Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Law
Globalization Of Constitutional Identity, Bui Ngoc Son
Globalization Of Constitutional Identity, Bui Ngoc Son
Washington International Law Journal
This Article extends Gary J. Jacobsohn’s theory of constitutional identity to better understand the dynamics of constitutional identity in the era of globalization. The extended theoretical framework features the relation of constitutional globalization to the change of national constitutional identity. Within that framework, this Article offers an original, empirical examination of the case of Vietnam and compares it with other socialist regimes (China, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba). It argues that globalization induces adaption to the socialist constitutional identity. The socialist constitutional identity is adapted by the pragmatic incorporation of fundamental ideas and principles of global constitutionalism. Consequently, the essence …
Can The Japanese Supreme Court Overcome The Political Question Hurdle?, Po Liang Chen, Jordan T. Wada
Can The Japanese Supreme Court Overcome The Political Question Hurdle?, Po Liang Chen, Jordan T. Wada
Washington International Law Journal
In 1947, a new Japanese Constitution (“Kenpō”) was born and its pacifist ideal was embodied in Article 9. Meanwhile, judicial review was transplanted, mainly from the United States (“U.S.”), into Japan. While the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed its political question doctrine since Baker v. Carr in 1962, Japan developed its constitutional avoidance and political question doctrine in part to avoid deciding the merits of Article 9 disputes, including the legitimacy of Japan’s Self-Defense Force, the Security Treaty between the US and Japan, and the stationing of U.S. Forces in Japan. The Japanese Supreme Court (“SCJ”) adopted a deferential …
Entrenching The Minority: The Constitutional Court In Thailand's Political Conflict, Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang
Entrenching The Minority: The Constitutional Court In Thailand's Political Conflict, Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang
Washington International Law Journal
Since 2006, Thailand has witnessed an unprecedented surge of judicial activism from the Constitutional Court to scrutinize elected politicians in the name of the rule of law. Democracy, argued Constitutional Court judges, could only be consolidated if the rule of law was maintained. But examination of several high-profile constitutional cases suggested that the Constitutional Court was actually working on behalf of the powerful elite minority to obstruct the democratic process under the pretext of protecting the rule of law. This antagonistic position brewed resentment and violence which jeopardized the Constitutional Court’s legitimacy as a neutral political arbiter. The 2014 coup …
The End Of Constitutional Pacifism?, Yasuo Hasebe
The End Of Constitutional Pacifism?, Yasuo Hasebe
Washington International Law Journal
On September 19, 2015, the National Diet of Japan enacted a series of statutes which enable the government to exercise the right of collective self-defense. One of the statutes also enables the government to dispatch the Self-defense Forces to take charge of logistics for foreign military forces waging wars. This enactment symbolises Japan’s turn of course regarding its long-held stance on constitutional pacifism. Pacifism maintained under the Constitution of Japan was not pure pacifism rejecting any use of force. The successive governments held that the right of individual self-defense, in other words, the right to use force in order to …
Contemplated Amendments To Japan's 1947 Constitution: A Return To Iye, Kokutai And The Meiji State, Carl F. Goodman
Contemplated Amendments To Japan's 1947 Constitution: A Return To Iye, Kokutai And The Meiji State, Carl F. Goodman
Washington International Law Journal
The post World War II American Occupation of Japan was a huge programmatic success. Its disarmament, repatriation, land reform, and health programs put a defeated Japan on the road to recuperation, while providing a military shield that enabled Japan to focus on recovery from the War and rebuilding the country and economy. Perhaps its most enduring legacy was its Enlightenment-based, American-drafted, rights-oriented Constitution of 1947 [hereinafter “the Constitution”]. Drafted in English, the Constitution was promulgated in Japanese, resulting in some substantive changes. Among the most important of these were changing the English word “people” into the Japanese “kokumin” …
Constitution And Narrative In The Age Of Crisis In Japanese Politics, Keigo Komamura
Constitution And Narrative In The Age Of Crisis In Japanese Politics, Keigo Komamura
Washington International Law Journal
The most significant political issue facing the legal world in Japan is the drive for constitutional revision led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This paper situates the revisionist movement within the context of postwar Japanese politics before drawing on theoretical literature in critical legal studies to analyze the LDP’s draft constituion to reveal the magnitude of the proposed changes and to assess the risk they pose to the rule of law in Japan. The paper argues that the proposed draft constitution eschews the languages of the current constitution like “a universal principle of mankind”, …
Interpretation Of The Pacifist Article Of The Constitution By The Bureau Of Cabinet Legislation: A New Source Of Constitutional Law?, Hajime Yamamoto
Interpretation Of The Pacifist Article Of The Constitution By The Bureau Of Cabinet Legislation: A New Source Of Constitutional Law?, Hajime Yamamoto
Washington International Law Journal
This article analyzes recent change of Japanese governmental interpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan concerning the right of collective self-defense. This governmental interpretation of Article 9 has been elaborated by the Bureau of Cabinet Legislation. This article criticizes a recent critique of this situation by main stream Japanese constitutional scholars as “crisis of constitutionalism”.