The Politics of Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is a central concept in the framing of the legal world but it has received short shrift in mainstream legal theory. This article examines the prevailing conceptual forms of jurisdiction in order to retrieve space for the political. The study of jurisdiction is also the study of the political community that it invokes and authorises. The first part of the article examines the three forms that jurisdiction takes in contemporary scholarship (territory, community, governance) to show that each form overlooks some implication of the political community that is tethered to jurisdiction. The second part of the article flips the inquiry to demonstrate the oversight of jurisdiction in theories of sovereign exception. The emergent understanding of jurisdiction as political provides an anchor for the study of jurisdiction going forward and highlights the potential role for jurisdictional arrangements in contemporary public law and constitutional law settings.     

The Politics of Fear

The article attempts to analyze the mechanisms of political control used by the Kremlin vis-à-vis its rivals. Russian authorities had opted the politics of fear, which include overt intimidation and public discrediting of the regime's critics, and selective persecution and open harassment of opposition activists and/or supporters. This approach to political control to some degree reproduced similar mechanisms that had enabled regime survival in the late-Soviet period, and fit general trends of repressive policies in a number of contemporary authoritarian regimes. The article discusses causes and mechanisms of the politics of fear in contemporary Russia, its roots in comparative and historical contexts, and strengths and weaknesses of repressive policy in Russia from the viewpoints of the regime, the opposition, and Russian society.     

The Politics of Constitution Making: Transforming Politics into Constitutions

According to our conventional perception of the interrelations between revolutions and constitutions, constitutions perpetuate the interests of the victorious forces of the revolution. This paper analyzes the distinctive character of the revolutions of 1989 in East and Central Europe with respect to their claim to constitutionalism. The main characteristic of these revolutions is the disbelief of their proponents in the postulate of a homogeneous unitary popular will which imposes itself on the society. Intead, two different concepts of civil society have been emerging, both of which can be connected with a more elaborate notion of constitutionalism. Constitutions can be understood as institutional devices which encourage the endurance of their legality without being entirely dependent on either the principle of self-interest or the idea of pre-political consensus.     

The Interorganizational Politics of Legal Activit

This paper explores influences on the legal activity of attorneys in five federally funded legal services agencies. I examine the effect on legal activity of three sets of variables: lawyer characteristics, organizational features, and interorganizational en vironment. The data suggest that legal activity is influenced most directly by the nature of the interorganizational environment. The influence of personnel and organizational characteristics is indirect and situational, conditioned by the interorganizational context. The findings call into question many of the criticisms expressed by opponents of the Legal Services Corporation. They also suggest that constraints imposed by local organizations on legal services activities are at least as important as national attempts to modify the corporation's mission.     

The Political Geography of Distributive Politics

Distributive politics plays an integral role in theories of legislative politics because it represents a fundamental aspect of legislators' electoral connection to constituents. We argue that because distributive politics is at its core a constituency‐centered process, it is essential to take geography into account in both substantive and statistical terms. Our analysis, which employs Geographic Weighted Regression, reveals substantial spatial heterogeneity in traditional models of pork‐barreling. The results challenge the implicit assumption that one size fits all when modeling the behavior of members of Congress in the realm of distributive politics.     

The Politics of Legal Representation: The Influence of Local Politics on the Behavior of Poverty Lawyers

This article explores the influence of local groups on the strategies employed by poverty lawyers in representing clients. Data collected from one suburban legal services program suggest that despite attitudinal predispositions to initiate law reform litigation, poverty lawyers are constrained in their use of social reform strategies by local organizations opposed to such activity. I argue that politics inevitably affect poverty lawyer behavior due to the nature of legal services work and programmatic features of the national Legal Services Corporation. I assess the implications of these findings for federal control of local programs.     

The Politics of the Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act is the result of post-war changes in Europe. It is the consequence less of the campaigning of dedicated individuals and more of the change in the position of the United Kingdom in Europe and the world. Objections to incorporation of the Convention have given way to the desire to be like the rest of Europe. Traditional views of the judicial role have given way to a perception of the judiciary as the last bastion against an over-powerful executive, unchecked by Parliament.     

The Politics of a European Civil Code

Abstract:  Last year the European Commission published its Action Plan on European contract law. That plan forms an important step towards a European Civil Code. In its Plan, the Commission tries to depoliticise the codification process by asking a group of academic experts to prepare what it calls a 'common frame of reference'. This paper argues that drafting a European Civil Code involves making many choices that are essentially political. It further argues that the technocratic approach which the Commission has adopted in the Action Plan effectively excludes most stakeholders from having their say during the stage when the real choices are made. Therefore, before the drafting of the CFR/ECC starts, the Commission should submit a list of policy questions regarding the main issues of European private law to the European Parliament and the other stakeholders. Such an alternative procedure would repoliticise the process. It would increase the democratic basis for a European Civil Code and thus its legitimacy.     

The Politics of the Rule of Law*

Abstract. The rule of law should be understood as part of the culture of democracy which requires a distribution of power between a periodically elected legislature and executive and an independent, but publicly accountable, judiciary in charge of a more slowly changing legal doctrine. The rule of law is also essential for the protection of individuals in fast changing pluralistic societies. In both its aspects the doctrine is a product of a particular historical culture, and requires a culture of legality, and not merely the introduction of a few legal rules, for its proper functioning.     

Judicial Review of Politics: The Israeli Case

In the tradition of studies questioning the impact of celebrated court rulings, this article discusses the effectiveness of the judicial review of politics conducted by the Israeli Supreme Court. The Israeli Supreme Court is generally viewed as a highly influential, almost omnipotent body. During the last two decades, the Court has intervened repeatedly in the so–called political domain, thereby progressively eroding the scope of realms considered non–justiciable. It has ventured to enter domains of 'pure' political power to review the legality of political agreements, political appointments (appointments of political allies to public positions), and political allocations (government funding to organizations affiliated with its political supporters). The prevalent perception is that these developments had a significant impact on Israeli political life. The present article challenges this view and argues that, on closer scrutiny, the influence of the Court on many of the issues reviewed here is negligible. First, many of the doctrines developed by the Court in order to review political measures proved ineffective. Usually, when the Supreme Court (acting as a High Court of Justice) engages in judicial review, it lacks the evidence needed in order to decide that administrative decisions on public appointments or public funding should be abolished because they were based on political or self–serving considerations. Second, the norms mandated by the Court hardly influence politicians' decisions in everyday life, and are applied only in contested cases. The reasons for this situation are not only legal but also socio–political. Large sections of current Israeli society support interest–group politics and do not accept the values that inspire the Court.     

政治

胡锦涛强调节约资源 5月8日,国家主席胡锦涛在江苏省考察时指出,中国要努力构建资源节约型国民经济体系和资源节约型社会。 胡锦涛强调,可持续发展战略事关中华民族的长远发展,各地区在推进发展的过程中,要抓好资源的节约和综合利用,大力发展循环经济,抓好生态环境保护和建设。