around the world have become increasingly likely to incite counterprotests that adopt an opposing stance. This study examines how a protest and a counterprotest interact with and shape each other as digitally networked connective action. My empirical focus is the so-called Million MAGA March—in which supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump protested the “stealing” of the November 2020 election by his rival, Joe Biden—and a counterprotest that erupted simultaneously. Drawing on a computational mixed-methods approach to examine two corpora of tweets featuring hashtags used by protesters and counterprotesters, respectively, the study identifies three mutually reinforcing dimensions of protest–counterprotest interaction: affective repertoires, discursive strategies, and network structures. It argues that “affective polarization”—or negative partisanship driven by hostility toward an outgroup—offers a useful conceptual means of understanding the significance of affect and collective identity in digital social movements, especially protest–counterprotest interactions. In doing so, the study also addresses concerns that “big data” methods are insensitive to the role of identity and expressive communication in social movements. Finally, the study demonstrates how online and offline political action are mutually constitutive aspects of contemporary contentious politics.