Integration and Disintegration

In our analysis below, we examine the convergent and divergent paths of Ireland and the UK on the theme of integration and disintegration in three stages. The first considers the constitutional context and framework within which each of the two countries chose to embark on the path of European integration by acceding to the EEC in the early 1970s. The second examines several key policy choices made by the two states along a continuum between integration and disintegration, as part of a more differentiated, post-Maastricht EU. The final stage examines the implications of Brexit for the UK and Ireland following Britain’s departure from the EU.

Separating Substance from Procedure: How to Address the Israeli Constitutional Crisis

Many proposals to resolve the current Israeli constitutional crisis have been recently advanced. Yet, most of them are arguably unlikely to bring about a compromise. This is so not because their content cannot be accepted by the parties involved, but because they do not address the substantive concerns of the parties. Israel's constitutional crisis results from the fact that the parties to the conflict shape their proposals concerning the decision-making process in a way that is conducive to their short-term substantive interests. Any proposed solution must therefore separate substantive questions from procedural and institutional ones.

Israels Staatsumbau

Israels neue rechtsreligiöse Regierung unter Benjamin arbeitet an einer Justizreform, die hunderttausende Demonstranten auf die Straße treibt und in der Kritik steht, den israelischen Rechtsstaat zu zerstören. Bei genauerer Betrachtung wird klar, dass es bei den Protesten nicht nur um die Reform selbst, sondern auch um grundlegende Fragen nach dem Charakter des jüdischen Staates und seiner Identität geht. Das israelische Rechtssystem steht schon immer stellvertretend für den Staat selbst. Die gespaltene israelische Gesellschaft streitet um das Verständnis von Demokratie, das Verhältnis von Religion und Staat und um die zukünftige Machtposition einzelner Gesellschaftsgruppen.

What can(›t) international criminal justice deliver for Ukraine?

One year ago, Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, committing an act of aggression in violation of the UN Charter. Many more incidents of international crimes followed, adding to an already large number of unaddressed crimes going back to 2014. While investigations are underway, the failures to pursue accountability for international crimes committed by Russia in the past still need to be addressed in this context.

Israel’s New Citizenship Deprivation-Deportation Pipeline

Buried in the news on the Israeli Knesset’s judicial reform plans are two bills that substantially increase the government’s power to deprive citizenship and subsequently deport Palestinian citizens convicted of terrorism offences and their family members.  One already passed into law last Wednesday, while the one targeting their family members is still making its way through committees. In this blog post we survey and evaluate the rationales used to justify these newly assumed powers and set out why their current design is so insidious.

Statement by Canadian Law Professors and Jurists on the Proposed Legal Reforms in Israel

The undersigned are Canadian law professors and jurists. We write out of concern that recent proposals to transform Israel’s legal system will weaken democratic governance, undermine the rule of law, jeopardize the independence of the judiciary, impair the protection of human rights, and diminish the international respect currently accorded to Israeli legal institutions. In the aftermath of the Holocaust and the other atrocities of the Second World War, the great project of legal reform throughout the world has been the establishment of systems of rights that protect human dignity. These systems exemplify the definitive legal repudiation of  those (and similar) ... continue reading

Enteignen für den Wiederaufbau?

Jeden Tag bringt der Krieg in der Ukraine unerträgliches und unvorstellbares menschliches Leid mit sich. Vor diesem Hintergrund fällt es schwer, schon heute einen nüchternen Blick auf die Zeit nach Beendigung der Kampfhandlungen in der Ukraine und einer Zurückdrängung des russischen Aggressors zu werfen. Das allerdings scheint notwendig, um moralisierender Politik notwendige rechtsstaatliche Rationalität entgegenzusetzen. Konkret geht es dabei um die Frage, ob es möglich ist, staatliches und/oder privates russisches Vermögen entschädigungslos zu enteignen, um so den Wiederaufbau der Ukraine zu finanzieren. Diese Überlegung liegt insbesondere der Erkenntnis zugrunde, dass die durch die russische Aggression verursachten Schäden in der Ukraine schon jetzt auf über eine Billion US-Dollar geschätzt werden.

Israel: Cry, the Beloved Country

Israel, like many other democracies today, is a deeply polarized society. The operating principle of public discourse is typically: “Art thou for us or for our adversaries” (Joshua 5:13). It is thus telling that, in the recent eruption in response to Netanyahu’s new government plan to reform the judicial system, one sees groups whom one would have never expected on the anti-government side of the current protests.