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Post-2010 economic and more recently pandemic shocks opened the path for re-invigorating Greek authoritarianism while undermining democratic institutions. This paper examines the ways in which the authoritarian conundrum reshapes progressively, on the ashes of the socio-economic and health crises, the cultural and political foundations of the rule of law in Greece.The paper consists of the following sections. First, it tries to discuss critically patterns on authoritarian rule by, first, drawing on its socio-historical origins and analyses in theoretical terms the rise of Greek neo-authoritarianism with an emphasis on COVID-19. Second, it discusses how pandemic laws and subsequent policy processes opened the path for controversial repressive law fostering neoliberal policies. Third, it sheds light on the institutional dimensions of the public health crisis, declared in March 2020 that required public authorities to establish a restrictive and mainly preventive state of emergency, while discussing the political and social consequences of the exacerbation of executive dominance. Fourth, it shows that in moving from a provisional state of emergency—which in principle is not constitutionally unconditional—to a state of (permanent) exception that defies the legal order, Greece has progressively developed an authoritarian apparatus of legal permissiveness, a new form of authoritarian legality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the important aspect of India's democratic decline, the ascendance of the Hindu majoritarian state, and its relationship with the law. It argues that the law is central to the Hindu majoritarian project but often in obscurely informal ways. India's majoritarian state seeks to radically reconfigure the law in Indian social life by making the rule of law inapplicable to its minorities. Through a series of examples drawn from the everyday socio-legal life in contemporary India, the article shows how arbitrary and extralegal state violence is endorsed, affirmed, and acquiesced on grounds of serving ethnonationalist values and interests. It theoretically develops the novel interpretive framework of 'the irregular' to capture the practices of the ethnicization of the law, ethnonationalist legitimisation of extra-legality through intense political mobilisation, and the production of subordinated minority citizenship without the formal incorporation of graded citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the fate of the rule of law in India that is transitioning to an ethnocracy? Drawing on a 'thin' conception of the rule of law, this article argues that the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act responds to the emergence of a political ideal that constructs the Hindu ethnos as central to the Indian nation. Drawing on a variety of sources that include pronouncements by leaders of the RSS, the ideological fount of India's ruling BJP, analysis of right-wing periodicals that function as a conveyor belt of social ideas, and the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), this article highlights the core themes that motivate the will of the Hindu ethnos in respect of the contentious legislation: (i) the persecution of the Hindu minorities in India's Muslim-majority neighbours; (ii) the discrimination faced by Dalits in particular and (iii) the establishment of India as a Hindu Zion. In the first section, I elaborate the concept of 'ethnocracy'. The second section reflects on the fate of the rule of law in an ethnocratic India by analysing the social justifications for the introduction of the contentious CAA. In the third section, I situate these dynamics within India's broader transition to an ethnocracy, the political ideals that shape this transition, and the shared social norms that emerge from this transition, which feeds back to the rule of law in an ethnocracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, significant academic attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of democratic backsliding, understood as a creeping assault on the rule of law and the fairness of elections, combined with efforts to capture the judicial system and state agencies to subjugate them to the executive power. At the same time, however, there has been a parallel political development affecting hybrid and authoritarian regimes that has been more consequential yet largely neglected. Identified in this essay as dictatorial drift, this process implies the transition from "soft" forms of authoritarian rule to hardcore authoritarian policies, characterized by the emergence of unconstrained leaders with dictatorial ambitions; an extreme concentration of executive power; the marginalization of parliaments and the elimination of political opposition; the end of competitive elections; a takeover or destruction of the judiciary, independent media, and autonomous civil society organizations; and worsening political repressions. This essay documents such drift as a global phenomenon and probes its causes and consequences. The essay notes the exhaustion of mechanisms that constrained shifts towards dictatorship in the past and highlight how autocratic hegemonies today drive regime change in much the same way as Western liberal democracies once did in the early post–Cold War era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, France, and Germany, political violence has been rising. Three factors are salient: Polarization convinces some people that violence is acceptable to keep opponents from power; extreme political parties normalize polarization and violence, leading to attacks from—and against—their supporters; and the democratically disillusioned use violence, not votes, to express themselves. Political violence can be reduced if: 1) leaders insist on nonviolence; 2) governments and politicians support the rule of law, accountability, and equitable policing; 3) voting systems dampen extremism; 4) communities organize across difference against violence; and 5) activists insist on nonviolence within their movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the EU's rule of law crisis [ROLC] indicative of a deepening 'disunion' sparked by the rise of illiberal ideas? I sound a skeptical note, suggesting that disunion arguments exaggerate dissensus, overstate the role of ideology, and do not capture key events and political interactions shaping the crisis. Specifically, disunion arguments cannot explain the emergence of a pro-ROL consensus in the European Parliament, neglect member states repeatedly articulating and committing themselves to fundamental liberal values, understate the ideological opportunism and about-faces of self-styled 'illiberals,' and overstate dubious evidence of public support for illiberal ideas and backlash to EU enforcement. The evidence is more consistent with new intergovernmentalist claims that member governments across the ideological spectrum are willing to sacrifice the ROL to safeguard consensus in the European Council, and that the Commission retreats from its role as 'guardian of the Treaties' absent intergovernmental support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares different measures of democracy to determine how they impact breach of contract risk, especially in postcolonial states that are more likely to suffer from neopatrimonialism with their imported state apparatus. By demonstrating how the normative measure of democracy, which emphasises respect for civil liberties, is more impactful in reducing breach of contract risk than the procedural measure that emphasises institutions, this article highlights the nonoptimal consequences of institutionalised democratisation without the normative dimension. The main findings are that while there is significant variation between the normative and procedural measures of democracy, it is increases in the normative measure of democracy that better promote accountability and the rule of law, thereby more effectively reducing breach of contract risk. We conclude that democratic norms must parallel progress in democratic form so to enable better (lower) breach of contract risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following transitions from authoritarianism, newly democratic governments confront the challenge of dealing with individuals who served the former regime. A prominent argument in the transitional justice literature holds that it is best not to exclude such individuals and to take advantage of their expertise in rebuilding a democratic system. A critical question in this context is whether former collaborators will act in ways that are sufficiently similar to untainted officials. We examine this question by focusing on judges with ties to the Nazi regime in the West German judiciary. We demonstrate that accused Nazi criminals who were charged in courts staffed with a greater proportion of tainted judges had substantially higher odds of escaping conviction. We also show that the appeals process was not able to eliminate this bias. These findings have direct implications for the trade-offs involved in retaining individuals with ties to an authoritarian regime and the connection between transitional justice and the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutional constraints are undertheorized and overrated. Constitutions are routinely advertised as vehicles for constraining political decisions. Constitutions work when governing officials make decisions on the basis of constitutional rules rather than personal preferences. Officials protect religious liberty rather than advance what their faith teaches is the one true religion. Constitutional constraints are undertheorized because conventional accounts of constitutions as constraining mechanisms fail to explore the strategies available to unsympathetic constitutional decisionmakers bent on frustrating constitutional provisions inconsistent with what they believe to be desirable political arrangements, fundamental rights, vital interests, and cherished policies. President Trump's lawyers claimed that executive orders which Trump had described as a "Muslim ban" were designed to promote national security and not to discriminate against adherents of Islam. Constitutional constraints are overrated because even discounting disobedience, such strategies as invalidation, denial, neglect, off-the-wall interpretation, circumcision, circumvention, and capture frequently enable unsympathetic constitutional decisionmakers to frustrate constitutional provisions while maintaining nominal allegiance to the rule of law. Police officers frequently claim that evidence was "in plain sight" to frustrate implementation of the Fourth Amendment. Strong constitutional constraints work only when unsympathetic constitutional decisionmakers respect the rule of law and are compelled to interpret constitutional provisions as inconsistent with what they believe are desirable political arrangements, fundamental rights, vital interests, or cherished policies. Constitutional provisions constrain unsympathetic constitutional decisionmakers who have some respect for the rule of law only when they cannot invalidate, deny, neglect, interpret away, circumcise, capture, or circumvent the text. Constitutional reformers can preempt these strategies for frustrating constitutional constraints only by quite specific language that eschews appeals to broad values and is likely to be inflexible in response to political, social, and technological changes. One consequence of this narrowing is that constitutional constraints are poor vehicles for widescale social reform. Constitutional transformation requires empowering the faithful, not constraining the unsympathetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advances in EU integration since COVID-19 and Russia's full-scale invasion have challenged the expectations of cross-cutting cleavages resulting in a 'politics trap'. This article addresses this puzzle through a case study of the Visegrád-4 (V4), a key coalition in EU politics which significantly influenced many policy areas but whose effectiveness has strikingly diminished post-Brexit. Borrowing insights from EU integration theories and the literature on transnational coalitions, the article contends that inter-state cooperation depends on salience and national politicisation strategies. Based on a survey of policy documents and secondary literature, it argues that the V4 group effectively shaped EU policy through issue-specific bargaining in low-salience areas and joint politicisation of high-salience issues when it fitted the political strategies of incumbent leaders. However, in the 'second polycrisis', V4 unity and influence in EU politics have frayed due to overlapping conflicts in high-salience, non-negotiable areas, prominently, security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ernst Haas initially formulated neofunctionalism as a theory of incremental regional polity formation, treating crises as anomalies. Subsequent revisions of the theory incorporated crises as recurring phenomena. This paper introduces a novel conceptualisation and analysis of recent European Union crises, framing them as effects of and challenges to its regulatory polity. It distinguishes between 'failures' and 'attacks', aligning them with the capacity and community-building dimensions of polity formation. Failures, rooted in capacity deficits, prompt capacity development to sustain common policies, varying with international interdependence among member states. In contrast, attacks arise from contestations of constitutive values, necessitating community demarcation through enhanced unity among defenders and exclusion of attackers. The speed and scope of demarcation depend on the attacker's membership position. Through a comparative analysis of the euro, migration, Covid, Brexit, rule of law, and Russia crises, the study illustrates and substantiates its theoretical argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, the rule of law was largely overlooked by sociologists and other social scientists. However, recent years have seen an increasing number of empirical studies of the rule of law. I survey that diverse literature and identify three generations of empirical research, each based on a different approach: (a) the rule of law in action, (b) the rule of law index, and (c) the living rule of law. These studies give us a detailed, but often sobering, view of the rule of law in the real world. I critically review the emerging field and discuss challenges for future research. Developing a more coherent social science of the rule of law is important because it helps us to understand that the rule of law is defined not only by formal institutions and legal documents but also by the place of law in people's everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rule of law has become all things to all people, which is precisely why it has been hard to define. Rather than attempt that feat, this article traces how the rule of law has developed as a set of specific governing practices both in the history of comparative law and in recent policy debates. Whereas national legal traditions blended ideas about the constraining effects of law with normative ideas about the organization of politics, the policy conversation has tended to depoliticize law altogether. As a result, it became possible for aspirational autocrats determined to undermine normative legal constraints to game the system and use law for autocratic ends. The rule of law is now beginning a new life, however, through a movement to deparochialize law and re-embed it in transnational norms. This rule of law writ large has become a new touchstone for holding political power accountable through law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses highlights of a lecture presented by Princeton University professor Kim Lane Scheppele, at the 25th Annual Grotius Lecture held on March 29, 2023. Topics include democracy through international law, constitutionalism, human rights, rule of law, post-communist transitions, right to democratic governance, autocracies, and inter-American system and European regional system for the protection of democratic infrastructure.

The article discusses the highlights of the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA), held in Chicago, Illinois from July 31 to August 6, 2024. Topics included safeguarding and protection of public officials, judges and civil servants, the rule of law, issues of concern to the legal profession, and the Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act, and the justice system.

Purpose: This study presents time-series data estimations on the association between the indicators of institutional environment and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in India utilizing a comprehensive data set from 1996 to 2021. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs the nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (NARDL) model. The asymmetric ARDL framework evaluates the existence of cointegration among the factors under study and highlights the underlying nonlinear effects that may exist in the long and short run. Findings: The significance of coefficients of negative shock to "control of corruption" and positive shock to "rule of law" is greater when compared to "government effectiveness, regulatory quality, political stability/absence of violence." The empirical outcomes suggest the positive influence of rule of law, political stability and government effectiveness on FDI inflows. A high "regulatory quality" is observed to deter foreign investment. The "voice and accountability" index and negative shocks to the "rule of law" are exhibited to have no substantial impact on the amount of FDI that the country receives. Originality/value: This study empirically examines the institutional determinants of FDI in India for a comprehensive period of 1996–2021. The study's findings imply that quality of the institutional environment has a significant bearing on India's inward FDI. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0375 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 terminated the country's democratisation. The crisis was more an outcome of the two-decade-long flawed state-building and democratisation, and the escalation of the insurgency than an overnight change in the country's politico-military landscape. This paper examines Afghanistan's failed democratization from 2001 to 2021 by focusing on five variables including stateness, welfare, rule of law, political regime, and political community. The paper explains how flawed progress in the five areas gradually eroded the democratisation process resulting in state collapse and the restoration of the Taliban's Islamic Emirate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During armed conflict civilians often inhabit areas of contested governance or areas where rebel groups, NGOs, and/or criminal syndicates vie for authority and challenge the control of the state. As non-state actors confront the authority and legitimacy of the state, civilians become central players in that competition asked to uphold or undercut these alternative governance claims. In this paper we examine the long-term impact of rebel governance for citizens living in spaces where state governance is challenged. Leveraging survey data from areas historically under PKK control in Southeastern Turkey, we focus on the ways in which contestation over governance during the conflict influenced future trust and engagement with the Turkish state. Specifically, we find that individual engagement with rebel governance institutions and personal conflict experience are important factors in understanding the effects of contested governance. Our findings increase our understanding of the long-term impact of armed conflict on civilians and the potential lasting impacts of rebel governance on the post-conflict state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Member States' support for rule of law (RoL) enforcement in the Council of the European Union (the Council). Existing studies regarding this topic produce puzzling findings: there is a stable pro-RoL enforcement coalition between older Member States, while the positions of the newer members appear to be more nuanced in relation to different RoL issues and instruments. This article seeks to elucidate the factors underlying these divergent positions and proposes a solution to this puzzle by introducing the conceptualisation of Member States' ‘differential support’ for RoL enforcement. Furthermore, it develops a theoretical framework to explain various factors influencing these positions. By analysing Member States' stances on five RoL instruments designed for the promotion and protection of the RoL in the Union, this article demonstrates that the positions of new Member States on RoL enforcement are more stable than often perceived. Additionally, an in-depth qualitative analysis of Member States' arguments reveals that strategic calculations largely influence their positions on RoL enforcement within the Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the protection of 'community interests' in international law includes intertemporal obligations of States, in cases where it is scientifically foreseeable that preserving the 'status quo' of a protected community interest is increasingly unlikely. The argument is developed for climate change as a 'common concern of humankind' and based on the premise that even if a temperature limitation of 1.5°C would be achieved towards the end of this century, future generations will nevertheless live in a world that has fundamentally changed due to current policy and law choices. The article introduces the new concept of 'intergenerational preparedness' to operationalise and expand the normative scope of the principle of intergenerational equity. While some argumentative structures will be examined where intergenerational preparedness can be given effect through legal interpretation, the expectation that States must adopt preparatory measures to account for their community interest obligations deserves a more explicit recognition. It is a matter of the (environmental) rule of law to protect community interests on a time continuum, and this encompasses measures to prevent the deterioration of protected interests and to prepare communities for foreseeable detrimental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper casts a spotlight on one of the manifold legal questions that arise with the proliferation of artificial intelligence. This new technology is attractive for many fields, including public administration, where it promises greater accuracy and efficiency, freeing up resources for better interaction and engagement with citizens. However, public powers are bound by certain constitutional constraints that must be observed, regardless of whether decisions are made by humans or machines. This includes the non-delegation principle, which aims to limit the delegation and sub-delegation of decisions affecting citizens' rights in order to ensure governmental accountability, reviewability, and contestability. This puts some constraints on the automation of decision-making by public entities, as algorithmic decision-making entails delegating decisions to software development companies on the one hand, and to algorithms on the other. The present paper reveals and explains these constraints and concludes with suggestions to navigate these conflicts in a manner that satisfies the rule of law while maximizing the benefits of new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some states assist other countries to reach across national borders and repress their diaspora, while others do not? Transnational repression involves host countries (including democracies) working closely with origin states (typically autocracies) to transfer their citizens living abroad into their custody and silence dissent. We expect international cooperation on transnational repression to rely on a host country's domestic rule of law (opportunity to repress) and economic ties with the origin country (leverage to cooperate). To measure international cooperation on transnational repression, we present new data containing 608 direct physical cases of transnational repression from 2014 to 2020 involving 160 unique country dyads (79 host countries and 31 origin countries). We test our hypotheses using a dataset of 33,615 directed dyad-years that accounts for refugee flows between pairs of countries and find empirical support for our theoretical argument. Autocracies are better able to elicit cooperation on human rights violations from states that have shared economic interests and a weak rule of law. Our findings provide one of the first quantitative accounts of foreign complicity in extraterritorial repression and have policy implications for civil society activists that seek to prevent governments from committing future human rights abuses against foreign nationals living abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed material interest in the relevance of organisational purpose to organisational governance for both for‐profit corporations and charities. A purpose‐focus promises greater clarity for responsible person duties, as well as motivational benefits. However, despite its centrality, the nature of organisational purpose remains under‐theorised. This article first explores theoretical understandings of organisational purpose to provide a robust base for purpose‐based governance theories and to provide potential methods for identifying organisational purpose. This is a descriptive project. Second, it examines the extent to which that theoretical understanding is reflected in charity law. This is a mildly normative project – all else being equal, there are rule of law reasons (greater clarity and stability) for the law to reflect our best understanding of a phenomenon, such that theory may help guide choices between divergent legal approaches to matters like the relevance of organisational values and activities in characterising purpose. Third, the article employs organisational purpose theory to understand the duties applying to charity governors in the context of a change of purpose. This is a mildly normative step again – all else being equal, it would benefit the rule of law if governance obligations reflect our best understanding of organisational purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been researched, written about, and subjected to public enquiry with respect to the content of Australian family law arrangements. This study adds to current understanding by the examination of the records of all successful appeals of parenting orders under the recently adopted regime of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Division 1 Appellate Jurisdiction. Drawing on transcripts from this Court to the date of writing, 35% of applications to appeal parenting orders were successful in being granted a rehearing or variation by the Appellate Jurisdiction. It is these cases which form the basis for this analysis. Employing an inductive thematic analysis, it has been possible to identify the pattern of circumstances most likely to lead to the compromise of the delivery of the declared principles of clear, predictable, and accessible law. Learning from the record of successful appeals, it becomes evident that the Appeals Court plays a relatively unappreciated critical role in identifying the context and nature of risks in the delivery of these core principles and what should be a central focus for attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of populism's international links has grown significantly. Yet, there are gaps in conceptualizing potential implications for the international order. Our study contributes to filling this gap by asking: if a 'populist international order' (PIO) were to emerge, and populists could envision the world close(r) to their liking, what would this order look like? We pursue answers through a plausibility probe of three deductively-derived normative pillars: 1) cooperation under a PIO is characterized by more fractured, mostly symbolic, small-scale multilateralism; 2) a PIO relies on a narrow, selective embrace of the rule of law, to be respected only when seen as representing the wishes of the 'real people'; and 3) the commitment to pluralism in 'international society' is replaced by an anti-pluralist, monolithic notion of popular sovereignty as the primary behavioural driver. Our analysis is based on contemporary populist leadership from Latin America: Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador. We examine how these populists have addressed our proposed PIO pillars in different ways and shaped their world-order visions in relation to them. The lessons derived from this study can contribute to bridging gaps regarding the effects of global populism in International Relations, including prospects of mitigating the systemic impact of populism on the international order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 16 January 2024, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR) published its Guidelines on Democratic Law-making for Better Laws. The creation of the Guidelines was driven by the acknowledgment that strengthening democratic institutions and processes is essential in the era of democratic and constitutional erosion and decay and the recognition that contemporary law-making displays several weaknesses. Based on its decades of experience in assessing legislation and legislative processes in the OSCE participating states, ODIHR intended to provide an overview of the guiding principles of the law-making process that ensure that both the process and the resulting laws comply with the requirements of democracy, the rule of law and human rights commitments. The Guidelines offer a new and rich source of inspiration for scholars devoted to strengthening democracy. This paper identifies new(er) avenues for research in democratic erosion and revival, institutional protection of the democratic legislative process, constitutional change, and the impact of constitutional rights. Further, based on some non-OSCE participating states related examples, it shows how the potential inspirational reach of the Guidelines and the research paths it potentially encourage might go beyond the geographic scope of the OSCE participating states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, police officers have increasingly competed in elections, mirroring expanded roles in government for coercive agents in cases such as the United States, the Philippines, and Mexico. In this paper, I develop a theory of how voters perceive these candidates. The symbol of the police officer represents the abstract idea of order and stability, more than just a crime fighter. Corruption scandals and insecurity in Brazil and Latin America have given rise to "order" in response to the chaos of politics as usual as a compelling electoral brand. I therefore expect that voters associate police officer candidates with strong, decisive leadership, social conservatism, a strong commitment to the rule of law, honesty in government, and a weak commitment to democracy. An image-based conjoint experiment fielded to a representative sample of Brazilian voters (N = 3,098) finds support for the theoretical framework, but respondents did not perceive the police officer candidate as less democratic than other professional profiles. The results help to inform our understanding of electoral politics in post-transition democratic regimes, demonstrating how armed agents of the state might remain popular and influential within the context of a consolidated democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most cases, researchers assume that control of corruption, rule of law, accountability, and government expenditure tend to have a positive impact on government effectiveness. Nonetheless, recent theoretical and empirical evidence supports a mixed relationship between these variables. The paper, therefore, seeks to answer the extent to which corruption, the rule of law, accountability, and government expenditure affect government effectiveness. We employed Johansen method of cointegration and vector error correction model to examine the long-run and short-run relationship between the variables under study. By using Sri Lankan data covering the period from 1996 to 2020, we find a significant and positive relationship only between the control of corruption and government effectiveness both in the long run and in the short run. Yet, rule of law has a positive and significant impact on government effectiveness only in the long run. Voice and accountability, and government expenditure affect the government's effectiveness negatively in the long run and positively in the short run. The article demonstrates that weak anti-corruption mechanisms and weak legal and criminal justice systems seem to have a detrimental impact on government effectiveness in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russia–Ukraine conflict has grabbed the world's attention as a grave breach of a state's sovereignty. Among the several implications of the conflict, it has opened a Pandora's box with counsel and law firms resigning from representing Russia and Russian entities in international legal proceedings including arbitrations. Counsel resignation, once completely within the decision-making of clients and counsel, has grown into an issue that requires third-party deliberations and adjudication. Though trite in law that a counsel and a client have mutual rights to end professional ties between each other, a counsel's voluntary resignation in arbitration remains unexplored. This necessitates a global discussion as it directly encroaches upon the fundamental rule of law that every person has the right to be represented and defended. Thus, counsel resignation has been elevated to a moral quandary of professional obligations. The aim of this article is to draw a broad outline of the present legal position on counsel resignations, the conundrums surrounding it, and the scope of an arbitral tribunal's jurisdiction to interfere in these matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study comprehensively analyses the constitutional system of Ukraine, focusing on the Constitution as the primary document for ensuring constitutional order. It examines the legal regime implemented to maintain this order during wartime, particularly in the context of the ongoing conflict with russia. The research highlights the challenges faced by Ukraine in preserving its constitutional stability amidst external aggression and internal disruptions. Key findings indicate that the Constitution of Ukraine serves as a robust framework for governance, providing essential legal mechanisms to uphold the rule of law and protect human rights even under martial law. The study underscores the critical role of the Constitutional Court in interpreting the Constitution and maintaining judicial independence. It also discusses the balance between national security and civil liberties, emphasizing the need for proportionate restrictions on rights during emergencies. In conclusion, the research advocates for continued reforms and international cooperation to strengthen Ukraine's constitutional system, ensuring resilience and democratic integrity in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on enforcing compliance with the European Union's (EU's) rule of law value has focused on the roles of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the EU. However, the Council of the EU has attracted less attention. Existing scholarship has convincingly established that the rotating Presidency can crucially influence the functioning of the Council, and, accordingly, this paper examines the discretionary impact the Presidencies have towards Art.7 procedures. Drawing on official documents and statements, this paper compares how the various Presidencies from 2018 to 2022 have used their privileged position on the Council's agenda to decide whether to move forward with hearings. In doing so, they selected appropriate agenda‐shaping strategies, shaped the Commission's perceived opportunities to exercise its agenda prerogatives, avoided compromises on the trios' agendas and, sometimes, benefited from not dealing with Art.7 to pursue other agenda priorities. The Presidency's wide room for manoeuvre hinders the Council's activity in scrutinising backsliding governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China as the world’s prominent market for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) has just passed a new regulation on UAS. The new regulation is expected to form a new pattern of rule of law on UAS in China. With the need for harmonisation of laws internationally, this article highlights the three aspects out of China’s new UAS legislation against an international setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the inaction of liberal democracies to effectively tackle global warming, many climate activists engage in forms of protests that involve committing minor criminal offences. They seek to shape official decisions on climate policies by resorting to civil disobedience. Some of these activists, rather than accepting punishment, have successfully claimed to be acting in a justified manner by invoking the necessity defence. The aim of this article is to show that, within the framework of representative democracies guided by the rule of law, the climate necessity defence must be rejected, since such protests do not meet the 'non-legal alternatives' requirement. This does not mean, however, that protesters should be punished as common offenders. Their acceptance of responsibility and political motivation should be taken into account as a mitigating factor at sentencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific article examines the importance of the principle of the rule of law in the system of constitutional principles for the implementation of the right to a safe environment. It was found that constitutional principles are a type of legal principles and there is also no unity among scientists to understand them, which cannot contribute to the unequivocal application of law. The innovative approach and proposed concepts of «ecological constitutionalism» are analyzed, which at the same time shows the complexity of the issue of environmental protection, the combination of the principles of constitutional, environmental and international law. It further developed the proposition that every modern constitution should be based on a fundamental environmental commitment to present and future generations and thereby protect key societal values from certain political turbulence, government policy change that favors short-term economic or political advantages over long-term environmental or economic sustainability. It is the constitutional norms that must guarantee the sustainability of development, as well as stability from political changes in the course regarding the protection of basic human rights and the protection of a safe environment, without which it is not possible to create the proper conditions for a decent human life and social development. The concepts of «constitutional principles», «principles of environmental law» and «rule of law» were studied. Various approaches among scientists to understanding the principle of the rule of law have been clarified. Those decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine that allow personifying and objectifying the principle of the rule of law, as well as developing the content of this principle, are analyzed. It was established that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in its decisions meaningfully filled the principle of the rule of law, emphasized the non-identity of law and law, remarked on justice as a key element of law, which in combination with equality, legal certainty fills this concept. Our own approach to understanding the principle of the rule of law as the basis of the system of constitutional foundations for the realization of the right to a safe environment is substantiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author focuses on some core notions linking together judicial independence and good administration through the thread of the rule of law. The rule of law is the golden thread running through all public administration (which includes also the judicial administration) of a state, with the ultimate aim being the common good. This is an ideal to which all modern, so-called democratic, states should aspire. The author looks at the practical meaning of the rule of law and suggests an approach based on a core of eight principles, the so-called Bingham's "sub-principles", and adds two more to them. Finally, it is argued that one cannot speak of the rule of law, of fundamental human rights and of good administration as if these were concepts isolated from each other [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the past decade has shown how populist governments may challenge the EU's budgetary framework, we still lack an understanding of the circumstances under which populists are more likely to mobilize against EU-level decision-making in this field, and what this mobilization may look like. Combining the literature on populism as an ideology and EU decision-making, the article zooms in on the negotiations regarding the general regime of conditionality in EU budgetary politics and argues that economic and political factors have influenced populist mobilization. A qualitative comparison of the nine cases where populist parties feature in the government highlights that only two countries, Poland and Hungary, have actively opposed the introduction of the so-called rule-of-law conditionality. A closer look indicates that a combination of Euroscepticism, European Parliamentary affiliation, membership in the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and the political power that populist parties possess at home, along with key macroeconomic indicators, have influenced populists in government to mobilize against the conditionality mechanism. In the second part of the analysis, the article showcases the actions of the Hungarian government, highlighting it as a specific example of populist mobilization. Viktor Orbán's government has built a populist narrative around the issue, questioned the norm of the decision-making process, exerted a veto to block the agreement temporarily, and later challenged the regulation in court--in short, it engaged in unpolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populist governments aim to fundamentally challenge the EU, raising the question of when and how backsliding populist governments disrupt decision-making in the Council of the EU (hereafter Council). Due to their anti-elite and strong anti-EU stance, along with their opposition to core values of liberal democracy, I argue that these governments are more inclined to resort to unpolitics, understood as "unsettlement." Analysing the behaviour of the Hungarian Fidesz government in the Council, the article demonstrates that populist governments resort to unpolitics but use an à la carte approach. Populist backsliding governments selectively oppose the Council's formal and informal decision-making rules. Looking at the voting behaviour in the Council since 2009, the article shows that the Fidesz government preserves the norm of consensus. However, over time, it has become the government that has most often broken with this norm. Conversely, when it comes to "backsliding-inhibiting competences," the Fidesz government challenges both formal and informal rules through a wide range of strategies, i.e., systematically contesting the legality of procedures and decisions, embracing a confrontational approach and diplomacy, self-victimisation, bending the truth, and accusatory rhetoric. To illustrate them, the article focuses on decisions related to the dismantlement of the rule of law in the country, such as Article 7 TEU, the application of Regulation 2020/2092, and the disbursement of Cohesion funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore and discuss how the clustering of values in local educational governance manifests in the case of inclusion. Public values and the role that these play as mediating factors are important in local governance processes; however, they are often overlooked in empirical studies. Inclusion is interesting because it is currently one of the most dominant political aims in education. Based on extensive data from interviews with municipal administrators in Norway, the following three aspects were important in their meaning-making around inclusive education: (1) an assumed common understanding of inclusion, (2) a general approach to adaptation and (3) a broad view on school development. These largely reflected public values, such as equality and participation, rule of law and accountability, professional autonomy and innovation. However, because the values are clustered in particular ways, inclusion largely becomes a practical and didactic issue. This is important to discuss as the municipal level arguably needs to be involved in analytical discussions to enhance inclusive education. Professional autonomy and accountability are both emphasised and may create value conflicts. How public sector values are mediated and clustered with each other should be discussed, as how this is done give directions for educational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]