Articles for category: AAA General

Where Is Our Outcry?

Two universities – the LMU Munich and the Freie University Berlin – cancelled events featuring Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. Isn’t this the moment when we should finally speak up, even if we have not done so before for fear of taking a wrong step in the minefield that is the Israel/Palestine debate? Francesca Albanese is our colleague. The holder of a mandate by the Human Rights Council. A globally well-respected scholar of international law who speaks at universities around the world.

19. Februar 2025

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The De-Regulatory Turn of the EU Commission

The current events in the US, especially the takeover of executive branches by the non-elected private citizen Elon Musk, left legal scholars and other constitutional experts in a state of shocked disbelief. From a European perspective, many consider such a development unthinkable. However, we should not be too certain about that. The current decision of the EU Commission to carry out a “de-regulatory turn” illustrates how strongly a technical innovation narrative – one that has contributed to the success of individuals like Musk and their corporate conglomerates – is catching on globally.

18. Februar 2025

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What Madonna Got and the EU Did Not

For the past three months, Serbian citizens have been actively protesting, demanding a shift from the rule by man to the one, governed by the rule of law. The protests followed the tragedy of November 1, 2024, when the recently renovated canopy of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed and took 15 lives and severely injured 2 individuals. The Prime Minister has resigned, and massive protests are sweeping across the country. Meanwhile, the EU continues to prioritize regional stability over addressing the President’s abuse of power.

18. Februar 2025

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How the CJEU Should Supervise the Court of Arbitration for Sport

On 16 January 2025, AG Ćapeta rendered her Opinion in the Seraing case which could have profound effects for transnational governance of sports. AG Ćapeta highlights convincingly the specificities of CAS arbitration, its forced nature and peculiar private enforcement system. She concludes that CAS awards should be deprived of res judicata effect and subject to EU law review. I advocate for a less disruptive approach. Instead of a total devaluation of CAS awards, we should condition the recognition of their bindingness to their compliance with European public policy and fundamental due process rights.

18. Februar 2025

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From Democracy to Dynastic Rule?

On January 30, 2025, the National Assembly of Nicaragua approved a constitutional reform that significantly strengthens the power of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. The amendments profoundly transform the country’s political system, reinforcing the Executive’s influence over other branches of the state. This analysis aims to trace the political evolution of Nicaragua in order to better understand how the constitutional framework of the state is changing now.

18. Februar 2025

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In Search of Honour

There is a presumption underlying the liberal democratic constitutional project that has been exposed by the Trump administration in its first weeks in office – that formal constitutional structures are all we need to protect against bad political actors. But our entire constitutional system hinges on the very basic idea of people in positions of power doing the right thing. Therefore, I will argue that the behavioural chink in the constitutional chain that needs to be re-discovered is honour. Honour possesses the cultural potency, political currency, and psychological impetuous we need to turn the tide on illiberalism.

18. Februar 2025

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A Sisyphean Task?

Ethiopia finds itself at a critical juncture in its attempt to embark on a journey of confronting its violent past through a multi-prong transitional justice process. Despite notable progress in drafting the legal frameworks and the establishment of necessary institutional structures to set the wheels of transitional justice in motion, public trust in the current process remains fragile. The government's current crack down on civil society organizations and media freedom is likely to exacerbate this problem.

17. Februar 2025

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