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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Law

Comparative Constitutionalism In A New Key, Paul W. Kahn Aug 2003

Comparative Constitutionalism In A New Key, Paul W. Kahn

Michigan Law Review

Law is a symbolic system that structures the political imagination. The "rule of law" is a shorthand expression for a cultural practice that constructs a particular understanding of time and space, of subjects and groups, as well as of authority and legitimacy. It is a way of projecting, maintaining, and discovering meaning in the world of historical events and political possibilities. The rule of law - as opposed to the techniques of lawyering - is not the possession of lawyers. It is a characterization of the polity, which operates both descriptively and normatively in public perception. Ours, we believe, is …


The New Imperialism: Violence, Norms, And The "Rule Of Law", Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks Jun 2003

The New Imperialism: Violence, Norms, And The "Rule Of Law", Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Michigan Law Review

The past decade has seen a surge in American and international efforts to promote "the rule of law" around the globe, especially in postcrisis and transitional societies. The World Bank and multinational corporations want the rule of law, since the sanctity of private property and the enforcement of contracts are critical to modern conceptions of the free market. Human-rights advocates want the rule of law since due process and judicial checks on executive power are regarded as essential prerequisites to the protection of substantive human rights. In the wake of September 11, international and national-security experts also want to promote …


Who Cares About Courts? Creating A Constitutency For Judicial Independence In Africa, Mary L. Dudziak May 2003

Who Cares About Courts? Creating A Constitutency For Judicial Independence In Africa, Mary L. Dudziak

Michigan Law Review

While American scholars and judges generally assume that it is beneficial to insulate courts from politics, Jennifer Widner offers a contrasting perspective from another region of the world. In Building the Rule of Law: Francis Nyalali and the Road to Judicial Independence in Africa, Widner examines the role of courts and judicial review in democratization in Africa. She focuses on the role of one judge, a man who would see himself as embodying a role in Tanzania similar to that of Chief Justice John Marshall in the United States. Francis Nyalali, Chief Justice of the High Court of Tanzania, worked …


Global Government Networks, Global Information Agencies, And Disaggregated Democracy, Anne-Marie Slaughter Jan 2003

Global Government Networks, Global Information Agencies, And Disaggregated Democracy, Anne-Marie Slaughter

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay seeks to broaden our understanding of government networks by placing them in more historical context and by elaborating different types of government networks within and without traditional international institutions. After a brief overview of the literature on transgovernmentalism since the 1970s in Part I, Part H sets forth a typology of three different categories of government networks. Part III then seeks to pinpoint the specific accountability concerns associated with each type. Part IV offers one approach to answering some current accountability concerns by adapting the concept of "information agencies" from the European Union to the global level. This …


Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana Jan 2003

Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article articulates the right to democratic governance in Africa, arguing that democratic entitlement ought to acquire, if indeed it already has not acquired, a degree of legitimacy in the continent. If democratic governance is a fundamental human right, which this Article asserts it is, it follows that any African State that denies its citizens the right to any of the elements of democratic entitlement-such as free and open elections-is violating a fundamental right, which should attract responsibility. The Article begins with an examination of the patrimonial State structure in Africa and its negative impact on governance. It is a …


Enforcement Of Foreign Judgements, The First Amendment, And Internet Speech: Notes For The Next Yahoo! V. Licra, Molly S. Van Houweling Jan 2003

Enforcement Of Foreign Judgements, The First Amendment, And Internet Speech: Notes For The Next Yahoo! V. Licra, Molly S. Van Houweling

Michigan Journal of International Law

The Article begins with a review of the relevant rules governing enforcement of foreign judgments in the United States. Part II explains how courts have unpersuasively applied these rules when refusing to enforce foreign libel judgments. Part III then explains how the Yahoo! court adopted much of this faulty reasoning. Finally, Part IV explains the considerations that better justify judicial refusal to enforce speech-restrictive foreign judgments, especially those triggered by Internet speech. The Article concludes that the prospect that U.S. Internet speakers will choose to speak only to a U.S. audience-even when their speech would be legal everywhere-is the most …


The Concept Of Accountability In World Politics And The Use Of Force, Robert O. Keohane Jan 2003

The Concept Of Accountability In World Politics And The Use Of Force, Robert O. Keohane

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper proceeds as follows. In Part I, the author discuss a pluralistic theory of accountability. He begins by defining accountability in a standard fashion, emphasizing two conditions: the availability of information to accountability-holders, and their ability to sanction power-wielders. The author then proceeds to discuss a pluralistic conception of accountability systems. Part II then develops a typology of eight accountability mechanisms, all of which are found in democratic societies, but not all of which are democratic per se. Part III builds on the Jacobson-Ku discussion of the current practices, relative to accountability, of the Security Council and asks …