Articles for tag: Ausnahmezustand, Autoritärer Populismus, Föderalismus, Military Deployment, Protest, Redefreiheit

Troops in L.A.

This past weekend, President Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum that federalized National Guard troops and deployed those troops alongside active-duty marines in response to protests against his aggressive immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles. While framed as a response to violence, the order also addresses peaceful protest. The decision to send military forces against civilians engaged in protected First Amendment activity marks a dangerous escalation, raising serious legal and constitutional concerns.

13. Juni 2025

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Is Finland Joining the Backsliding Trend in Europe?

New laws have just been adopted by the Finnish parliament that would be extremely dangerous tools in the hands of a cynical government with a right-wing-populist and/or kleptocratic agenda. As the composition of the current Government is left-green-centre, some people will dismiss my concerns. The plain facts, however, give rise to worries: parliamentary elections will be held in April 2023, both large opposition parties, the populist True Finns and the Conservatives, effectively took ownership of the parliamentary consideration of the Bills in question, and the prevailing political rhetoric now is full of slogans that echo Donald Trump rather than the voices of human rights. There is good reason to be on high alert.

10. Juli 2022

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Die Europäische Union und präventive (Un-)Gerechtigkeit

Die Ausweitung der EU-Befugnisse im Bereich der Terrorismusbekämpfung steht für die präventive Wende in der europäischen Sicherheitspolitik. Unter Präventivjustiz wird hier die Ausübung staatlicher Macht verstanden, um zukünftige Handlungen zu verhindern, die als Sicherheitsbedrohung angesehen werden. Im Paradigma der Präventivjustiz gibt es drei Hauptverschiebungen: (i) eine Verlagerung von der Untersuchung von Handlungen, die stattgefunden haben, hin zu einer Betonung des Verdachts; (ii) eine Verlagerung von gezielten Maßnahmen hin zu allgemeiner Überwachung; und, was beide untermauert, (iii) eine zeitliche Verlagerung von der Vergangenheit in die Zukunft.

20. Mai 2022

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Vom Krieg gegen Terror bis zum Klimawandel

Von Terrorismus und Wirtschaftskrise bis hin zu COVID-19 und Klimawandel: In den ersten Jahrzehnten des 21. Jahrhunderts sind die Demokratien von Krise zu Krise getaumelt und haben rechtliche und politische Maßnahmen ergriffen, um der jeweiligen Bedrohung zu begegnen. Viele dieser vermeintlichen Notfallmaßnahmen sind jedoch zu dauerhaften Maßnahmen geworden, die die Legitimität sowohl der von der Notfallmaßnahme betroffenen Verfassungsnormen als auch der Notfallmaßnahme selbst in Frage stellen. Dieses Plädoyer für den Notstand muss jedoch hinterfragt werden.

18. Mai 2022

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From the War on Terror to Climate Change

From terrorism and economic crisis, to COVID-19 and climate change; the first decades of the 21st Century have seen democracies lurch from crisis to crisis, implementing legal and political responses to tackle the threat at hand. Many of these ostensibly emergency responses have, however, become permanent, raising profound challenges to the legitimacy of both the constitutional norms impacted by the emergency response, and the emergency response itself. This plea to emergency must, however, be interrogated; Ultimately, what is key to understanding permanent emergencies is not the threat but the decision-maker that claims such an emergency exists.

18. Mai 2022

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The other legacy

The 9/11 attacks triggered a new practice of and renewed interest in emergency powers. Without doubt, the United States were at the forefront of the enhanced exercise of such powers, but France is a very interesting example of the many issues and challenges raised by states of emergencies' normalization. France has been governed under a state of emergency for more than half of the time that has elapsed since the attacks of 13 November 2015.

17. Mai 2022

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Counter-Terrorism, the Rule of Law and the ‚Counter-Law‘ Critique

The Rule of Law requires that the law be a reliable and non-oppressive guide to how citizens should act: as such, the laws governing every citizen must be rationally knowable and voluntarily followable (and, by extension, open to rational challenge and justification). Tendencies in counter-terrorist legislation clearly run counter to the Rule of Law thus understood. Every move away from knowable and followable laws is a move away from it.

16. Mai 2022

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The Dilemma of Mild Emergencies that are Accepted as Consistent with Human Rights

Amid the pandemic and the war in the Ukraine, Canada had a quiet emergency. On 14 February 2022, the federal government used the Emergencies Act to respond to a three week occupation of the Parliament building and various border blockades. This was a mild and quick emergency, as far as emergencies go. Mild emergencies that arguably respect rights are better than severe emergencies that do not, yet there is cause for concern.

12. Mai 2022

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Das Dilemma der milden Notfälle, die als mit Menschenrechten vereinbar akzeptiert werden

Inmitten der Pandemie und des Krieges in der Ukraine herrschte in Kanada ein stiller Notfall. Am 14. Februar 2022 nutzte die Bundesregierung das Notstandsgesetz, um auf eine dreiwöchige Besetzung des Parlamentsgebäudes und verschiedene Grenzblockaden zu reagieren. Es handelte sich um einen vergleichsweise milden und schnellen Notfall. Milde Notfälle, bei denen Rechte angeblich Beachtung finden, sind besser als schwere Notfälle, bei denen dies nicht der Fall ist. Dennoch besteht Anlass zur Sorge.

12. Mai 2022

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