Republicanism Research Articles

Transformation of the Constitutional Identity in South Africa aft er the Fall of Apartheid

Abstract This article investigates the designed transformation of South African political identity and its constitutional framework as a core aspect of the democratization of South Africa. It compares the racist and exclusive identity of the apartheid state with a redesigned identity of an inclusive and open ‘Rainbow Nation’, a concept coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and spearheaded by Nelson R. Mandela along with the African National Congress. The study considers changes in the legal framework of identity politics, from the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act of 1983 (and the previous apartheid republican Constitution of 1961) through the interim democratic Constitution of 1993 to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. It discusses the possible significance of the 18 amendments to the act regarding South Africans’ social and political identities, and establishes a complex and detailed portrayal of the republic’s legal framework of identity politics. The study combines legal, political, and cultural analysis of the role of law in formatting social and political identities, using survey results to test its impact on society. In conclusion, the paper considers the effects of post-apartheid identity transformation in South Africa.

DEMOCRACY, FEDERALISM AND GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

Nigeria became one of the federal societies under the supervision of the British colonial government in 1954. Federalism and democracy ceased when the military government usurped and suspended the Republican Constitution in 1966. The periods of military rule witnessed over-centralization of power at the centre, while the federating states became Lilliputians. The usurpation of jurisdictional competencies and centralization of power made the federating states and local governments default on their socio-economic responsibilities. The paper aims to elucidate the intricate relationship between federalism and democracy in Nigeria, shedding light on the repercussions of their erosion during military rule. Through a comprehensive review of historical events and constitutional changes, this study examined the consequences of over-centralization and jurisdictional encroachments during military governance. The paper revealed that the institutionalization of federalism once embraced without due consideration, led to detrimental adjustments and crises during military rule, significantly impeding socio-economic and political development. The paper concluded that democracy and federalism are twins ‘brothers’ and will remain relevant and last long when Nigerian leaders, particularly elected representatives, undertake constitutional reforms that prioritized power devolution to states and local governments. This adjustment, rooted in justice and fairness, will rejuvenate the symbiotic relationship between democracy and federalism, ensuring lasting relevance.

Double Disillusion: Legal and Political Aspects of the 1974 Double Dissolution

One of the great unanswered questions of the Commonwealth Constitution is whether the House of Representatives and Senate are equal or whether one ultimately has more power than the other. The Whitlam Labor government elected in 1972 faced a Senate elected in 1967 and 1970. Despite Senate obstruction, Whitlam proceeded with an ambitious legislative programme through 1973 and into 1974. By April 1974, six bills appeared to provide a “trigger” for the use of the Section 57 deadlock resolution procedure in the Constitution. Section 57 provides that if a bill has been twice passed by the House of Representatives and twice rejected by the Senate, the Governor‐General can dissolve both houses and an election is held. If the government is returned and wishes to proceed with the trigger bills, it can again pass them through the House and if they are again rejected by the Senate, the Governor‐General can convene a joint sitting of the two houses at which, if the bill is approved by an absolute majority, it is deemed to be passed. Major obstruction in the Senate, including a threat by the Opposition to block supply, led Whitlam to seek a double dissolution, hoping to gain a majority in both houses or, failing that, the opportunity to pass the trigger bills at a joint sitting. The ensuing election saw the return of the Whitlam government in the House but continuing to lack a majority in the Senate. This led to the only joint sitting in federal history, in which all six trigger bills were passed. But there was a constitutional sting in the tail when the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act was subsequently found by the High Court not to have been validly passed. This case is argued to have made s57 potentially unworkable. The 1974 double dissolution stands in stark contrast to the 1975 double dissolution, which is argued here to be its “Evil Twin.” There have been three further double dissolutions since 1975: 1983, 1987, and 2016, but no more joint sittings. In 1987, there was set to be a joint sitting on the proposal for an identity card, but this was thwarted on a technicality. So the 1974 double dissolution achieved the objective of breaking a deadlock but at the cost of revealing a way for a determined Senate to make s57 unworkable.

The Fictitious Constitution of People's Republic of Albania (1946)

In 1946, in Albania, the Constitution of the People's Republic came into force (reworked in 1950). This Constitution recognized a series of rights and freedoms, such as that of expression, of the press, of assembly, of association, the right to publicly express one's thoughts, freedom of religion, of conscience, etc. Despite the explicit provisions on religion and conscience, the communist regime began a real ideological battle to repress religious sentiment. The State adopted persecutory policies against religions. Persecutions which they pursued in the light of the Fundamental Charter with the aim of eradicating religions from the souls of Albanians. Without taking into consideration that beyond the feelings rooted in each person, beliefs were part of customs and customs. For this reason, anti-religious policy begins with the weakening of the clergy and then proceeds with state atheism. This was only the beginning of the Albanian nightmare, against religion and consequently against all religious communities located in the country. Received: 10 March 2024 / Accepted: xx April 2024 / Published: 5 May 2024

Edge of a Precipice: Multi-Party electoral violence in Jirapa Municipal in Ghana before and after the 2020 national elections

Countries in Africa experience both violent and non-violent conflicts during elections. Ghana, specifically Jirapa Municipality, has experienced this challenge in eight national elections since 1992. The Theory of Social Identity was used to establish the theoretical framework. The mixed research design for data collection and analyses was adopted. The study administered household questionnaires with a sample size of 400, and interviewed 15 key informants. The questionnaires were analyzed descriptively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 while the interviews were analyzed using the thematic analysis. The results showed that the major multiple causal factors responsible for the periodic violence were youth unemployment, political parties/politicians seeking re-election, clientelism and inadequate political education. These have had an effect on the social structure of the community relative to weakened communal cohesion, reduced loyalty to traditional leaders, voter apathy, weak public institutions, slowed down economic activities and general distortion of democratic development. The study recommends that the dictates of chapter nine of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana should be strictly followed by public institutions in charge of electoral governance without biases.

Examining Critical Success Factors for Africa’s Sustainable Industrial Development with Special Reference to Zambian Manufacturing Sector – Challenges, Prospects & Opportunities

This study was intended to examine critical success factors for Africa’s industrial development with special reference to the Zambian manufacturing sector - challenges, prospects & opportunities. The study had three (3) research questions; what are critical success factors for Zambia’s industrial development? How efficacious are the existing policy frameworks and /or governmental undertakings to guarantee Zambia’s achievement of SDG # 9 by the year 2030? What are socio-economically viable and actionable policy imperatives to industrialize the country by the targeted year? The study used a qualitative interpretive paradigm in targeting middle and top management key informant policy makers in line government parastatals and association [(Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC), the Lusaka South Multi-facility Zone (LSMZ), and the Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM)] within the manufacturing sector in which 25 were interviewed comprehensively through convenient and purposive sampling techniques. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study established that technology, innovation, infrastructure, skills development, financing, R&D, and actualized favourable manufacturing policies were critical success factors to Zambia’s industrial development. These parametric variables and policies must be anchored on a well guided and pragmatic political will from the politicians with required technical know-how. Besides, the study found out that although the country has close to enough policy instruments and frameworks to guarantee meeting its SDG # 9 if implemented coherently, consistently, and timely, there is no coherent systematization, co-ordination, and prioritization in attending to critically important productive sector policies for achievement of intended industrial development outcomes as the said factors (variables) fall across sectors / ministries thereby creating disjoints, discord and fragmentation in development actions. On the other hand, the study discovered with concern that there were no properly streamlined and sectoral delineation policies for foreign investors’ investments as some of them were found to be investing in mundane activities such as running retail grocery shops, auto shops, and hardware; mending motor vehicle tires; operating casinos; moulding bricks / blocks; rearing livestock like chickens, pigs, goats; roasting maize on city streets.which economic activities are too basic to be done by an investor at the expense of local people. The study concluded that the country needed to implement and actualize its industrial development policies and programmes as contained in its national policy documents, SDGs and the constitution with a further caveat that the social, cultural and economic rights be enshrined in the republican constitution as a matter of urgency in order not to rationalize and make optionless socio-economic development by politicians who always want to venture into rent-seeking activities at the expense of sustainable national development. The study assuredly noted that if these policies could be implemented in correctly identified productive manufacturing sectors / industries, the nation would in no time overcome its alarming poverty, unemployment, debt mountain, and inequality levels, which have dogged it for generations now as Zambia has necessary raw materials such as minerals, land, forestry, wildlife, water, energetic youthful population, sunshine, forestry, etc. for cutting edge industrial development. Raw commodity trade does not guarantee sustainable development but bleaks the nation’s and its generations’ future, hence the imperative to circumvent this bliss by sustainable industrialization and value addition to the country’s products and services for increased value.

From definition to protection: dilemmas and reflections on the right to refuse treatment for patients with mental disorders in Chinese mainland.

The case of "a multimillionaire who was sent to a psychiatric hospital after an argument with his son" has sparked heated debate in the Chinese mainland. This incident is particularly significant as 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Mental Health Law of the People's Republic of China. The focus of the ongoing debate, as brought to light by the aforementioned case, is centered on the right to refuse treatment for patients with mental disorders. This paper is a post-hoc study with a systematic analysis of literature and cases. To ascertain the relationship between the right to refuse treatment for patients with mental disorders and the Mental Health Law, the authors identified key information and data from both official government websites and reliable non-governmental information. Both literature and practice have proven that the compulsory hospitalization rule under the Mental Health Law is a denial of the right to refuse treatment for patients who are compulsorily hospitalized. In the absence of changes to the law, compulsory hospitalization will inevitably lead to compulsory treatment in the Chinese mainland. According to the human dignity and self-determination right established in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, patients who are compulsorily hospitalized have the right to refuse treatment. In the absence of a change in the law, given that no neutral review mechanism has been established for such patients and their treatment in the mainland, setting up an internal review mechanism is a more feasible way of protecting the right to refuse treatment for patients with mental disorders.

Coup of May 16, 1961 in South Korea in US politics

The article is devoted to the methods of the U.S. response to the process of forced change of power in South Korea during the military coup of 1961. The process of changing the existing U.S. policy towards Korea was launched shortly before the revolutionary events due to the available information about conspiracy. However, new approaches were still being in development, and the May 16 coup took the Americans by surprise. Washington's initial attempt to support the legitimate authorities proved ineffective under the new conditions. As a result, the Americans took a survivalist position and watched the establishment of a military rule from the sidelines. By mid-summer of 1961, the Americans had already accept-ed the authoritarian regime that had suspended the republican constitu-tion, suppressed any sprouts of opposition, and was unwilling to return civilian control of the government in the short term. The coup leader, Park Chung-hee, was perceived by Americans as a «strong, fair, and in-telligent leader» who acted as a bridge between the government and the people and effectively combated traditional Korean factionalism. The sit-uation in the country stabilized and the risks of a counter-coup were min-imized. The temporary banning of political parties, as well as other «questionable methods» of the new authorities, was perceived by Ameri-cans as an attribute of the revolutionary atmosphere of the transition pe-riod. From the U.S. point of view, the rise to power in Korea of a group intolerant of corruption and, at the same time, anti-communist, was a great success.

Implication of Local Government Institutional Capacity Self-Assessment System at Municipal Governance

Local governments have a key role to play in ensuring that public services are provided close to the people under the federal governance system. Therefore, the success of federalism depends on effectiveness of public service delivery function. The constitution has provisioned legislative, executive, and judicial powers to local levels, Province and federation based on the principles of cooperation, coexistence, and coordination. In this context, local government institutional self-assessment (LISA) framework has been used by local government in Nepal after implementation of federal democratic republican constitution 2015.main objectives is to effectiveness of improve the quality. Acts and regulations related to these methods. The Practice of LISA by improving the Its the web-based LISA system has been introduced as an innovative instrument to track the performance of local governments in Nepal after the governance system was restructured from unitary to federal with significant power and resources to local level. The process of LISA creating capacity begins with a capacity evaluation. It presents a precise picture of the organization's strengths and weaknesses. The output of this approach unambiguously calls for the capacity-building initiatives needed and helps foster ownership to boost self-esteem. More specifically, LISA's primary goal is to investigate current practices in 10 local governance-related areas.

헌법정신과 인권에 관한 연구

In relation to social contract, T. Hobbes is significant in that he presented the prototype of modern contract theory, but there is a limits in that it is necessary to have a state dominated by a ruler with absolute power to guarantee human rights. In order to solve this problem, J. Locke proposed a new social contract theory by transferring the sovereignty from the state to the people. In this way, it can be seen that there is a big difference between the national identity and the human view proposed by Hobbes and Locke, and the way of guaranteeing human rights accordingly. If Hobbes is a legal positivism and pragmatism based on the state, Locke is approaching from the point of view of natural human rights before the state. The idea of natural rights is based on 「the Virginia Bill of Rights」(1776. 6), 「the Declaration of Independence」(1776. 7) in America, 「the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen」(1789) in France, and 「the Declaration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights」(1948) of the United Nations. It is also reflected in 「the Constitution of the Republic of Korea」(1948) and has related regulations. However, since the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea, human rights have been infringed in the name of maintaining public well-being and order in the unstable political system and political dynamics. This problem has already been foreseen in the Constitution of the First Republic, which stipulates individual legal provisions related to the restriction of basic rights, and since then amendments to the Constitution have been made several times, but this problem has not been solved under the long-term military regime. Fortunately, the 6th Republic Constitution(1987~present), which was finally revised, is meaningful in that the governing system has been reorganized and the provisions for guaranteeing basic rights have been considerably newly established and added. However, if the ruling party to which the president belongs fails to secure a majority of seats in the National Assembly, there is no institutional mechanism to coordinate the instability of the state administration and political conflicts, which raises concerns that the fundamental rights of the people are not properly guaranteed. For this reason, the claim that the basic rights required by the times should be guaranteed through the amendment of the Constitution coexists with the prudence of this, and therefore, national and social consensus should be made once again at this time.

“A republican independence?

Federalist constitutional republicanism was the primary driving force behind Brazil's independence. It brought about the political and social inevitability of separation from Portugal, and constrained absolutist monarchism to adopt the path of monarchical independence by enthroning the Braganza dynasty, abandoning, thus, the options to maintain a union with Portugal. Testimonies from the time demonstrate how fear and even terror of republican, constitutionalist liberal and federalist ideas and movements, initiated in Brazil by the Revolution of 1817, led to the adoption of the monarchical solution, wherein absolutism was veiled by the moderating power

The Fourth Estate in Ghana’s Fourth Republic: From “Culture of Silence” to Fake News and Post-Truth Politics

ABSTRACT Ghana’s democratisation process under the Fourth Republican Constitution in 1992 restored a raft of civil liberties and democratic institutions truncated by the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council’s (PNDC's) authoritarian military regime. One of these institutions is the mass media which has been assigned the role of the Fourth Estate, with its rights, independence and freedom stipulated and strongly protected by Chapter 12 of the 1992 constitution. This new-found freedom of the media and information not only led to the springing up of a multitude of private print and electronic media outlets but also stimulated the general transformation of the public sphere with the emergence of the digital media, particularly the social media platforms. Using existing data for thematic analysis and through the lenses of postmodernism, I examine the various cases of post-truth news (also called post-truth politics in this study), their implications and the methods used in combating them. The study finds that the prevalence of post-truth news leads to rising political tension and national security problems. Measures including arrests, detentions, harassment of perceived offenders and independent fact-checking have so far proven ineffective because of the perceived selective applications of the law and paucity of technical and technological capability.

Ghana’s democracy and the digital public sphere: some pertinent issues

Ghana’s media has been one of the biggest bulwarks of its nascent democracy since the transition to democratic rule in 1992. What has become known as the Fourth Estate of the Realm is now gradually being digitally networked as a result of the emergence of new media technologies. Using existing data mostly from media think-tanks such as Penplusbytes, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), media and other online sources, this paper appraises the role of digital media in the process of consolidating Ghana’s democracy under the Fourth Republican Constitution within the lens of Habermas’ concept of the public sphere. The study focuses on the 2016 and 2020 general elections of Ghana and analyses the influence of digital media in strengthening democratic values such as political participation, activism and public opinion formation. We conclude that the Habermasian model of the structural transformation of the public sphere (1962) is partly applicable to the Ghanaian media landscape. Although challenges such as the elite stranglehold on the traditional media landscape have been widespread since the beginning of the political transition in 1992, the emergence of the new media has brought new and complex dimensions to the debate. Specifically, while new media platforms have made immense contributions towards enhancing a general liberal environment, they suffer from several drawbacks such as unequal participation and lack of uniformity in public deliberations, with elites and other powerful social and economic actors generally holding sway. The phenomenon of fake news, online disinformation, the issue of digital divide, creeping state repression and COVID-19 restrictions during the 2020 election period have all combined to hamstring the Ghanaian new media which is currently at the center of a seemingly endless process of structural transformation.

Designing Viable Republican Constitutions for Modern African States: Why the Institution of Traditional Kingship Must Be Abolished

In this paper I argue for the adoption of an unmitigated republican constitutional system by modern African nation states as a necessary condition for the realisation of their democratic aspirations. I identify the continued retention of the traditional kingship institution, even in a much whittled down form, as a major impediment to the establishment of full-fledged republics in contemporary Africa. I then argue for the total abolition of the kingship system on the following grounds: (i) that it was founded on historical injustice to begin with, (ii) that it has no relevance or utility to modern African states, and (iii) mostimportantly, that its continued existence is antithetical to the requirements of a modern democracy. This last point, I take largely for granted. I provide ashort elucidation of ‘republicanism’ as a constitutional philosophy. Finally, Isuggest some constitutional measures that African nation states may adopt toeradicate the traditional kingship institution and thereby ensure the survivaland flourishing of their republics.

Kant and the French Revolution

Like the French revolutionaries, Kant defended individual rights and a republican constitution. That he nonetheless rejected a right of revolution has puzzled scholars. In this article I give an overview of Kant’s rejection of a right of revolution, compare it to the German intellectual context, and use it to explain Kant’s view of the events in France. In Kant’s nuanced account of the revolution’s two central phases, he refined a distinction between legitimate political transition and lawless popular rebellion.

Transforming Trade, Investment and Environmental Law for Sustainable Development?

The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda aims at ‘transforming our world’ to protect universally agreed sustainable development goals (SDGs) that – due to globalization – can no longer be secured by any state without international law and multilevel governance of global public goods (PGs). Democratic and republican constitutionalism historically emerged as the most effective methods for protecting local and national PGs demanded by citizens; they need to be complemented by functionally limited, multilevel constitutionalism securing transnational ‘aggregate PGs’ like mutually beneficial trade, investment and environmental protection systems. This contribution explains why commitments to human rights, democratic governance and rule of law have become incomplete safeguards of the SDGs without complementary, constitutional reforms of international trade law (II), investment law (III) and environmental law (IV). Human rights require embedding national ‘constitutionalism 1.0’ and functionally limited ‘treaty constitutions 2.0’ into ‘cosmopolitan constitutionalism 3.0’ empowering and protecting citizens and representative, multilevel governance institutions (V). Constitutional, participatory and deliberative democracy, private-public partnerships (e.g. for inventing and producing vaccines) and citizen-driven network governance (e.g. for decarbonizing economies) remain crucial for providing PGs and for protecting humanity against authoritarian power politics (VI). Are the necessary constitutional reforms politically feasible at a time of Russian wars of aggression aimed at suppressing human rights and democratic governance?

북한의 권력구조 변화와 헌법개정에 관한 상관성 고찰

The Constitution of North Korea was enacted and promulgated on September 8, 1948 as the People's Democratic Constitution, and the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was newly adopted on December 27, 1972, including the 2019 Constitution, which did not guarantee basic human rights such as life, liberty, and property of all people, or operate as a norm to control and limit the supreme power of the state. From a legal normative perspective, North Korea's supreme authority exists beyond the constitution and is not bound by the law, and he has no real limits to the exercise of his constitutional powers. It can be said to be a state system in which the policies of the party and the state and the state's official governance system, such as the constitution, must coincide with the will of the leader, the sole leader. Likewise South Korean rulers in the past amended the Constitution with political intentions to prolong the regime, this paper attempted to examine what the political implications of the supreme power in North Korea's constitutional amendment there were, and find out what role the Constitution played in establishing the hereditary system leading to Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong Un. In addition, it was a question about the North Korea system, how it gave legitimacy to the power succession by using the constitutional normative power for the unique national hereditary succession by blood in the socialist system. For this purpose, in particular, this paper employed North Korea's 1992 constitutional amendment, Kim Jong-il's succession to power, Kim Il-sung's posthumous rule and 1998 constitution, and Kim Jong-il's posthumous Kim Il-sung--Kim Jong-il's constitution as the main subject of research. To understand the correlation between changes in the power structure of North Korea and the constitution, this paper tried to investigate first of all, what there are in the contents of the constitutional paving stone for the succession of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong Un, and find out Kim Jong-il's posthumous rule developed after Kim Il-sung's death and the intention of constitutionalization work for the deceased Kim Il-sung, and examine how the constitutional acceptance of the newly emerged state guidance guidelines was along with the hereditary succession of state power, and what intention there was in the constitutional reflection of the governing philosophy by deleting the previous highest state position and changing the new state position. It was because of the political intention shown in the amendment of the North Korea Constitution and the desire to approach the practical legal and normative environment of North Korea.

Between a republican and aBengaleestate: Confronting exclusionary constitutionalism in Bangladesh

AbstractThe constitutional design of Bangladesh is characterized by an ambivalent choice: it aspires to establish a republican yet aBengaleestate by putting itself in the conflicting terrain within thedemos–ethnosbinary. This article aims to examine the implication of this problematic choice along all three axes of the constitution’s elemental parts: its identity, rights and structure. While the identity element of the Bangladesh Constitution embodies the ethno-nationalist vision of theBengaleestate that transformsdemosintoethnos, its rights and structural aspects reflect its republican promise to transformethnosintodemos.Contemporary scholarship seeks to confront the exclusionary dimension of the ethno-nationalistic choice in Bangladesh but ends up acceptingethnosas a politically superior value. Such an approach brings us to the politics of difference and, with that, undermines the integrationist potential of the republican constitution. In response, this article defends the republican promise of the Bangladesh Constitution while arguing that what we need in Bangladesh is the ‘de-ethnicization’ of the republic, one that can be achieved by transformingethnosintodemosand not the other way around.

Discussion on the "Freedom to Strike" in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China

This paper will discuss the issue of strike freedom in China's legal practice. A strike is a collective refusal of work by workers in protest. With the advent of the era of bourgeois revolution, the contradiction between capitalists and their employed workers increased rapidly and became the principal contradiction of society. The working class, which directly creates social value, is increasingly impoverished and unfairly treated. The workers spontaneously rebelled against the capitalist oppressors in various ways. Strikes, as a form of workers' struggle, also appeared in that era. The strike also received warm reviews from Marx and Engels. As the most representative socialist country in the world, the right to strike in the People's Republic of China is not allowed and recognized by law, which leads to a lack of reasonable ways for many workers to defend their rights and interests. This led to a series of social problems and unstable factors, how the development of the rule of law of the Chinese government at the end of the 20th century is related to today's rule of law pattern, and how the Chinese government's attitude towards the strike has changed since the 1950s, all of which need to be discussed and studied. In addition, the thesis focuses on the ordinary working class in China, focuses on the basic demands of the Chinese people, and discusses the right to strike from the perspective of the people.

Why does Kant Think that Democracy is Necessarily Despotic?

AbstractKant’s criticism of democracy has been traditionally defused with the consideration that Kant’s aversion is not to democracy per se, but to direct democracy. However, what Kant says – ‘to prevent the republican constitution from being confused with the democratic one, as commonly happens’ (ZeF, 8: 351) – appears to count not only against direct democracy, but also against conceptions of democracy closer to the ones we are accustomed to. By offering a new account of what Kant sees as the real problem of democracy (direct or not), the article unpacks a lesson about the limits of democracy that has gone largely unnoticed among political theorists and Kant specialists.