Category: Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez
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Right to Rebel in Venezuela
This is the second country study in Tom Ginsburg and I’s ongoing project to identify the potential risks and rewards of a constitutional Right to Rebel – Venezuela has had 26 separate constitutions since independence and the most recent have included various justifications for a popular right to rebel.
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Fidel Castro’s Right to Rebel
Tom Ginsburg and I are currently exploring the causes and effects of “right to rebel” provisions in constitutions. One of the country studies we will be including in our upcoming article on the subject is the following example from Cuban History.
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Doctrine of Necessity in Nepal: A Bractonian Blunder?
Henry de Bracton was a 13th Century British jurist who, among other things, defended supreme papal authority over secular affairs and recommended that criminal trials be undertaken “by ordeal” (wherein the defendant would hold red-hot iron or be thrown bound into a lake under the premise that a just god would protect the innocent).
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In Ecuador, Autocracy by Referendum
A frustrated Simon Bolivar is said to have once complained of his empire that Colombia was a university, Venezuela a barracks, and Ecuador a convent. This assessment seemed surprisingly prescient last week, with a Colombian education minister appointed emergency mayor of Bogota, Venezuela accused by the IISS of arming FARC rebels, and Ecuadorians passing a…
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Mandatory Military Service and Broken Promises in Azerbaijan: The Case of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev
Last week, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev spent his 29th birthday in an Azeri jail for the crime of refusing military service. At present he has remained incarcerated for more than a month. In Azerbaijan, a country where extralegal detentions and human rights abuses are tragically normal, this particular arrest has caused a stir in the international media…
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The Confederate States of America Constitution at 150
This month marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Confederate Constitution into law. Following weeks of deliberation by forty-three delegates from seven states, the Confederacy formally ratified the document on March 11, 1861. Four more States, and two territories, would later join the Confederate States of America (CSA) and in doing so adopt…
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The Constitutional Right to Rebel – advice for Egypt?
The ripple effects from Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” are still making themselves felt throughout the Arab World. Earlier today, Egypt’s Mubarak stepped down after weathering large-scale protests and civil disobedience for over two weeks. Elsewhere in the region Lebanon, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan (and to a lesser extent Mauritania, Sudan, Syria, Libya, and Morocco) have also seen…
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An Argument for Venezuelan Exceptionalism:
This is a response to Miguel Schor’s timely and well thought out follow up to my post on the Venezuelan Enabling Act of 2010. Dr. Schor raises some excellent points regarding the way in which local events can be viewed contextually as part of a greater paradigm shift in Latin American politics.
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A One-Two Knockout to Venezuelan Democracy?
The exploits of the Mexican Chavez family are well known to boxing fans. Beginning with Julio Cesar Chavez in the early eighties and moving on to his sons Julio Jr. and Omar in the present day; the family has earned many titles and championships through a combination of vicious one-two punches (wherein a first strike…
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Zimbabwe process sputters along
Earlier this year, David Law commented on next year’s constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe and on the potential ramifications for civil rights in that country. With November deepening however, and the vote approaching, it is time to look at Zimbabwe’s constitutional chaos from another angle – separation of powers.