29 October 2021
Die Rückkehr „positiver Komplementarität“
Der (neue) Chefankläger des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH), Karim A. A. Khan Q.C., hat gestern die Einstellung der (jahrelangen) Vorermittlungen (preliminary examination) zu Kolumbien angekündigt. Mit der Einstellung haucht der neue Chefankläger des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs dem in Vergessenheit geratenen Konzept „positiver Komplementarität“ neues Leben ein und lässt eine strategische Neuausrichtung erkennen. Continue reading >>
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19 February 2021
Brazilian Democracy Under Military Tutelage
The relationship between the military and the civilian government is one that has defined the whole constitutional history of Brazil and could pave the way for a collapse of democracy. A few days ago, former Army General Villas Bôas revealed in an interview how the armed forces exercised pressure in 2018 against the Federal Supreme Court in the case of former President Lula. The threats made by General Villas Bôas demonstrate the fragility of the Brazilian democracy. Conflicts between the military and courts have been growing, and Bolsonaro has intensified the situation by increasingly involving military personnel in politics and making access to guns easier for the general public. Continue reading >>18 August 2019
What happens after the Polish Elections?
What would become of what's left of Polish constitutional democracy in the case of another PiS victory in October? And what if they lose the elections? How could the damage done by them be undone? Continue reading >>16 April 2019
A Juncture of Transitional Justice: Ukraine’s Constitutional Court and the National Lustration Law
The presidential race and upcoming second round of elections currently take all attention in the news coverage on Ukraine. Meanwhile there is a case pending before the Constitutional Court that challenges the constitutionality of the 2014 lustration law. The outcome of these proceedings could shatter the post-transition constitutional law order in Ukraine in a profound way. Continue reading >>
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06 February 2019
Transitional Justice in Colombia Under Attack: An Interview with GABRIEL ROJAS
Colombia is the first country in the world with a peace agreement that includes the Rome Statute obligations of the International Criminal Court in its new transitional justice system. But after a change of government last year, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP) is already coming under attack before it has barely started. Continue reading >>
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28 January 2016
“2004 EU Accession” as a Founding Moment? Of lost opportunities, alienating constitutionalism and vigilant courts
Much as the liberal elites in Poland are appalled by the ruthlessness of the attack on the Constitutional Court and the Polish rule of law, they are the ones to be blamed for the civic passivity that continues to define post-transition societies in general. The truly reformative potential of 1989, and then 2004, was lost when elites neglected the importance of connecting with the “real” people beyond the magic of the big-bang moments of 1989 and 2004. This "alienating constitutionalism" is one of the dark sides of 2004 Founding Moment, one that nobody really saw coming at the time of the EU Accession. Should the citizenry start embracing and defending the Court as "my own", the truly powerful legacy of the 2004 Founding Moment would be discovered. Continue reading >>
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29 October 2015