Legitimate Procedure Research Articles

People's sovereignty and human rights in the european co-operation of constitutionalism

The authors of the article carried out a comprehensive analysis of the problems of the relationship between the two basic principles of constitutionalism - national sovereignty and human rights through an integrative approach. This relationship was considered in the context of two basic legal theories, namely, the concept of democratic values and participatory (participatory) democracy. The first concept focuses on legal values, and the second -on the legitimate procedure for their adoption.An inextricable connection between popular sovereignty and human rights due to the very nature of a person who combined in him-herself the inherent, inalienable right to personal freedom with the need to be a part of a natural communication space as a legal environment to ensure his/her vital interests and needs. The key aspect that characterizes the formation of a person is communication. Just communicative orientation of the individual creates natural conditions for the existence of law as a result of inter-subjective interdependent relationship.People's sovereignty is not absolute, it ends where an individual life begins. The observance of civil (personal) human rights is a condition for the functioning of a democratic society. They determine the inviolable boundaries of possible interference from the side of the state and society in the personal space of a person, which can be described as follows.The internal relationship between national sovereignty and human rights is due to the fact that civil rights are intended to guarantee every level the chances of achieving their vital intentions and provide reliable legal protection, while the realization of political rights of citizens through the direct participation in the process of democratic legitimation is an effective mechanism, protection of personal freedom

Debated Legitimacy: Accreditation in German Higher Education

We analyze the debated legitimacy of formal accreditation procedures in Germany and give reasons for why accreditation as compared to other higher education reforms has not gained legitimacy over time. Conceptually, we combine two perspectives that put the issue of legitimacy at the forefront of analysis: sociology’s new institutionalism and Luhmann’s work on the legitimacy of procedures. Using the first approach, it is clear that in particular the external, macro-legitimacy is debated. Following Luhmann, it becomes obvious that the requirements for legitimacy of procedures at the internal, micro-level requirements are hardly met. For the two approaches, we give reasons why this is the case. After a brief overview of the German accreditation system, we illustrate the contested legitimacy by reconstructing the perspectives of professors who are members of the academic profession and central individual actors in the accreditation system. Empirically, we draw on collective statements in the broader accreditation discourse, participant observations of different procedures, expert interviews with professors and a survey with more than 1900 professors who acted as peers in accreditation processes. We finally assume that the reasons for the debated legitimacy are manifold and not limited to the inherent properties of the accreditation system.

Towards a strengthened coordination between the EU and national budgets. A complementary role and a joint control for parliaments?

The European Parliament (EP) and national parliament (NPs) occupy two opposite but complementary positions as budgetary authorities in the EU and, indeed, democratic legitimacy of EU and national budgetary procedures can hardly be conceived without taking into account NPs and the EP together. Framed within the discourse on throughput legitimacy, the article analyses if and to what extent the EP and NPs are involved in the decisions on EU revenues and expenditures as well as in the European Semester and what initiatives has the EP supported to enhance its participation and that of NPs in those domains. Given the unsatisfactory status quo, the article put forwards the proposal of a joint parliamentary control carried out by an interparliamentary committee on EU and national budgets to redress the problem of a lack of coordinated democratic scrutiny over them, in addition to the control carried out by the EP and NPs individually.

Constraining institutions, committed employees: unpacking the procedural legitimacy of welfare institutions in Sweden and Denmark

ABSTRACTTo sustain a welfare state requires a high level of institutional legitimacy among citizens. Survey researchers have effectively investigated the legitimacy of both institutional goals and the distribution of benefits and burdens associated with these institutions. However, the legitimacy of institutional procedures remains largely unresearched. This paper contributes in this area by investigating citizens’ perceptions of the delivery of welfare services and benefits in Sweden and Denmark within a large qualitative interview study. The study investigates citizens’ evaluations of the equity and quality of institutional procedures and the competence, commitment, and fairness of employees. Evaluations of primary schools, health care and cash benefit services for unemployed are compared. Findings show generally a much higher trust in employees than confidence in institutional procedures and more confidence in universal welfare institutions than insurance and means tested. Administrative procedures and policy reforms associated with New Public Management are generally seen as detrimental to institutional equity, quality, and goal attainment, whereas employee competence and commitment is seen as safeguarding institutional goals in the face of reform.

Deliberative democracy in local governance: the impact of institutional design on legitimacy

ABSTRACTDeliberative democracy is expected to increase legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic governance. In recent years, a growing body of research has reported on different instances of participatory innovations across the globe. Nevertheless, quantitative evidence on the determinants of legitimate and effective deliberative procedures is still scarce. Examining parents’ participation in school governance in Switzerland, this article explores the effect of the design of deliberative institutions on perceptions of legitimacy and effectiveness. Based on an original survey of 312 parent councils of public primary schools in Switzerland, the results of our analysis corroborate theoretical expectations about the impact of institutional design on legitimacy and effectiveness of deliberative procedures: More authority granted to parent councils clearly enhances the output-legitimacy of these bodies.

Ordre social contre ordre « naturel » : la mention du sexe sur l’état civil des personnes intersexes

In many Western countries, as in France, sex is a characteristic of a person's legal identity and, as such, law requires that the birth certificate bear the mention of the child's sex even though in certain cases, accommodations can be made. However, in associating a person with one of the two sexual categories the law has always distanced itself from the reality of anatomical and biological evidence, chiefly concerned with instituting social differentiations, in line with political purposes, rather than with imitating a “natural order”. Therefore, transitioning from one to the other of the two categories is allowed for individuals who claim that their sexual designation at birth was erroneous or who no longer identify with the sex they were born with. Several of the world's legal systems do allow for changes in sex markers on documents, in a much freer and more liberal way, without requiring any sort of reconstructive surgery to change the body. But this progress in the right to self-determination is limited to persons over 18 capable of exercising their independence. The protection it offers against ostracism comes too late: intersex persons are most vulnerable in childhood, when they are still minors. Indeed, when an infant is born, it is the responsibility of the physician, and no longer that of the clerk at the vital records registry, to determine the sex of the child. If uncertainty remains even after all of the available evidence for evaluation has been assembled, doctors are urged by distressed parents to perform surgery on the child's genitals. Parents and physicians share concern to seek what they believe to be the child's best interest. What is more, this medical authority over children's sexual identity is backed up by law in many countries like France, where the child's sex must be indicated on the birth certificate. These practices have been finally challenged. Scholars, human-rights movement and activist groups have contested the legitimacy of sexual conformation surgery procedures imposed on the body of the intersex child, charging that they are irreversible despite the fact that some fail, and are only in very rare cases medically necessary; besides they might seriously damage the health and sexual sensitivity of intersex persons. If the rate of these “normalization” procedures has slowed down, it will take much more before such operations on the body of a minor have completely disappeared. In any case, the lobbying efforts of several activist groups are productive, by drawing the attention of European and international institutions, both political and judiciary, to the issue. The will of these institutions to promote human rights may prove to be a valuable instrument in protecting the infant's right to bodily integrity. Indeed, many Europeans reports have called on EU Members States to ban medically unnecessary “normalizing” treatment on intersex persons without their free and informed consent. Protection of the child's right to respect for his/her body could very well herald the end of the medicals hegemony over the gender identity of intersex persons.

A mixed-method synthesis of knowledge, experiences and attitudes of health professionals to Female Genital Mutilation.

To synthesize knowledge, attitudes and experiences of health professionals about Female Genital Mutilation. Despite the World Health Organization campaigning to stop FGM, and it being illegal in many countries, the practice remains common in some countries and cultures. Migration has contributed to the growth of this practice in countries where it was not previously carried out. Mixed-method synthesis. Search of ten electronic databases: 2006-2014. Manual scanning of reference lists and summary feeds from international organizations such as WHO, UN and UNICEF. Thematic synthesis comparing country of origin where the practice was common with country of residence where migrant women affected by the practice reside. 17 included descriptive, quantitative, qualitative studies and grey literature studies in English or Spanish. Seven themes were developed: Ignorance of FGM practice and its consequences; Lack of adherence to FGM protocols and guidelines; Socially constructed acceptance of FGM; Ignorance of legislation and legal status of FGM; Condoning, sanctioning or supporting FGM; Lack of information and training; Nurses and Midwives as key to protecting and supporting girls and women Although some nurses and midwives are in the forefront of eradicating FGM this is counterbalanced by health professionals (including nurses and midwives) who condone, sanction or support the practice with some calling for medicalization of FGM as a legitimate procedure. Girls at risk need better protection and women affected need more competent and cultural care from health professionals. Health and legal systems, professional regulation and governance, and professional training require strengthening to eradicate FGM, prevent the medicalization of FGM as an acceptable procedure, and to better manage the lifelong consequences for affected girls and women.

Aristotle on Circular Motion

In this book, Jean De Groot (hereafter D) engages in a single-minded defence of a particular thesis about Aristotle's empiricism. Instead of focusing on his study of animals (D is not as sensitive as some would now be to anachronism of calling this his biology), she concentrates on use of notions, especially what she dubs radius principle. This expresses idea that speeds with which points on a circumference move vary directly with length of radius of circle in question, where she correctly notes that it was more awkward to speak about this in fourth-century B.C.E. Greek since there was no single term for radius, only various locutions such as the [straight] line drawn from centre. One surprising feature of her discussion is that although moving radius principle applies to any circular motion, she sometimes speaks of it as one of movements into which, in concentric spheres models of Eudoxus, Callippus, and Aristotle, planetary motion is resolved.The book maintains that - despite some recent studies of which I would rate Sylvia Berryman's 2009 monograph, The Mechanical Hypothesis in Ancient Greek Philosophy , most important - notions have been unjustly neglected both by Aristotelian scholars and by historians of Greek science, although D is careful to distinguish ancient Greek views from those associated with mechanical of seventeenth century. In process, D attacks some views that are, to be sure, grossly exaggerated, straw men in other words. One is idea that Aristotle read physical principles off surface of things (p. 15), and a second, view that would reduce his of to a philosophy of common opinions about nature (p. 15), i.e., that it is dialectic or endoxic in character, rather than adopting a scientific attitude to subject, that is one that we can recognise as such.For this enterprise, D draws heavily on Problemata and Mechanica , works generally thought not to be by Aristotle himself but probably emanating from his circle. This is a legitimate procedure, she claims, for two main reasons. First, there is enough evidence in admittedly genuine works (e.g. On Generation of Animals II 1 and 5, and Movement of Animals 1 and 7) for Aristotle's interest in ideas, so we should be allowed to supplement this with material from more doubtfully authentic works. Second, even works accepted as Aristotle's own are, as far as we know, notes of his lectures written by his students, or by Aristotle himself and then rewritten or reorganized by others (p. …

Is the identification of matters in dispute pivotal to the legitimacy of party wall procedures?

This paper focuses specifically on two aspects of party wall practice — the significance of the clear identification of matters in dispute in relation to: the acceptance of appointment as a surveyor under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and the legitimacy of determinations made under the Act. It concludes with suggestions as to debate and possible reform of current surveying practice, to achieve closer alignment with the general legal concept of determination by ‘tribunal’.

Nuclear energy, responsible risk communication and moral emotions: a three level framework

Communication about nuclear risks is treacherous territory, especially after Fukushima, requiring not only considerations about effectiveness, but also about ethical legitimacy. In this paper, a three-level framework of morally responsible risk communication is developed, focusing on the procedure, the message and the effects of risk communication. This gives rise to three conditions of ethically responsible risk communication: it requires a legitimate procedure, an ethically justified risk message and concern for and evaluation of the effects of the message and procedure. The role of emotions, such as sympathy, empathy and feelings or responsibility, is emphasized as a key to addressing and explicating moral values at these three levels. Emotions point out moral aspects of risks such as justice, fairness and autonomy. This framework can shed important new light on morally responsible communication about nuclear risks. The first condition of this framework requires that the procedure of communication is participatory, in order to include the relevant moral emotions and values concerning nuclear energy of all stakeholders. A legitimate procedure does not guarantee an ethically justified message concerning nuclear risks. For this reason, the second condition requires an ethical deliberation of the message and the values and emotions entailed in it. Finally, the third condition requires a moral evaluation of the effects of risk communication concerning nuclear energy. A successful risk communication effort triggers reflection, compassion and a willingness to take responsibility for energy-related issues. Problematic effects of risk communication can be a lack of trust or a sense of hopelessness and passivity. Evaluating all three levels from a moral point of view should be done in an iterative way, allowing possible revisions and improvements. Considering the high stakes and current stalemates in the nuclear debate, the suggested model provides a promising, constructive and morally legitimate way forward.

El rol de la democracia deliberativa y su ejercicio legítimo

El presente texto, derivado de proceso de investigación, busca dejar elementos para el debate en torno a la construcción de la democracia deliberativa procurando establecer cuál podría ser el marco teórico en el que se puede ajustar el caso Colombiano. Para tal fin, el texto presentará: Un aparte para el debate en torno a la democracia deliberativa como procedimientos de legitimación de decisiones, estableciendo cuál es el papel de los tribunales constitucionales en la construcción de este tipo de democracia; segundo, ahondar con especial énfasis en las decisiones de la Corte Constitucional, si permiten o no, un espacio abierto para la democracia deliberativa; y tercero, se presenta un aporte al debate académico, en torno a la situación actual en Colombia en la construcción de una democracia deliberativa.

Dental implants in patients at high risk for infective endocarditis: a preliminary study

The safety of dental implant placement in patients at high risk for infective endocarditis (IE) has never been shown. The outcome of osseointegrated implants in patients with artificial heart valves or with a history of an infected valve is not known. In this article we describe our experience of dental implant placement in patients at high risk for IE. A retrospective study was conducted on patients at high risk for IE who underwent dental implant placement. All the patients received prophylactic antibiotic treatment before the surgical procedure, in accordance with the relevant American Heart Association guidelines. A total 13 patients underwent 16 surgical procedures for the placement of 57 dental implants over a period of 17 years. Within the follow-up period, no case of IE was reported. Two implants failed before exposure in one patient, one patient suffered from mitral valve thrombosis 14 days after the dental procedure, and another patient suffered a stroke 6 months following treatment. Despite the limitation of the small group of patients and the known low incidence of IE, dental implants may be regarded as a legitimate procedure for patients at high risk for IE.

Moral Expertise and Democratic Legitimacy

Abstract In modern democracies, moral experts play an increasingly important role in law-making. Apart from the question of which competences characterize moral experts, their influence on the legitimacy of democratic procedures must be discussed. On the one hand, the contribution of moral experts promises to improve the quality of decision making. On the other hand, however, moral experts cannot claim to represent the will of the people. In this essay, at first a concept of the moral expert will be sketched which does without the assumption of a privileged access to 'moral truths'. Then a procedural understanding of democratic legitimacy without epistemic components will be defended. Finally there will be a distinction between the purely consultative and the quasi-legislative tasks of ethics committees. Whereas councelling by moral experts does not influence the legitimacy of democratic procedures, giving them quasilegislative functions is connected to risks in this respect.

The effects of direct voting and deliberation on legitimacy beliefs: an experimental study of small group decision-making

In democratic theory, two frequently occurring ideas are that deliberation and direct voting in referendums can increase perceived legitimacy of democratic procedures. To evaluate this claim, we conducted a controlled field experiment in which 215 high school students participated by being subject to a decision on a collective issue. The decision was made either by direct voting or as a non-voting procedure (decision made by the teacher). Additionally, we manipulated the opportunities for deliberation prior to the decision. Our primary finding is that both voting and deliberation significantly increase perceived legitimacy compared with a procedure in which these components are absent. However, applying both voting and deliberation does not yield significantly higher perceived legitimacy than applying voting without deliberation. We also found that perceived influence in the decision-making process mediates the effect of both voting and deliberation, whereas the epistemic quality of the decision, which is heavily emphasized in deliberative democratic theory, gained no support as a mediator.

Revision Surgery for Incidentally Detected Early Gallbladder Cancer in Laparoscopic Era

Incidentally detected early gallbladder cancer (IDEGB) is an early carcinoma first diagnosed on microscopic examination after a cholecystectomy for symptomatic benign gallbladder disease. After diagnosis of IDEGB it is often necessary a completion of treatment by a second tailored revision procedure. Despite early reports contraindicating laparoscopic approach because of high risk of neoplastic seeding, recent data seem to demonstrate that this approach per se does not influence clinical outcomes. We refer our experience in revision surgery by a totally laparoscopic approach that includes hepatic resection, lymphadenectomy, and port-sites excision. From January 2006 to March 2008, four patients with IDEGB were carried out to revision procedure by a totally laparoscopic approach. The mean operative time of procedure has been 162 minutes, whereas blood loss has been <100 mL (mean 85.1±23.3 mL). The postoperative course has been uneventful in all patients and perioperative mortality (within 40 days from intervention) 0. Hospital stay has been, respectively, 4, 5, 5, and 6 days (mean 5 days). During follow-up, at the last fluorine-18-labeled fluordesoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan examination, respectively, 4, 3, and--for 2 patients--2 years after revision laparoscopic procedure, pathologic FDG accumulation was not reported. Totally laparoscopic revision surgery for IDEGC seems to be a legitimate procedure, and, in our experience, reports satisfactory clinical outcomes in terms of perioperative and middle term oncological results. Larger and prospective studies are needed to support definitively oncological safety of this approach.

Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?

While it is generally agreed that income inequality affects an individual’s well-being, researchers disagree on whether people living in areas of high income disparity report more or less happiness than those in more equal environments, thereby indicating the need to study how and why income inequality matters to the individual’s well-being. Findings on group-specific reaction patterns to income inequality further fuel this need. Alesina et al. (2004) argue that a preference for inequality and the perception of the possibility of social mobility account for the indistinct relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being. Combining this hypothesis with previous research on social cognition and drawing on social justice theory, this paper aims to demonstrate the mediating nature of perceptions of income inequality. It argues that the perceived legitimacy of distributive outcomes and procedures contributes to how income inequalities affect individuals and their sense of well-being. The empirical analysis is based on data from the International Social Justice Project, developed from face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of the German population. Using structural equation modeling, the paper finds structural biases in the perception of income inequality. The paper concludes that subjective well-being is a product of the individual’s perception and legitimating processes. The results indicate that social cognition is a useful tool for studies of income inequality and subjective well-being.

Factors Influencing Approval Probability in Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Decision-Making Procedures - FWF Stand-Alone Projects Programme, 1999 to 2008

The legitimacy of decision-making procedures (peer review) at funding agencies for basic research depends heavily on the organisation’s ability to minimise distortions in approval probability – for example based on age, gender or research field – wherever possible. Due to human fallibility, erroneous decisions can never be ruled out entirely, but if systematic differences appear in the probability of funding approvals, then such differences either have to be eliminated by changing the decision-making procedure or they have to be made transparent and explainable. The purpose of this study is to examine any such systematic distortions in the decision-making process of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for Stand-Alone Projects from 1999 to 2008.

Khirbet Qeiyafa: Absolute Chronology

Based on averaging four radiocarbon determinations, Garfinkel and Ganor (2009) have dated the Iron Age layer at Khirbet Qeiyafa to ca. 1025–975 BCE and declared the demise of the Low Chronology for the Iron Age strata in the Levant. We show that in the case of Khirbet Qeiyafa averaging is not a legitimate procedure. The five available measurements represent the life-span of the site rather than a single event. With the available data, all one can say is that activity at the site started ca. 1050 BCE and ended sometime during the 10th century, no later than 915 BCE. The Khirbet Qeiyafa 14C determinations line up with the large number of measurements from late Iron I sites in both the north and south of Israel and support the Low Chronology.

Influence of Age on Revascularization Related Costs of Hospitalization Among Patients of Stable Coronary Artery Disease

The legitimacy of expensive revascularization procedures in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) remains to be seen. In this study, resource utilization was compared across age-group categories of patients with stable CAD who underwent revascularization. Fiscal year 2006 discharge data maintained by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission were examined. Current Procedural Terminology codes 36.1x and 36.0x were used to identify patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), respectively. Patients with acute myocardial infarctions (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 410.xx) were excluded to limit the study group to patients with stable CAD. Totals of 1,066, 2,909, 4,272, 4,514, and 1570 hospitalizations per 100,000 hospitalizations were observed in the age groups 40 to 50, 50 to 60, 60 to 70, 70 to 80, and > or =80 years, respectively. The costs of hospitalization were driven by length of stay and choice of revascularization procedure (CABG vs PCI). There was trend toward increasing total costs and longer hospital stays with increasing age (p for trend <0.001) in patients who underwent CABG. Although the adjusted costs and adjusted length of stay were significantly higher in the patients who underwent PCI who were aged > or =80 years than in those aged 40 to 50 years, the differences among other age-group categories were not statistically significant. In conclusion, older patients with stable CAD who undergo interventions represent a substantial expenditure. Hospitalization costs are driven by longer hospital stays and the choice of CABG compared to PCI. With data supporting aggressive medical management of such patients, it is advisable to rethink management strategies in these patients.

Multilateral Versus Unilateral Exercises of Universal Criminal Jurisdiction

This Article draws a distinction between two types of exercise of universal criminal jurisdiction with a view to demonstrating that one of them is deeply detrimental to domestic IHL enforcement mechanisms, and especially zeroes in on contemporay unilateral exercises of universal criminal jurisdiction, arguing that their unilateral character deprives domestic enforcement procedures of their legitimacy and efficacy. It begins by distinguishing between unilateral and multilateral uses of criminal universal jurisdiction. It then explains why unilateral exercises of universal jurisdiction and the absence of conventional basis do not, per se, stir any problems of legality. Its last part shows that unilateral exercises of universal jurisdiction, while not generating any problem of legality, fuel problems of legitimacy because of the discourse that generally accompanies such proceedings as well as the impossibility to relate such exercises to the consent of the State of nationality of the accused or that where the crime was committed. On this occasion, it is shown that the perceived illegitimacy of unilateral exercises of jurisdiction can prove harmful to the legitimacy and efficacy of domestic IHL enforcement procedures as a whole.