The Constitutional-Judicial Control of the Legislative and Executive Powers in Central and Eastern European Countries

This project looked at the nature, contents, methods, means and legal and political effects of the influence that constitutional courts exercise upon the legislative and executive powers in the newly established democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. The basic hypothesis was that these courts work to provide a limitation of political power within the framework of the principal constitutional values and that they force the legislature and executive to exercise their powers and duties in strict accordance with the constitution. Following a study of the documentary sources, including primarily the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions and decisions of constitutional courts, Mr. Cvetkovski prepared a questionnaire on various aspects of the topics researched and sent it to the respective constitutional courts. A series of direct interviews with court officials in six of the ten countries then served to clarify a large number of questions relating to differences in procedures etc. that arose from the questionnaires. As a final stage, the findings were compared with those described in recent publications on constitutional control in general and in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. The study began by considering the constitutional and political environment of the constitutional courts' activities in controlling legislative and executive powers, which in all countries studied are based on the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers. All courts are separate bodies with special status in terms of constitutional law and are independent of other political and judicial institutions. The range of matters within their jurisdiction is set by the constitution of the country in question but in all cases can be exercised only with the framework of procedural rules. This gives considerable significance to the question of who sets these rules and different countries have dealt with it in different ways. In some there is a special constitutional law with the same legal force as the constitution itself (Croatia), the majority of countries allow for regulation by an ordinary law, Macedonia gives the court the autonomy to create and change its own rules of procedure, while in Hungary the parliament fixes the rules on procedure at the suggestion of the constitutional court. The question of the appointment of constitutional judges was also considered and of the mechanisms for ensuring their impartiality and immunity. In the area of the courts' scope for providing normative control, considerable differences were found between the different countries. In some cases the courts' jurisdiction is limited to the normative acts of the respective parliaments, and there is generally no provision for challenging unconstitutional omissions by legislation and the executive. There are, however, some situations in which they may indirectly evaluate the constitutionality of legislative omissions, as when the constitution contains provision for a time limit on enacting legislation, when the parliament has made an omission in drafting a law which violates the constitutional provisions, or when a law grants favours to certain groups while excluding others, thereby violating the equal protection clause of the constitution. The control of constitutionality of normative acts can be either preventive or repressive, depending on whether it is implemented before or after the promulgation of the law or other enactment being challenged. In most countries in the region the constitutional courts provide only repressive control, although in Hungary and Poland the courts are competent to perform both preventive and repressive norm control, while in Romania the court's jurisdiction is limited to preventive norm control. Most countries are wary of vesting constitutional courts with preventive norm control because of the danger of their becoming too involved in the day-to-day political debate, but Mr. Cvetkovski points out certain advantages of such control. If combined with a short time limit it can provide early clarification of a constitutional issue, secondly it avoids the problems arising if a law that has been in force for some years is declared to be unconstitutional, and thirdly it may help preserve the prestige of the legislation. Its disadvantages include the difficulty of ascertaining the actual and potential consequences of a norm without the empirical experience of the administration and enforcement of the law, the desirability of a certain distance from the day-to-day arguments surrounding the political process of legislation, the possible effects of changing social and economic conditions, and the danger of placing obstacles in the way of rapid reactions to acute situations. In the case of repressive norm control, this can be either abstract or concrete. The former is initiated by the supreme state organs in order to protect abstract constitutional order and the latter is initiated by ordinary courts, administrative authorities or by individuals. Constitutional courts cannot directly oblige the legislature and executive to pass a new law and this remains a matter of legislative and executive political responsibility. In the case of Poland, the parliament even has the power to dismiss a constitutional court decision by a special majority of votes, which means that the last word lies with the legislature. As the current constitutions of Central and Eastern European countries are newly adopted and differ significantly from the previous ones, the courts' interpretative functions should ensure a degree of unification in the application of the constitution. Some countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Russia) provide for the constitutional courts' decisions to have a binding role on the constitutions. While their decisions inevitably have an influence on the actions of public bodies, they do not set criteria for political behaviour, which depends rather on the overall political culture and traditions of the society. All constitutions except that of Belarus, provide for the courts to have jurisdiction over conflicts arising from the distribution of responsibilities between different organs and levels in the country, as well for impeachment procedures against the head of state, and for determining the constitutionality of political parties (except in Belarus, Hungary, Russia and Slovakia). All the constitutions studied guarantee individual rights and freedoms and most courts have jurisdiction over complaints of violation of these rights by the constitution. All courts also have some jurisdiction over international agreements and treaties, either directly (Belarus, Bulgaria and Hungary) before the treaty is ratified, or indirectly (Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia). In each country the question of who may initiate proceedings of norm control is of central importance and is usually regulated by the constitution itself. There are three main possibilities: statutory organs, normal courts and private individuals and the limitations on each of these is discussed in the report. Most courts are limited in their rights to institute ex officio a full-scale review of a point of law, and such rights as they do have rarely been used. In most countries courts' decisions do not have any binding force but must be approved by parliament or impose on parliament the obligation to bring the relevant law into conformity within a certain period. As a result, the courts' position is generally weaker than in other countries in Europe, with parliament remaining the supreme body. In the case of preventive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality may act to suspend the law and or to refer it back to the legislature, where in countries such as Romania it may even be overturned by a two-thirds majority. In repressive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality generally serves to take the relevant law out of legal force from the day of publication of the decision or from another date fixed by the court. If the law is annulled retrospectively this may or may not bring decisions of criminal courts under review, depending on the provisions laid down in the relevant constitution. In cases relating to conflicts of competencies the courts' decisions tend to be declaratory and so have a binding effect inter partes. In the case of a review of an individual act, decisions generally become effective primarily inter partes but is the individual act has been based on an unconstitutional generally binding normative act of the legislature or executive, the findings has quasi-legal effect as it automatically initiates special proceedings in which the law or other regulation is to be annulled or abrogated with effect erga omnes. This wards off further application of the law and thus further violations of individual constitutional rights, but also discourages further constitutional complaints against the same law. Thus the success of one individual's complaint extends to everyone else whose rights have equally been or might have been violated by the respective law. As the body whose act is repealed is obliged to adopt another act and in doing so is bound by the legal position of the constitutional court on the violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights of the complainant, in this situation the decision of the constitutional court has the force of a precedent.

Isopach Maps and Discussion of the Ordovician and Devonian of Montana and Adjacent Areas

The intensive postwar search for new petroleum horizons has resulted in widespread prospecting in the northern Great Plains. No commercial production has as yet been derived from Ordovician or Devonian rocks in Montana, but the relat­ively few tests that have penetrated to critical depths have disclosed encouraging conditions which merit further consider­ation, especially in Devonian strata.

Exceptional or just well connected? Political entrepreneurs and brokers in policy making

Policy brokers and policy entrepreneurs are assumed to have a decisive impact on policy outcomes. Their access to social and political resources is contingent on their influence on other agents. In social network analysis (SNA), entrepreneurs are often closely associated with brokers, because both are agents presumed to benefit from bridging structural holes; for example, gaining advantage through occupying a strategic position in relational space. Our aim here is twofold. First, to conceptually and operationally differentiate policy brokers from policy entrepreneurs premised on assumptions in the policy-process literature; and second, via SNA, to use the output of core algorithms in a cross-sectional analysis of political brokerage and political entrepreneurship. We attempt to simplify the use of graph algebra in answering questions relevant to policy analysis by placing each algorithm within its theoretical context. In the methodology employed, we first identify actors and graph their relations of influence within a specific policy event; then we select the most central actors; and compare their rank in a series of statistics that capture different aspects of their network advantage. We examine betweenness centrality, positive and negative Bonacich power, Burt’s effective size and constraint and honest brokerage as paradigmatic. We employ two case studies to demonstrate the advantages and limitations of each algorithm for differentiating between brokers and entrepreneurs: one on Swiss climate policy and one on EU competition and transport policy.

In Search of Political Influence: Strategic Choices and Media Coverage of Political Parties, Interest Groups and Social Movements in Western European Countries

Outside lobbying is a key strategy for social movements, interest groups and political parties for mobilising public opinion through the media in order to pressure policymakers and influence the policymaking process. Relying on semi-structured interviews and newspaper content analysis in six Western European countries, this article examines the use of four outside lobbying strategies – media-related activities, informing (about) the public, mobilisation and protest – and the amount of media coverage they attract. While some strategies are systematically less pursued than others, we find variation in their relative share across institutional contexts and actor types. Given that most of these differences are not accurately mirrored in the media, we conclude that media coverage is only loosely connected to outside lobbying behaviour, and that the media respond differently to a given strategy when used by different actors. Thus, the ability of different outside lobbying strategies to generate media coverage critically depends on who makes use of them.

European mobility and local political incorporation: The case of British and Romanian residents in Spain

This paper analyses the impact of European mobility in the field of the political nomination of intra-EU migrants in local elections. The study contributes to the debates in the literature related to immigrant nomination and representation by showing how group resources and political opportunities in the country of residence interact with the political opportunities of the European citizenship regime. It argues that the symbolic and legal status of European identity, representation in the European Parliament and strong links between political institutions in the countries of destination and origin play a positive role in boosting immigrant political entrepreneurs’ visibility vis-à-vis host country political actors. In order to illustrate these findings, the paper provides a qualitative comparison of British and Romanian residents in Spain.

Ecuador, 1892 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carta geográfica del Ecuador, por Teodoro Wolf ; publicada por órden del supremo gobierno de la república y trabajada bajo las presidencias de los EE. señores D.J.M. Plácido Caamaño y D. Antonio Flores. It was published by Instituto geográfica de H. Wagner & E. Debes in 1892. Scale 1:445,000. Covers coastal Ecuador and portions of Colombia and Peru. Map in Spanish. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the South America Lambert Conformal Conic projected coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, railroads, roads, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading and spot heights. Includes also insets: La region oriental del Ecuador -- Archipiélago de Galápagos, and table of altitudes of cities, villages and other inhabited spots, and, a table administrative divisions and subdivisions of Ecuador. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Luxembourg and Portions of Belgium, Germany, and France, 1705 (Image 1 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Le Duché de Luxembourg divisé en Quartier Walon, et Allemand : dans chacun desquels sont diviséz, les Seigneuries, Prevostés et Comtés. Le Duché de Bouillon ; le Comté de Namur et le Pays entre Sambre et Meuse, Dedié au Roy par son tres-humble, tres-obeissant, tres-fidele sujet et serviteur Hubert Jaillot, Geographe du Roy. It was published by chez l'auteur, joignant les grands Augustins, aux deux Globes, avec privilége du roy in 1705. Scale [ca. 1:143,370]. Covers Luxembourg and portions of Belgium, Germany, and France. This layer is image 1 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the southeast portion of the map. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, fortifications, territorial and administrative boundaries, ground cover, and more. Relief shown pictorially. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Luxembourg and Portions of Belgium, Germany, and France, 1705 (Image 2 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Le Duché de Luxembourg divisé en Quartier Walon, et Allemand : dans chacun desquels sont diviséz, les Seigneuries, Prevostés et Comtés. Le Duché de Bouillon ; le Comté de Namur et le Pays entre Sambre et Meuse, Dedié au Roy par son tres-humble, tres-obeissant, tres-fidele sujet et serviteur Hubert Jaillot, Geographe du Roy. It was published by chez l'auteur, joignant les grands Augustins, aux deux Globes, avec privilége du roy in 1705. Scale [ca. 1:143,370]. Covers Luxembourg and portions of Belgium, Germany, and France. This layer is image 2 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the northeast portion of the map. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, fortifications, territorial and administrative boundaries, ground cover, and more. Relief shown pictorially. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Luxembourg and Portions of Belgium, Germany, and France, 1705 (Image 3 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Le Duché de Luxembourg divisé en Quartier Walon, et Allemand : dans chacun desquels sont diviséz, les Seigneuries, Prevostés et Comtés. Le Duché de Bouillon ; le Comté de Namur et le Pays entre Sambre et Meuse, Dedié au Roy par son tres-humble, tres-obeissant, tres-fidele sujet et serviteur Hubert Jaillot, Geographe du Roy. It was published by chez l'auteur, joignant les grands Augustins, aux deux Globes, avec privilége du roy in 1705. Scale [ca. 1:143,370]. Covers Luxembourg and portions of Belgium, Germany, and France. This layer is image 3 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the southwest portion of the map. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, fortifications, territorial and administrative boundaries, ground cover, and more. Relief shown pictorially. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Luxembourg and Portions of Belgium, Germany, and France, 1705 (Image 4 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Le Duché de Luxembourg divisé en Quartier Walon, et Allemand : dans chacun desquels sont diviséz, les Seigneuries, Prevostés et Comtés. Le Duché de Bouillon ; le Comté de Namur et le Pays entre Sambre et Meuse, Dedié au Roy par son tres-humble, tres-obeissant, tres-fidele sujet et serviteur Hubert Jaillot, Geographe du Roy. It was published by chez l'auteur, joignant les grands Augustins, aux deux Globes, avec privilége du roy in 1705. Scale [ca. 1:143,370]. Covers Luxembourg and portions of Belgium, Germany, and France. This layer is image 4 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the northwest portion of the map. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, cities and other human settlements, fortifications, territorial and administrative boundaries, ground cover, and more. Relief shown pictorially. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

England and Wales, United Kingdom, 1774 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: The post roads thorough England and Wales, by T. Jefferys, geographer to His Majesty. It was published by Printed for Jefferys & Faden, Corner of St. Martins Lane, Charing Cross in 1774. Scale [ca. 1:1,325,000]. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the 'British National Grid' coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, roads, canals, administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown pictorially.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Central Europe Region, 1859 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Neueste Eisenbahn-Karte von Central-Europa : mit genauer Angabe aller Stationen und den influirenden Post-Verbindungen, nach dem neuesten und zuverlässigsten Quellen bearbeitet von U. Hendschel. It was published by Carl Jügel's Verlag in 1859. Scale 1:1,900,000. Covers the Central Europe region. Map in German.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, roads, railroads, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes also scale comparison chart and index of political units.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Central Europe Region, 1872 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Neueste Eisenbahn-Karte von Central-Europa : mit genauer Angabe aller Stationen und den influirenden Post-Verbindungen, nach dem neuesten und zuverlässigsten Quellen bearbeitet von U. Hendschel. It was published by Carl Jügel's Verlag in 1872. Scale 1:1,900,000. Covers the Central Europe region. Map in German. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, roads, railroads, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes also scale comparison chart and index of political units.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Post Roads, Central and Eastern Europe Regions, 1802 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: A new map of the post roads of Germany and Hungary with the adjacent kingdoms, republics and states : from the large map published at Vienna, with additions and improvements by J. Enouy, geogr. It was published by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street in 1802. Scale [ca. 1:2,500,000]. Covers the Central and Eastern Europe regions. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Europe Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, postal roads, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown pictorially.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Coasts, Black Sea and Sea of Marmara Regions, 1803 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Umriss des Schwarzen Meeres des Bosphorus, des Propontes, des Hellesponts, des Archipelagus nebst den Küsten, nach den neuesten Bericht von D.F. Sotzmann ; gestochen von Heinrich Kliewer. It was published by Oehmigke in 1803. Scale [ca. 1:5,500,000]. Covers the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara regions. Map in German. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the World Miller Cylindrical projected coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes inset map of the Sea of Marmara and 4 views of the fortifications of the Dardanelles Strait (Turkey).This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.