This volume considers the problem of legal universals at the level of the rule of law and human rights, which have fundamentally different pedigrees, and attempts to come to terms with the new unease arising from the universal application of human rights. Given the juridicization of human rights, rule of law and human rights expectations have become significantly intertwined: human rights are enforced with the instruments of the rule of law and are thus limited by the restricted reach thereof.
The first section of this volume considers the difficulties of universalistic claims and offers a...

Traditional separation of powers theories assumed that governmental despotism will be prevented by dividing the branches of government which will check one another. Modern governments function with unexpected complicity among these branches. Sometimes one of the branches becomes overwhelming.
Other governmental structures, however, tend to mitigate these tendencies to domination. Among other structures courts have achieved considerable autonomy "vis--vis the traditional political branches of power. They tend to maintain considerable distance from political parties in the name of...

The rise of international human rights during the last half of the twentieth century has transformed traditional notions of sovereignty. No longer is international law concerned almost exclusively with external relations among states and their representatives. Now, it imposes substantial restrictions on the domestic affairs of states and protects ordinary persons against mistreatment by their own government. The change came about in response to the Holocaust and the century's other great tragedies. Few doubt its value. Nevertheless, power exercised in the name of human rights can be misused...

This book discusses the mechanisms to restrict government power through social self-binding, including different forms of the separation of powers and constitutional review. Written in non-technical language and using the most important English, American, French, and German examples of constitutional history, the book also examines East European (in particular, Russian) and Latin American examples, in part to illustrate certain dead-ends in constitutional development.

The essays in this collection reflect on the promises, hopes and fears dominant in the narratives on and realities of doing away with authoritarian regimes. The experiences of post-communist transition are matched with accounts on authoritarian traits present in established constitutional democracies and on authoritarian inclusions preserved in the new regimes in the post-transition phase. The essays combine first-hand insider accounts with interdisciplinary scholarly analysis. The first part of the collection focuses on considerations marking the way out of authoritarian - not restricted to...