Union Constitution Research Articles

Europe, the Pope and the Holy Left Alliance in Poland

This article describes why the Polish government has pushed for an invocation to Christian traditions in the European Union Constitution. It is argued that this is a rather 'unfortunate' outcome of the political alliance between the Catholic Church and the Polish left, especially between President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). This alliance allowed the SLD to legitimize their rule in the post-socialist Poland, and it was a result of a political competition between them and the post-Solidarność elites. As a result, John Paul II became the central integrative metaphor for the Polish society at large, which brought back in the marginalized as well as allowed the transition establishment to win the EU accession referendum in 2003. The article (which was written when Leszek Miller was still Prime Minister) demonstrates how this alliance crystallized and presents various elements of the cult of the Pope in Poland that followed. Finally, it argues that the worship of the Pope is not an example of nationalism, but of populism, understood not as a peripheral but as a central political force, and advocates for more research on the 'politics of emotions' at work in the centers and not in peripheries.

European Union Constitution Making in Comparative Perspective

This paper compares constitution-making in the European Union, with a particular focus on the convention on the Future of Europe, with constitution-making in Canada and Belgium. It proposes a framework for understanding the process of constitution-making that focuses on the shifting arenas and actors involved. In the case of the Convention on the Future of Europe, moving constitutional negotiation to an arena removed from actual decision-making powers has also occurred in Canada and Belgium. This move has the advantage of freeing up the discussion of constitutional matters, but the disadvantage that agreements reached at this stage may fail when they are moved to a decision-making arena - in the case of the Convention's draft constitutional treaty, the movement to the Intergovernmental Council. In all three cases, the fact that the status-quo, however unsatisfactory, was available as a default option meant that the costs of failure to reach a decision were not excessive.

Supranationalism, the Rule of Law, and Constitutionalism in the Draft Union Constitution

Supranationalism, the Rule of Law, and Constitutionalism in the Draft Union Constitution Get access Patrick Birkinshaw Patrick Birkinshaw Director *Institute of European Public Law, University of Hull , UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Yearbook of European Law, Volume 23, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 199–223, https://doi.org/10.1093/yel/23.1.199 Published: 01 November 2004

Rights and Citizenship in the European Union

This paper employs the methodology of “constitutional political economy” to examine the definition of citizenship, and the delineation of the rights that accompany citizenship. The concepts developed are then applied to the question of how rights and citizenship should be defined in the European Union. The answer to this question is shown to depend on whether the Union is organized as a federation or a confederation. The concepts developed are then used to critique the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and to question whether this Charter should be made a part of a new European Union constitution.

Unitary states and peripheral regions: a model of heterogeneous spatial clubs

Efficiency explanations of the wealth and size of nations provide useful insights into the history and current makeup of nations. We focus here on two related issues that matter, for instance, in large areas such as Western or Eastern Europe, or Canada. We develop an analytical framework for understanding the limits of constitutional unity. This microeconomic model of unitary states deals with two kinds of heterogeneity. First, preference distance or physical distance account for decreasing net benefits from expansion. Second, heterogeneity may involve a discontinuity in the spatial pattern of preferences: “peripheral behaviors” threaten unity. We integrate such behaviors into the model and draw some lessons as to the nature of an optimal constitutional area, discussing in particular the status of peripheral regions.

Introduction 15th annual conference of the european association of law and economics, utrecht, the netherlands, september 1998

Introduction 15th annual conference of the european association of law and economics, utrecht, the netherlands, september 1998

Union's constitution is in weakening state

This paper explores how the interplay between the ‘devolution’ and ‘health policy’ agendas may evolve over the next few years, and identifies potential pressure points.

Discipline and due process in labor unions

This article examines the implications of bureaucratization for discipline and due process within labor organizations. Two perspectives on these relations were developed from the literature on union governance and tested with data from union constitutions and other secondary sources. The extent of due process protections was positively related to both bureaucratization and the number of grounds for discipline. The results support the solidarity perspective, which posits a convergence of union leaders’ and members’ interests.

Hedge of Wild Almonds. South Africa, the Pro-Boers & the Quaker Conscience 1890-1910 (review)

Book Reviews107 chapter on the origins and roots of the school and ends with a moving and imaginative epilogue by the current headmaster. No area of inquiry seems to be neglected, yet the reader is not overloaded in any area with more than he/she can digest. Contributions by friends ofthe school, parents, trustees, administrators, teachers, and students make this a rich patchwork quilt. It is especially gratifying to seethe inclusion ofhistoricalessays produced byFriends Select students in connection with the tricentennial celebration. George SchoolNorman K. Tjossem DynastyofIronFounders. ByArthur Raistrick. York, England: TheEbor Press, 1989. 331pp. £10.50. One ofthe major sites ofEngland's industrial revolution, onthe upper reaches oftheSevern Riverbetween Birmingham and Shrewsbury, is Coalbrookdale, where Abraham Darbyand four succeedinggenerations ofDarbys pioneered in converting coal and iron into thousands of useful products. They were founders in two senses ofthe word: operators of foundries for casting iron, and initiators ofavery effective organization for converting raw materials into products that were sold throughout Great Britain andthewholeworld. Theydiscovered newwaysto smelt iron ore (with coke instead of charcoal), to make iron castings, to design steam engines, and to build bridges. Andthey were Quakers, exemplifying the practical experimenters who foundnewwaysto serve society throughimprovedtechnology and humane labor relations. This book combines industrial archaeology with family history. It is a revised and augmented edition ofa 1953 study by a well-known Quaker historian, issued under the auspices ofamuseum dedicatedto preserving the site ofthe initialworks. Its story runs from 1699 to the present, concentrating on the 18th and 19th centuries , when the Coalbrookdale Company was supplying products like pots and stoves for countless households, and at the same time producing cast-iron gates, statues, and ornaments for estates, pumps and boilers for industry, components for steam engines, and plates and beams for bridges, cranes, and ships. The men and boys who worked fortheCompany, numberingas manyas 4,000 around 1850, strove for quality and reliability under conditions ofstrenuous competition with other producers in the UK and abroad. Readers interested in engineeringhistory and/or Quaker genealogy will findthis an informative study. It includes 38 plates, 12 illustrations, and numerous accounting recordsthat give avivid sense ofthe locale and activities being described. The book is available for £10.50 (including postage and handling) from William Sessions , The Ebor Press, York, Y03 9HS, England, and would give ideal preparation in advance of a visit to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum itself. Haverford CollegeHolland Hunter Hedge of WildAlmonds. South Africa, thePro-Boers& the Quaker Conscience 1890-1910. By Hope Hay Hewison. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman Inc.; Cape Town: David Philip Publisher; and London: James Curry Ltd. 1989. 408 pp. Illus. $23.50. Paper. TheAnglo-Boer (''Boer") Warof 1899-1902posed manyintractableproblems. As withVietnam, itmatchedthemassive conventional armyofaworldsuperpower 108Quaker History against asmall butpopularly based and tenacious guerilla force. Thesuperpower declared that the war was for democracy and world peace, while the rest of the world, and some of the superpower's own citizens, saw it as one of imperial aggrandizement overseas. To defeat the guerillas the conventional army eventually also waged war against the civilian population — burning farms, destroying crops, rounding up women and children and placing them in "concentration camps" where thousands ofthem died. After the war problems ofimperial devolution of power arose, likethosethat later in thecenturywere to challengecolonial empires in the rest of Africa, and problems of white-black relations drew more attention withthegrowing new demands for cheap labor andwiththe framing ofthe Union constitution. Thepressing moral andpolitical issues ofthe Boer War period resulted in significant , disruptive, and sometimes violent debate in England (again very much like Vietnam). British Quakers foundthemselves struggling to come to terms with the issues involved and with their own institutional and private responsibilities with respect to them. Hedge of Wild Almonds addresses these Quaker concerns. HopeHay Hewison isboth aBritishQuaker andapersonwith deep roots in South Africa, andthebook reflects her wide knowledge ofboth sides ofthe subject matter . Others havewritten on various aspects ofBritish Quaker attitudes toward the Boer War (e.g., Richard A. Rempel in this journal, vol. 64, no. 2 [1975], 75-95), but no one before has covered the topic so broadly and in such detail. The book's organization alternates narrative descriptions of political developments in South Africa and Britain, based on secondary sources...

The making of women trade union leaders

A trade union's constitution is intended to produce its leaders in a democratic and even‐handed manner, but the reality for women is one of inequality. They remain almost invisible in senior positions in British unions. The social processes by which women do or do not progress in a union's career structure are investigated through a case study of SOGAT ‘82.

The USSR's basic legislation: Legislative authority of the Baltic Republics

Until the 1977 Constitution, Soviet legislation was formally divided into the Union's basic legislation (< osnovy zakonodatel'stva SSR i soiuznych res publik) and the implementing legislation of the Union Republics in the form of Codes ( zakon soiuznoj respubliki ). Essentially, Soviet legislation is still based on this technique. Exceptions in favor of the Union are national security,1 defense,2 foreign affairs of the USSR and foreign trade,3 financial authority,4 as well as a few other areas.5 In addition, without formal empowerment through the Union's constitution, much legislative material is uniformly controlled de facto through Union legislation which does not bear the name Basic. Examples are the laws for election to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR,6 budget rights of the USSR and the Union Republics,7 the status of delegates to the Soviets,8 or the kolkhoz model-statute.9 The 1977 Constitution which, by retaining the principle federal law supercedes state law,10 allows for the assumption of Union Republic competences11 is based on the supposition that wherever the Union does not intervene in a legislative sense, the Union Republics are justified in doing so. The task of the following study shows only the scope and intensity with which the three Union Republics in the Baltic region have made use of this right. It shows, above all, that there are special features in this region which are not found in any other part of the Soviet Union. The issue at hand is, therefore, to present a legislative profile of the Baltic states.

Facial Adjudication of Disciplinary Provisions in Union Constitutions

Facial Adjudication of Disciplinary Provisions in Union Constitutions

Labor Law. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Freedom of Speech and Assembly Provision of Act Does Not Establish a Right to Have Meetings Called Pursuant to the Union's Constitution. Yanity v. Benware, 376 F.2d 197 (2d Cir. 1967), cert. Denied, 36 U. S. L. W. 3147 (U. S. Oct. 9, 1967)

Labor Law. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Freedom of Speech and Assembly Provision of Act Does Not Establish a Right to Have Meetings Called Pursuant to the Union's Constitution. Yanity v. Benware, 376 F.2d 197 (2d Cir. 1967), cert. Denied, 36 U. S. L. W. 3147 (U. S. Oct. 9, 1967)

Labor Law. Unions. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 Prohibits Union Expenditures Contrary to Federal Labor Policy or the Union Constitution. Highway Truck Drivers v. Cohen (E. D. Pa. 1960)

Labor Law. Unions. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 Prohibits Union Expenditures Contrary to Federal Labor Policy or the Union Constitution. Highway Truck Drivers v. Cohen (E. D. Pa. 1960)