In June 2004, the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union organised a two-day colloquium in The Hague, during which the quality of European legislation was discussed by representatives of the 25 Member States of the EU as well as of the Court of Justice for the EC. This book is based on, amongst other things, the General Report from that colloquium, the various national reports, and reports prepared by members of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. More specifically the book deals with, inter alia, the European and...

Freedom of religion consists of the right to practice, to manifest and to change one's religion. The modern democratic state is neutral towards the variety of religions, but protects the right of citizens to practice their different religious beliefs. Recent history shows that a number of religious claims challenge the neutral state. This happens especially when secularity is rejected as the basis of the modern state. How can conflicting interpretations of the relation between religion and state be balanced in our world? This book reflects on conflicts that seem to be implied in the freedom...

One needs to learn from the experience of the individual, from specific real-life situations, where and how the law can promote justice. This is a desideratum that goes beyond the mere question of whether the application of a rule is compatible with fundamental rights and human rights treaties. Law that acknowledges human dignity, the first desideratum that follows from the acknowledgement of that human dignity as the most basic fundamental right, operates in a dynamic of detachment to ensure equality and proximity to the individual to reflect the uniqueness of the lives we live. To...

Ernst Hirsch Ballin discusses the significance of citizens' rights against the backdrop of ongoing migration and urbanization in the beginning of the 21st century. The traditional view that each state has the sovereign power to give or withhold citizenship, puts the full enjoyment of human rights at risk whenever exclusion is based on differences in nationality. Citizens' rights are the essential connecting link between human rights and life in a democratic society. Citizens have an individual right, as a citizen, to take part in the democratic process and in the structures of solidarity of...

This open access book follows the idea that security policy must be based on strategic analysis. What should a future-proof security policy that plots the course of defence policy entail? This book answers these questions and offers a comprehensive framework addressing among other things human security, national security and flow security.