Political Rights

Law, Democracy and the European Court of Human Rights examines the political rights jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. It discusses how the Court supports a liberal representative and substantive model of democracy, and outlines the potential for the Court to interpret the Convention so as to support more deliberative, participatory and inclusive democratic practices. The book commences with an overview of different theories of democracy and then discusses the origins of the Council of Europe and the Convention and presents the basic principles on the interpretation and application of the Convention. Subsequent chapters explore issues around free expression, free assembly and association, the scope of the electoral rights, the right to vote, the right to run for election and issues about electoral systems. Issues discussed include rights relating to referendums, voting rights for prisoners and non-nationals, trade union rights and freedom of information.

del Plata, Editorial Eudem, 110 pp. D e una forma sencilla y con un lenguaje ac-cesible Adriana Valobra nos invita a reco-rrer la historia política de las mujeres del Siglo XX en la Argentina. Su obra procura reponer la historia de las mujeres y la construcción de la ciudadanía política de este siglo aportando una mirada con perspectiva de género. En el marco de la colección La Argentina Peronis-ta, la autora trasciende el período de los gobiernos peronistas y se centra en mapear el panorama de la historia política de las mujeres y para ello puntua-liza en dos dimensiones de la ciudadanía política: el ejercicio del sufragio y la representación. El de-recho a la participación en la cosa pública es un eje transversal de su trabajo. Valobra visibiliza con claridad continuidades y rupturas entre la historia y el presente. Su trabajo comienza con un debate actual sobre la dimensión de la representación de las mujeres en el marco de la reciente aprobación de la Ley de Paridad de Gé-nero en Ámbitos de Representación Política (N° 27.412) que vuelve a poner en discusión el mérito de las mujeres como representantes. Su observa-ción permite advertir sobre las continuidades que perpetúan un mundo político binario donde el vo-tar "bien" de ayer encuentra su correlato en el re-presentar "bien" de nuestros tiempos. En el primer capítulo, Valobra presenta la noción de género como una categoría analítica y con capa

Resumo O objetivo do presente texto é sustentar a ideia que os levellers formaram um dos mo-vimentos democrático-radicais mais importantes da história moderna, defendendo um programa político que articulava uma série de princípios que, no seu todo, configuravam uma proposta democrática. Estes princípios incluíam: a noção de soberania popular, de direitos humanos inalienáveis, o princípio de governo por consenso, a proposta de direitos políticos universais e a defesa da tolerância religiosa.

O presente ensaio tem o objetivo de analisar o intrigante tema da participação política das minorias, o que se faz partindo da problematização do próprio conceito de minoria e das dificuldades que tais grupos enfrentam. Outro ponto que merece destaque é o da conexão realizada entre as lutas das minorias e a conquista de direitos, relação estabelecida a partir de uma perspectiva dos direitos humanos e do debate entre universalismo e multiculturalismo. Com efeito, apresenta-se a participação política como elemento fundamental no enfrentamento dos desafios das minorias. Tal proposição é precedida pelo estudo das formas de participação política e suas relações com as minorias. Encerra-se o ensaio com a exposição de alguns casos do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral que envolvem a participação política das minorias.

Conferencia impartida en la Procuraduría General de la Nación de Colombia. El objetivo es presentar una interpretación lege ferenda de los artículos 8, 23 y 25 de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos en relación con las funciones de las autoridades disciplinarias.

This article aims to analyze the recognition of the political rights of indigenous people in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UN 2007, the American Declaration of 2016 and Convention N°169 about Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Labor Organization, to conclude that the political participation of these people is not guaranteed with the exercise of the right to vote and participate, but it requires respect for the right to self-determination of people, and therefore, there should be respect on their own ways of selecting their representatives and how decisions are made in a community

A inclusão de imigrantes nos Conselhos Participativos das Subprefeituras de São Paulo,  por meio da criação do cargo de Conselheiro Extraordinário nestes órgãos (Decreto n°. 54.645, 29/11/2013), merece um olhar cuidadoso, visto ter sido esta uma medida que  visava “(...) garantir a participação dos imigrantes moradores da Cidade”, segundo consta do decreto supra. Surge, portanto, entre outras, a questão dos limites à participação que  as pessoas encontram em função de fatores externos, tais como o seu ‘status’ migratório, no território. Afim de elucidar esse ponto, esse trabalho investiga o processo de criação desse cargo, bem como alguns de seus desdobramentos, utilizando como referencial a teoria do reconhecimento e como premissa os Direitos Humanos das pessoas migrantes.

El ciudadano es el ser político de cualquier Estado y, como tal, puede ejercer válidamente sus derechos políticos y sociales. Desde este enfoque, la ciudadanía viene a ser un mero estatus jurídico que se puede ejercitar a voluntad en lo que tiene de derecho a la participación. Cuando este enfoque clásico se sitúa en el marco de los derechos humanos, sufre ciertas transformaciones. Cabe preguntarse sobre si ¿se puede gozar de derechos civiles y políticos sin tener acceso a las condiciones básicas que aseguren la posibilidad de ejercer estos derechos? El desequilibrio derechos/responsabilidades apunta a una tensión central que es la del Estado versus la Sociedad Civil. Pensar en un Estado garante de los derechos nos remite a una noción de ciudadanía asistida y a una sociedad civil monolítica.

Citizens are the political being in any state, and, as such, can validly exercise the political and social rights. From this point of view, citizenship becomes a mere judicial status that can be exercised at will in what refers to the right to participate. When this classicai approach is set within the frame of the human rights, it experiences certain modifications. We might wonder if not having access to their basic conditions, civil and política! rights can be exercised. The rights/ responsibility unevenness points out to the central issue which is state vs. civil society. The realization of aguarantying state of the human rights direct us toan assisted citizenship and toa monolithic civil society.

The present text analyses the development and core ideological nations that guide nationality/citizenship laws in Mexico. It argues that some aspects of the 'Revolutionary Nationalism' doctrine still shapes laws and policies in this area, for instance, regarding the ethno-cultural composition of the Mexican nation, or the defensive stance against any type of foreign intervention. This has direct consequences, for instance, in laws and policies regarding naturalization. What is more, it has created a system of 'categories of citizenship', with different rights attached to each one – so naturalized Mexicans, as well as Mexicans with dual citizenship, face an open, legally-sanctioned discrimination in their political and labour rights. Further instances of inequalities, as well as current political debates, are also examined.

Constituição remete ao legislador ordinário a fixação das hipóteses inelegibilidades relativas e a sua duração. A Lei Complementar 64/1990 fixa o momento de aferição das inelegi-
bilidades na data das eleições e a Lei das Eleições no registro de candidatos. Tanto esta quanto aquela lei desconsidera que a fi-
xação destas datas atinge os direitos políticos individuais, pois a inelegibilidade é contada por mandatos. As datas de posse nos cargos do Poder Legislativo da União são diferenciadas do Po-
der Executivo e dos cargos estaduais e do Distrito Federal. Por isso, na prática podem chegar até doze anos para deputado fede-
ral e vinte anos para senador. A importância deste problema se justifica na necessidade de se aferir a natureza jurídica da inele-
gibilidade como coerção com escopo de proteção do eleitor, san-
ção aos inelegíveis ou ambas. O objetivo será efetuar pelo mé-
todo indutivo uma proposta de adequação das inelegibilidades a partir das hipóteses em concreto de modo para satisfazer tanto o interesse do eleitor e quanto aos direitos políticos individuais restringindo proporcionalmente os direitos políticos dos inelegíveis.

En este trabajo se revisan los incentivos y limitaciones que persisten
al implementar medidas relacionadas con el ejercicio del derecho a
ser votado, tomando como base empírica la experiencia de Nuevo León en el reciente proceso electoral, donde se renovó el Congreso local y los 51 ayuntamientos de la entidad. Desde la perspectiva de los derechos humanos, se examinan los requisitos para el registro, el financiamiento, la campaña y los votos conseguidos, a fin de valorar la accesibilidad, disponibilidad, adaptabilidad y no discriminación de los dispositivos encaminados a la puesta en práctica del derecho a ser votado para quienes optaron por participar en la contienda electoral por la vía no partidista. La conclusión indica que a pesar de que la inclusión del derecho a ser votado en la Constitución federal y de los estados
constituyó un avance, la reglamentación de este derecho ha tenido un efecto regresivo, limitando la universalidad del derecho y haciéndolo indisponible e inaccesible para muchos ciudadanos.

El derecho de sufragio en el conjunto del Derecho electoral

Sufragio activo:
    requisitos positivos
    requisitos negativos

Sufragio pasivo:
    requisitos positivos
    requisitos negativos (inelegibilidades)

Limitación del derecho de sufragio pasivo que deriva de los requisitos para la presentación de candidaturas: el monopolio atribuido a los partidos políticos

I defend a neo-republican account of the right to have political rights. Neo-republican freedom from domination is a sufficient condition for the extension of political rights not only for permanent residents, but also for temporary residents, unauthorized migrants, and some expatriates. I argue for the advantages of the neo-republican account over the social membership account, the affected-interest account, the stakeholder account, and accounts based on the justification of state coercion.

Following is my commentary as part of the Roundtable discussion on Kathryn Sikkink’s piece on human rights: “Human Rights: Advancing the Frontier of Emancipation,” organised by the Great Transition Initiative.  I contribute the following brief, particularly from the perspective of a universal basic income as an economic right. In case you are not familiar with the concept, the universal basic income is a cash allowance, unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, including children, without means test or work requirement to fulfil their basic needs for the simple reason of existing. Kathryn Sikkink’s main argument in her essay is that human rights play a key role in the transformation that we need to build a just and flourishing future. I agree, but for human rights to play a key role in the transformation of societies, we must work to create a radical tectonic shift to build a completely new paradigm.

Do ‘more’ human rights enable people live better? The answer might be obvious for human rights defenders but measuring the relationship between human rights and human well-being is more complicated. Via reviewing existing research on how human rights, in particular civil and political rights influence the standards of peoples’ lives, this paper identifies two approaches to measuring human well-being, and argues that people live well if they feel they do. The results of a subsequent correlation analysis support this claim. They indicate that higher standards of civil and political rights match with increased perceptions of happiness which opens up the room for further positive behavioural change.

El pluralismo político constituye, de acuerdo con el artículo 1.1 de la Constitución, uno de los valores superiores del ordenamiento jurídico español y condición fundamental para todo sistema democrático. La realización del pluralismo político requiere de dos elementos: un elemento subjetivo (la libertad de partidos políticos) y un elemento objetivo (la capacidad de los distintos partidos no mayoritarios de continuar desarrollando, después de las elecciones, una acción política de crítica y propuesta de alternativas que les permita influir en la toma de decisiones). Este artículo analiza cómo, fruto de la reestructuración del sistema político y económicos llevada a cabo en las últimas décadas, estos dos elementos clásicos necesarios para la garantía del pluralismo político podrían estar sufriendo una limitación que afectaría, en sentido negativo, al propio valor pluralismo político.

"Although Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in February 2011, the uprisings in Egypt show little sign of retreat. While the uniting rallying cry may have been against dictatorship, the struggle in Egypt that took headlines across the world in early 2011 reflected deeper social, political, and economic problems.
The key demands of the revolution have still not been met. The continuation of military rule and the promise of more neoliberal economic policies lead many to believe it will be a long battle. Protestors in Egypt are hopeful, however, as people all over the world revolt against an economic system that benefits the few at the expense of the many."

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether it is permissible for a liberal democratic state to deny anti-liberal-democratic citizens and groups the right to run for parliament. My answer to this question is twofold. On the one hand, I will argue that it is, in principle, permissible for liberal democratic states to deny anti-liberal-democratic citizens and groups the right to run for parliament. On the other hand, I will argue that it is rarely wise (or prudent) for ripe democracies to exclude anti-liberal-democrats from parliamentary elections. There are at least two reasons for this. The first is related to the inherent stability of just institutions. The second is that exclusion can lead to group polarization and enclave deliberation that can engender political extremism and impair processes of interpersonal and intrapersonal deliberation in liberal democracies.

Human Rights are the oldest phenomenon in the world that develops with the passage of time. The basic idea of human rights was the right to live, liberty and property. But now, human rights can divide into many categories such as civil rights, political rights, social rights, economic rights, religious rights, cultural rights and many more. This article is about the understanding of political rights in the concept of western human rights and Islam. This article further focus on te political right of minorities, especially religious minorities. For this study, secondary data and techniques of data analysis were used.

En este trabajo se revisan los incentivos y limitaciones que persisten al implementar medidas relacionadas con el ejercicio del derecho a ser votado, tomando como base empirica la experiencia de Nuevo Leon en el reciente proceso electoral, donde se renovo el Congreso local y los 51 ayuntamientos de la entidad. Desde la perspectiva de los derechos humanos, se examinan los requisitos para el registro, el financiamiento, la campana y los votos conseguidos, a fin de valorar la accesibilidad, disponibilidad, adaptabilidad y no discriminacion de los dispositivos encaminados a la puesta en practica del derecho a ser votado para quienes optaron por participar en la contienda electoral por la via no partidista. La conclusion indica que si bien la inclusion del derecho a ser votado en la Constitucion federal y de los estados constituyo un avance, la reglamentacion de este derecho ha tenido un efecto regresivo, limitando la universalidad del derecho y haciendolo indisponible e inaccesible para...

Despite being citizens, naturalised Mexicans are subjected to large restrictions in their political, civic, and even labour rights. Why such discriminatory regime is applied to such a reduced group of citizens, in a country that officially prides itself as open, tolerant, and having an intrinsically ‘mixed’ national origin? My hypothesis is that the roots of such differentiated treatment are the ideological legacy of the ‘Revolutionary Nationalism’ doctrine, which was promoted by the Mexican state during most of the 20th century, and is still expressed in laws and policies.

Selina Reusser, Katrin Sontag
Die internationale Mobilität führt dazu, dass ein wachsender Anteil der Wohnbevölkerung in Europa kein Wahlrecht hat. Dieser Blogbeitrag stellt europäische Initiativen vor, die sich angesichts dieses demokratischen Defizits für inklusivere politische Rechte einsetzen. So fand etwa am 26. April 2021 der erste internationale «Tag für das Wahlrecht für alle» statt, organisiert vom neu gegründeten Netzwerk 'Voting Rights for ALL Residents' (VRAR).

D'après le Tribunal fédéral, le recours dirigé contre une décision d’aboutissement d’un référendum prononcée par la Chancellerie fédérale est irrecevable (art. 80 al. 2 LDP). Nous défendons une autre interprétation de l'art. 80 al. 2 LDP et analysons la voie de recours pour soulever une tromperie lors d'une récolte de signatures.

La présente contribution examine la protection de la libre formation de la volonté des signataires d’une demande de référendum (art. 34 al. 2 Cst.). Elle s’interroge en particulier sur les conséquences à tirer d’une atteinte à ce droit par des personnes privées et sur l’admissibilité d’un retrait de signature. De l’avis de l’autrice, une annulation de la demande de référendum peut entrer en considération à certaines conditions et un retrait de signature est admissible.

Der vorliegende Beitrag bezieht sich auf den Schutz der freien Willensbildung der Unterzeichnenden eines Referendumsbegehrens (Art. 34 Abs. 2 BV). Er prüft die Folgen eines Eingriffs in dieses Recht
durch Privatpersonen und die Zulässigkeit eines Rückzugs der Unterschrift. Nach der Meinung der Autorin ist eine Aufhebung des Referendumsbegehrens unter bestimmten Bedingungen möglich und ein Rückzug der Unterschrift zulässig.

Texte complet: https://www.sjz.ch/fr/artikel/2504-0650-2020-0054/la-libre-formation-de-la-volonte-des-signataires-dun-referendum

With Gret Haller (former Swiss MP and Member of the National Council), Prof. Elisabetta Fiocchi (Professor of Legal History at the University of Zurich), Lili Nabholz-Haidegger (former Swiss MP and Member of the National Council), and Dr Kathrin Arioli (Chancellor of the canton of Zurich), moderator: Zita Küng

Around 200 leading legal experts have signed a statement defending the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS) as a lawful exercise of freedom of expression. The legal experts from 15 countries agreed the BDS movement should be treated the same way as the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa. Lawyers backing Friday's statement include South African jurist John Dugard, who served at the International Court of Justice, and Guy Goodwin-Gill, former legal adviser for the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

This paper comprises parts of the theoretical and empirical research that I have conducted for my PhD studies. The theoretical structure focuses on the evaluative framework of capabilities, as it has been developed by Martha Nussbaum and the social and political aspects of Thomas Janoski's operationalization of citizenship. The analytical framework that I came up with was further applied on the interviews that I have conducted with Romanian olim in Israel. This allowed me to come up with significant results concerning their integration within the Israeli society. These results cover aspects that belong to areas of one's social, political, cultural life. The empirical research itself was a qualitative one with semi-structured interviews, while the results were further analyzed using the discourse analysis method.

In 2008 the first Swiss canton introduced internet voting for expatriates, complementing the trials involving
residents initiated back in 2003. More cantons soon followed, and as of this writing, expatriates from 12 out of the 26
cantons can vote online. This paper focuses on the second phase in the Swiss i-voting roll-out involving expatriates. We
address three questions at the core of the internet voting research agenda. First, the popularity question: to what extent do expatriates make use of the new online voting channel? Second, the ‘who’ question: what is the profile of the typical
expatriate i-voter? Finally, the turnout question: did the extension of internet voting to expatriates have an effect on electoral
mobilisation? Our findings indicate that the online channel is very popular among expatriates, both when compared to other
trials in Switzerland and internationally. Leaving aside i-voting’s comparatively high popularity, familiar patterns seem to
replicate in the expatriate trials. Expatriate i-voters tend to be young, male, and there is some evidence of an upper-class
bias. Thus, use of the online channel by expatriates seems also driven by the digital divide. Finally, similarly to the residents’
trials, we find some evidence that i-voting does not affect electoral mobilisation.

Contrary to popular media coverage, the Arab Spring was not the first time Arab women took on leadership roles in populist uprisings. As far back as the 1919 Egyptian revolution against the British occupation, women in the Middle East have played pivotal roles in both political movements and mass protests. Indeed, women constituted a significant proportion of street protesters during the 1960s Algerian revolution, the Iranian revolution of 1979, and in Palestine during the First Intifada. This article posits that the biggest challenge facing women in Arab Spring countries is transforming their leadership and attendant influence during the revolutions into high level governance positions, both elected and appointed, after the revolutions.

Despite their involvement in past revolutions, whether against native dictators or foreign occupiers, women in the Middle East have yet to attain the degree of political representation that reflects the scope of their contributions in deposing regimes. As soon as the conflicts end and the revolutionary fervor is over, society reverts back to traditional gender roles wherein women are expected to stay out of the political process beyond exercising any voting rights they may have. Their social and political positions remain largely unaffected notwithstanding their sacrifices. Without women’s participation in social and political institutions, nations are unable to develop healthy and sustainable democracies. And as a result, democracy repeatedly eludes the nations of the Middle East.

What will differentiate the Arab Spring revolutions from past ones is the degree to which the political revolution triggers a social revolution wherein women have meaningful access to and representation in political institutions. Notwithstanding their increased participation in the public sphere as workers, women’s interests have been woefully underrepresented in the political process. Thus, women’s participation in the formal workforce, albeit at disproportionately lower rates than men, should not be mistaken for political representation and equal treatment before the law.

Accordingly, those concerned with achieving substantive equality, as opposed to mere formal equality on paper, should focus on the following three key objectives: 1) amend election laws to increase the proportion of women represented in local, state, and national politics; 2) increase access to high level employment opportunities for women; and 3) reform public education curriculums to highlight the role of women in the revolutions and the various professions to counter perceptions of women’s inability or disinterest in roles outside of the home and to communicate to the youth how sustainable democracies depend on equal participation by women. In combination, these objectives increase the likelihood of a more equitable society wherein women are sufficiently empowered to minimize gender disparities and meaningfully contribute towards the nation’s progress.

""Full text available through Proquest Dissertations and Theses database. Check your library's databases. Also available upon request: email me.
This study examines the concept and the discontinuous historical usage of the term “economic rights” in American political discourse. The study views the idea and ideology of “economic rights” as a discursive marker pointing to historically contingent relations between government, national economy and individual freedom. It focuses on the two American presidential articulations of an Economic Bill of Rights: one by Franklin Roosevelt and another by Ronald Reagan. These two articulations represent two opposing political traditions of economic rights in the United States: the neo-liberal laissez-faire free market tradition and the liberal welfare-state tradition. Both of these liberal traditions are haunted by an older republican discourse of economic rights, from which they continue to draw normative and affective energy without ever confronting its guiding premises.

Further, this study explores the role of rhetorical agency in influencing the way “economic rights” are understood. It attends to the ways in which historical conjunctures pose limits on the articulations of political ideas and identities, and the way in which key actors like Roosevelt and Reagan respond skillfully to those conjunctural constraints, while others fail. The study argues that Roosevelt and Reagan used many of the very same arguments to propose two diametrically opposed conceptualizations of an Economic Bill of Rights. Their respective efforts attest to the importance of rhetoric in the struggle for political hegemony.

Finally, the study argues that while American political discourse has been saturated by “rights talk,” economic rights have not enjoyed the same currency as other rights, largely due to deeply entrenched though historically outdated understandings of the promise and possibilities of individual freedom and autonomy within the folds of a society completely transformed by capitalist modernity. The neglected history of economic rights discourse in the United States is a phantom history of the American public sphere, of the limits on American political participation or citizenship, of the continual irresolution of racial conflicts, and of alternative modernities. ""