Veto Rights Research Articles

The European Union as a Mediator in Constitutional Reform Negotiations in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Failure of Conditionality in the Context of Intransigent Local Politics

The complex constitutional system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, intended to ensure power sharing between the three main ethnic groups, is characterized by a variety of veto rights in the legislative process. Not only has this system prevented swift decision making but it also discriminates parts of Bosnian society that do not belong to one of the three constituent peoples. The European Union, alongside other organizations, has for years called for these shortcomings to be addressed but has failed in its efforts to bring the intransigent Bosnian policy makers to agree on a compromise and to end the political stalemate in the country. The EU's activities to support constitutional reform were themselves ill fated. By introducing three criteria to systematically analyze the EU's policies, the article illustrates that the EU, after initial reluctance to become seriously engaged as a mediator in the reform negotiations, applied its conditionality inconsistently.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL PRINCIPLES OF EXERCISING PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE HIS VETO POWER ON LAWS, ADOPTED BY THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE

In the article the etymology of the term "principles"; analysis of scientific approaches to understanding of the term; The notion of "constitutional and legal principles on the use of the veto of the President"; classification principles of the right of veto by the President of Ukraine; describes each principle and discovered its value.

El conflicto en Siria (2011-2014) a la luz del Derecho Internacional y del (geo)política

The Syrian conflict (2011-2014) is a threat to the maintenance of peace and international security. In the context of this conflict, many atrocities have been committed which could thus facilitate the use of the concept of Responsibility to Protect. The Security Council has failed to adopt the adequate measures, because of the veto power of two permanent members. Thereby, only a deep reform of the veto right can permit the practical development of the concept of Responsibility to Protect, as well as the chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

Of One Shotters and Repeat-Hitters: A Retrospective on the Role of the European Parliament in the EU-US PNR Litigation

EU International Relations has long been an Executive and Member State-dominant domain. Yet while the European Parliament is now recently empowered in international relations, with information and veto rights, its rights are enhanced only modestly by Inter-Institutional Agreements. The European Parliament has a history of expanding the constitutional boundaries of its own powers through litigation but has made limited inroads into international relations. In non-legal accounts of EU-US relations, the Parliament is portrayed as having reached the height of its empowerment, no longer able to improve the substantive content of EU-US Agreements. However, the Parliament also secured the annulment of the EU-US PNR Agreement in 2006, taken in 2004, and has acted thereafter as political guardian of citizens’ rights. Currently, there is Parliament-initiated litigation ongoing to enhance the transparency of EU transatlantic relations.The EU-US PNR litigation represents one of one of the first major civil liberties challenges taken by the European Parliament. However, the case is not renowned for its victory on these grounds. Rather, there the Court annulled the controversial EU-US PNR agreement with sparse reasoning, and in the views of many, thereby enabled the US to avail of the legal fall-out and compel the EU to negotiate an even ‘worse’ deal.In the midst of the recent NSA surveillance saga, the European Parliament has sought to raise its voice and conduct an inquiry and meaningfully influence EU-US relations. Thus its specific legal powers in EU-US relations and its powers to object to and suspend international agreements have come to the fore again. This paper offers a retrospective look at this litigation taken in 2004, almost a decade ago and considers its legacy upon EU law, EU-US relations, institutional balance and the role of the European Parliament as litigator.

The head of state in a presidential republic

Statement of the problem. Tasks of this article are researching role and place of the President in the mechanism of government functioning of presidential republic, determining advantages and imperfection of possible building such republic for different states of the world, including for Ukraine. Relevance of the research. Realization of constitutional reform in Ukraine raises the question of determining the best form of government for our state. One of variants there is a possible construction in Ukraine presidential republic with a president. Therefore, analysis of plenary powers, determination the place of the Head of the state in a system of division of government power of presidential republic, pointing attention to his plenary powers and cooperating with other public authorities is relevant. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Studies of both national and foreign researchers of this issue end of 20 beginning of 21st centuries are analyzed in the article. Aim of the article. The aim of the article is an analysis of plenary powers of the Head of state in presidential republics, determination his relationship with other state agencies for decision of necessity and possibility of forming such republic in states with other forms of government. The main material. The article analyzes the place and role of the Head of state in a presidential republic, who is the President in presidential republic. The range of his power quite wide as he also is the chief of executive power. As the USA is the classic presidential republic in literature, as powers of the President of this country analyzes first of all. In basis of organization of state power in all democratic countries is a model of division of state power that is analyzed in 3 aspects: institutional, functional and structural. Institutional aspect consists in that there are three branches of power (legislative, executive and judicial) with systems of corresponding public authorities for their implementation. The functional aspect is in functional independence of the branches from each other, but at the same time in their interaction, balancing, limitation and control. The author analyzes two variants of the relationship between the legislative and executive branches of power - divided rule (president and parliamentary majority belong to different political parties) and single-party rule and the second variant - the president and the parliamentary majority belongs to the same party. In the functional aspect the Head of state in presidential republics endowed with broad powers - such as the right of veto, delegated legislation, direct or indirect legislative initiative etc. The article also reviews the structural aspect of the division of powers, which is in fact that the president and the government from one side and Parliament from the other direction are independent one from another and are not subordinate in direct, each of them based directly on the mandate of the people. The author also considers in the article presidential republics of Latin America, Africa, where the president is the Head of government, leader of the ruling and often a single legally existing party, heads the Cabinet of Ministers, which in its turn has not constitutional status and its structure, order of forming, functioning and responsibilities are established by the President on the basis of political practice and he concentrates huge power that allows him almost alone solve most issues of public administration. Similar monocratic republic received the name superpresidential republics. The author draws attention that the presidential republic can function effectively only at the presence constant democratic traditions, high legal and political culture of the society, independent judiciary. Conclusions of the research. Presidential republic is a state with the clearest fixing of principle of division of the government power, president and parliament are almost independent from each other bodies, as get the mandate of trust directly from people. However, they can effectively restrain each other in the process of plenary powers realization. Thus efficiency of functioning such state system based on democratic traditions is possible only at presence of the developed civil society, high legal and political culture, proper functioning of independent judicial system. In the states of transition type, to that Ukraine belongs also, such State will be either ineffective, or turn into the state with extremely strong president of authoritarian or semi-authoritarian state-legal regime.

Stumbling Blocks to the Secularization of Personal Status Laws in the Lebanese Republic (1926-2013)

Despite recurrent efforts to introduce a civil personal status code since 1926, personal status laws in Lebanon remain regulated by the confessional codices of the country’s eighteen denominations. This article examines how efforts at secularization were repeatedly thwarted due to veto rights accorded to sectarian heads in the Lebanese Constitution. The codification of sectarian marriage and inheritance laws is related to Lebanon’s confessional political system and to the attendant perpetuation of kinship ties and fluctuating confessional attitudes. The latter are measured and compared diachronically with a series of surveys. Paradoxically, the chronic weakness of the Lebanese state would render top-down reform measures an exceedingly difficult task even as it opened the space for increasingly effective civil society activism aimed at dismantling the juridical hegemony of the sects.

Political Institutions and the Distributional Consequences of Suffrage Extension

In this article, it is demonstrated that suffrage extension positively affects public goods provision and redistribution. This effect, however, depends on the political-institutional context within countries – namely the electoral system and the existence of veto points. Since they incentivise more targeted spending, majoritarian systems decrease the positive effect that suffrage extension has on public goods provision. The relocation of the median voter through suffrage extension does not lead to more redistribution where second chambers with veto rights reduce the power of the working class to induce policy change. Empirical support is provided for this argument by analysing the conditional effects of suffrage extension through difference-in-difference estimation utilising data on government spending and inheritance taxation in eleven Western European countries between 1880 and 1938. These findings emphasise the importance of taking into account political institutions when assessing the determinants and consequences of democratisation.

Ethics and Social Justice Issues in the United Nations Whistle Blowing

Ethics and Social Justice Issues in the United Nations Whistle Blowing Dr. Tirab, Mohamed Abstract The United Nations as an intergovernmental Organization purposely has been established with main concern and mission; to address human rights main issues as well as the justice concerns. The United Nations mission seeks to provide citizens of its member states freedom and liberties. The Security Council is the organ within the organization which should enforce and compel the strict adherence to the ethical norms and norms of international treaties, and values of the human rights, equality and social justice. As inequality existing on many levels, within the organizational body of the United Nations, and within the membership, as many member states are demanding equality in the mechanism of decision making, regarding the voting right of the member states, and the veto right of the permanent members of the Security Council. One of the biggest major challenges facing the United Nations as an intergovernmental organization is the achievement of the most important mandate of providing all nations and people's equal opportunity has been seriously challenged with discouraging international concerns and issues. Another major challenge facing the United Nations is the issue of conflict of interests in how to achieve to peace. The United Nations have Ethics Office, as well as ethical framework, which guide the UN public administrators within the ethical concerns. But still many allegations of the peacekeeping forces and administrators' involvement in misconduct, including abuse and sexual exploitation. My recommendations are; to reform the UN through implementation more transparence policy, such implementing the policy of checks and balances, also the United Nations should review the agreement signed between the Security Council and the International Criminal Court, and to develop the relationship agreement to stronger pact, between the two organizations. Also more adherence to the ethical norms of the organization. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jirfp.v3n1a1

Competition, Income Distribution, and the Middle Class: An Experimental Study

We study the effect of competition on income distribution by means of a two-stage experiment. Heterogeneous endowments are earned in a contest, followed by a surplus-sharing task. The experimental test confirms our initial hypothesis that the existence of a middle class is as effective as institutional hurdles in limiting the power of the less able in order to protect the more able players from being expropriated. Furthermore, majoritarian voting with a middle class involves fewer bargaining impasses than granting veto rights to the more able players and, therefore, is more efficient.

Native title contestation in Western Australia's Pilbara region

The rights afforded to Indigenous Australians under the Native Title Act 1993 (NTA) are very limited and allow for undue coercion by corporate interests, contrary to the claims of many prominent authors in this field. Unlike the Commonwealth’s first land rights law, Aboriginal Lands Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (ALRA) , the NTA does not offer a right of veto to Aboriginal parties; instead, they have a right to negotiate with developers, which has in practice meant very little leverage in negotiations for native title parties. And unlike ALRA, developers can deal with any Indigenous corporation, rather than land councils. These two factors have encouraged opportunistic conduct by some developers and led to vexatious litigation designed to break the resistance of native title parties, as demonstrated by the experience of Aboriginal corporations in the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Divided Together: The United States and the Soviet Union in the United Nations, 1945–1965

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The budgetary procedure in the European Union and the implications of the Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon reformed the budgetary process in the European Union. We present a game-theoretical analysis and an empirical evaluation of the new annual budgetary procedure. We find that the procedure operates much like the ordinary legislative procedure, and puts the European Parliament on an equal footing with the Council. Given the prevailing preference configuration, our empirical analysis shows that the European Parliament does not derive power from its veto right. Any voting coalition that commands a qualified majority in the Council includes a majority of the Members of the European Parliament. However, the European Parliament does derive power from its amendment and proposal rights. Furthermore, we conclude that the procedure is poorly designed and can lead to the breakdown of negotiations.

Balkan Conflict, the Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the ICTY

Yugoslavia as South Slavic state, initially formed in 1918, under the name of Kingdom of three Slavic peoples: Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then as communist country, established after the World War II, has played an important role in regional and international politics. The new federation consisted of six republics and two autonomous provinces, which were constitutive elements of federation having the right of veto. Yugoslav state played an important role on the international stage, especially through Non-Aligned Movement which was founded with India and Egypt. Its leader, Josip Broz Tito, has suppressed nationalism in all the republics and thus managed to keep the Yugoslav nations united around the communist idea, by transforming Yugoslavia into a very strong economic and military country. But, after his death in 1980, nationalisms surfaced and began disintegrating the federation. In this regard, the Serbian nationalism has been particularly distinguished, which has by the use of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) started wars against other peoples of the Yugoslav federation, who sought secession and independence of their republics. Initially the war started against Slovenia, then Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and more recently against Kosovo Albanians. After many bloody wars that left hundreds of thousands of casualties and millions of refugees, two international conferences had to be held, one in Dayton for Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Rambouillet for Kosovo, including 78-day intervention of NATO aviation aimed to put an end to the never ending conflicts. The resolution of the UN Security Council has also established the Tribunal of Hague which would investigate and adjudicate the crimes committed in Yugoslavia. This Tribunal has imposed 1000 years in prison, especially for Serb military and political leaders. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia resulted in formation of seven new states which are in the path of Euro-Atlantic integration as Slovenia and Croatia which are already permanent members of these organizations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n19p264

The Charismatic Persona of Colonel Qaddafi

In any list of dictators and antagonists of the West the name of Libya’s Colonel Muammar Qaddafi will always rank highly as one of the most memorable, colourful and mercurial. The roles he played to his fellow Libyans, to regional groupings, to revolutionaries and to the West were complex and nuanced. These various roles developed over time but were all grounded in his self-belief as a messianic revolutionary figure. More importantly, these roles and behaviours that stemmed from them were instrumental in preserving Qaddafi’s rule and thwarting challenges to it. These facets of Qaddafi’s public self accord with the model of “persona” described by Marshall. Whilst the nature of political persona and celebrity in the Western world has been explored by several scholars (for example Street; Wilson), little work has been conducted on the use of persona by non-democratic leaders. This paper examines the aspects of persona exhibited by Colonel Qaddafi and applied during his tenure. In constructing his role as a revolutionary leader, Qaddafi was engaging in a form of public performance aimed at delivering himself to a wider audience. Whether at home or abroad, this persona served the purpose of helping the Libyan leader consolidate his power, stymie political opposition and export his revolutionary ideals.

Through the looking GL SS: Google Glass , privacy, and opacity, with an Israeli law twist

Google GlassTM and other wearable computers pose considerable challenges to existing privacy paradigms and laws. This article examines Glass and its implications for privacy from an Israeli law perspective. The article focuses on privacy of third parties vis-à-vis the Glass user, rather than on the privacy of the user vis-à-vis others or the state. Privacy law concerning visual privacy—taking and publishing pictures of others—needs to meet the wearable computing challenge. As wearable computers become ubiquitous, ‘reasonable expectations of privacy’ will change. The law will likewise need to accommodate a new reality in which an inconsequential passing glance becomes a recording saved for posterity, and possibly shared with the world in real-time. The author suggests that there are good grounds for recognizing a Right to Opacity—a right not to be subjected to constant surveillance and photography. Eavesdropping law will need to evolve in order to contend with new paradigms of intercepting conversation, including lip-reading and speech-to-text technology. These and other technologies that Glass will feature do not currently fall neatly within eavesdropping and privacy law definitions. Regulators and lawmakers around the world have responded inconsistently to Glass, apparently reflecting some fear, confusion, and suspicion. To the extent that regulators and legislators want some sort of consultative or veto rights over new products with privacy implications, that needs to be debated and legislated.

The Realism of Veto and Balance of Power in Us-Russian Global Relations : The Syrian Chemical Weapons ( WMD ) Crisis ( 2013 )

This paper seeks to explain the sustenance of great power relations in a world espousing the principles of the collective security system under the United Nations. It shows how the system of veto rights enables the UN sustain an important role for itself, even in the calculations of the great power realism, by providing an interface between their need for balance of power and the desire of the rest of the international community for collective security system. Using the Syrian WMD crisis as a case study, and drawing from the experience of Berlin (1961) and Cuban missile (1962) crises for parallelism, it identifies patterns in the behaviours of US and Russia, the client states and the UN system, to suggest that the latter has acquired the role of seamless interface for great power bilateralism and the multilateralism of the present international system.

Ministerial gatekeeping and parliamentary involvement in the implementation process of EU directives

According to the literature on parliamentary government, legislatures provide political parties with veto and amendment rights, which counterbalance executive power. This institutional feature is also said to help overcome ministerial “drift” within coalition governments. While this literature has focused on the situation of an unconstrained environment of parliamentary government, the European Union’s Member States continuously delegate policy competencies to Brussels, whose directives must in turn be transposed into national law to take effect. Because the minister in charge enjoys informational advantages and has the sole right to begin the process of implementing directives, he can completely control the agenda in this constrained environment. We evaluate the empirical implications of a ministerial gatekeeping model by investigating the (in)activities of 15 countries with respect to 2,756 EU directives adopted between December 1978 and November 2009. Our findings show that partisan ministerial approval is necessary to start the implementation process which conditions the counterbalancing response of parliaments. Accordingly, the delegation of policy competencies to the European Union changes the power relationship in parliamentary governments and increases the risk of partisan ministerial drift.

Re A Trust [2013] SC (Bda) 16 Civ. Can a Court order disclosure of trust documents to a beneficiary even where the trust deed gives the trust protector an express right of veto? The Supreme Court of Bermuda says yes

Re A Trust [2013] SC (Bda) 16 Civ. Can a Court order disclosure of trust documents to a beneficiary even where the trust deed gives the trust protector an express right of veto? The Supreme Court of Bermuda says yes

UK party leaders are ‘preeminent’, but can also be ‘predominant’: Cameron and the Conservatives, 2005–2010

The power of the party leader, because it is such a moveable feast, is hard to measure, understand or theorise. This article, using Cameron’s leadership of the Conservative party in opposition as a case study, contends that the modern party leader (singular) can play by far the leading role within their party and parliamentary leadership (plural). Opposition party leaders have the potential to be powerful (that is they will be ‘preeminent’) because they (1) lead the ‘shadow government’; (2) have the right of proposal and veto over party policy and electoral strategy; (3) have a powerful private office which is able to lead and direct the party both within and without parliament; and (4) control the party’s ‘official’ news media operation, which can represent the leader’s policy preferences as the party’s policy preferences. But the preeminent leader will be considerably empowered (that is, they will become ‘predominant’) when they possess and make use of four personal power resources (and they will be disempowered if they do not): (1) having a reputation for being ‘leadership material’; (2) being associated with actual or anticipated political success; (3) being electorally popular; and (4) having a high standing in his or her parliamentary party. Under certain contextual circumstances the modern electoral professional, office-seeking UK party leader can be both preeminent and predominant. Even if they lack the entirely free hand to do whatever they want, such a party leader will ‘lead’, not simply ‘follow’ their party. The leadership style of Cameron, building upon that of Thatcher and Blair, was not his singular invention, but rather a reaction to and a trend-setter of far-reaching transformations wrought in the form of the UK political party.

A reexamination of renewable electricity policy in Sweden

Abstract Green certificates are the main instrument for promoting renewable electricity (RES-E) in Sweden. But certificates cover only a limited share of total RES-E production. Under partial coverage, crowding out may arise whereby costly new RES-E replaces inexpensive old RES-E. Granting certificates to all of RES-E production improves efficiency, but leaves windfall rent to otherwise profitable facilities. We also analyze transaction costs in the permit process for new RES-E in Sweden. Municipalities veto socially desirable projects because of asymmetrically distributed investment costs and benefits. We propose market-based permit fees rather than limited veto rights as a solution to this NIMBY problem.