This research note investigates the role of paid digital campaigning in the 2018 local elections in Flanders. We make use of the official declarations which candidates are legally required to submit. In these declarations, candidates indicate whether and how much they invested in online campaigning tools during the four months preceding the elections. We collected data on a sample of 3,588 individual candidates running in the 30 municipalities of the Leuven Arrondissement. A multilevel logistic regression model shows that the odds of spending on digital campaigning increases among incumbent aldermen and local councillors. The latter finding supports the normalization thesis of digital campaigning. The results also show that scale is important – the more potential voters a candidate has, the higher the odds that the candidate invests in digital tools. |
Search result: 278 articles
Research Notes |
Paid Digital Campaigning During the 2018 Local Elections in FlandersWhich Candidates Jumped on the Bandwagon? |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | local elections, candidates, campaign spending, digital campaigning |
Authors | Gunther Vanden Eynde, Gert-Jan Put, Bart Maddens e.a. |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Article |
Split-Ticket Voting in BelgiumAn Analysis of the Presence and Determinants of Differentiated Voting in the Municipal and Provincial Elections of 2018 |
Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | split-ticket voting, local elections, voting motives, Belgium, PR-system |
Authors | Tony Valcke and Tom Verhelst |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article tackles the particular issue of split-ticket voting, which has been largely overlooked in Belgian election studies thus far. We contribute to the literature by answering two particular research questions: (1) to what extent and (2) why do voters cast a different vote in the elections for the provincial council as compared to their vote in the elections for the municipal council? |
Article |
Control in International Law |
Journal | African Journal of International Criminal Justice, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | Effective / overall control, international human rights law, international criminal law, responsibility of states, statehood |
Authors | Joseph Rikhof and Silviana Cocan |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The concept of control has permeated various disciplines of public international law, most notable international criminal law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and the law of statehood as well as the law of responsibility for states and international organizations. Often this notion of control has been used to extend the regular parameters in these disciplines to capture more extraordinary situations and apply the same rules originally developed within areas of law, such as the application of the laws of war to occupation, the rules of human rights treaties to extraterritorial situations or state responsibility to non-state actors. This article will examine this notion of control in all its facets in international law while also addressing some of its controversies and disagreements in the jurisprudence of international institutions, which have utilized this concept. The article will then provide an overview of its uses in international law as well as its overlap from one discipline to another with a view of providing some overarching observations and conclusions. |
Article |
Delimiting Deportation, Unlawful Transfer, Forcible Transfer and Forcible Displacement in International Criminal LawA Jurisprudential History |
Journal | African Journal of International Criminal Justice, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | International criminal law, theory of international law, crimes against humanity, deportation, unlawful or forcible transfer |
Authors | Ken Roberts and James G. Stewart |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The forced displacement of civilian populations is an issue of significant global concern and a subject of extensive legal debate. In international criminal law, forced displacement is criminalized by a complex network of distinct but overlapping offences. These include the Crimes Against Humanity of deportation, forcible transfer, persecution and other inhumane acts, and the grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of ‘unlawful deportation or transfer’. International courts and tribunals have been inconsistent in the adoption of these crimes in their statues and in their subsequent interpretation, making it all the more difficult to distinguish between them. The jurisprudential history of these crimes is lengthy and not without controversy, highlighted by inconsistent judicial approaches. In this article, we offer a critical jurisprudential history of these displacement crimes in international criminal law. |
Case Reports |
2019/29 Eweida versus Achbita: a storm in a teacup? (EU) |
Journal | European Employment Law Cases, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | Religious discrimination |
Authors | Morwarid Hashemi LLM |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Most scholars have argued that the Achbita judgment is not in line with the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, in particular with the Eweida judgment, and gives less protection to the employee than granted by the ECtHR. In this article, I provide a different perspective on the relation between both judgments and nuance the criticisms that followed the Achbita judgment. |
Article |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | international business courts, Netherlands Commercial Court, choice of court, recognition and enforcements of judgements |
Authors | Eddy Bauw |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The judicial landscape in Europe for commercial litigation is changing rapidly. Many EU countries are establishing international business courts or have done so recently. Unmistakably, the approaching Brexit has had an effect on this development. In the last decades England and Wales – more precise, the Commercial Court in London - has built up a leading position as the most popular jurisdiction for resolving commercial disputes. The central question for the coming years will be what effect the new commercial courts in practice will have on the current dominance of English law and the leading position of the London court. In this article I address this question by focusing on the development of a new commercial court in the Netherlands: the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC). |
Article |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | international jurisdiction, English, court language, Belgium, business court |
Authors | Erik Peetermans and Philippe Lambrecht |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In establishing the Brussels International Business Court (BIBC), Belgium is following an international trend to attract international business disputes to English-speaking state courts. The BIBC will be an autonomous business court with the competence to settle, in English, disputes between companies throughout Belgium. This article focuses on the BIBC’s constitutionality, composition, competence, proceedings and funding, providing a brief analysis and critical assessment of each of these points. At the time of writing, the Belgian Federal Parliament has not yet definitively passed the Bill establishing the BIBC, meaning that amendments are still possible. |
Article |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | international commercial court, Singapore, dispute resolution, litigation |
Authors | Man Yip |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The Singapore International Commercial Court (‘SICC’) was launched on 5 January 2015, at the Opening of Legal Year held at the Singapore Supreme Court. What prompted the creation of SICC? How is the SICC model of litigation different from litigation in the Singapore High Court? What is the SICC’s track record and what does it tell us about its future? This article seeks to answer these questions at greater depth than existing literature. Importantly, it examines these questions from the angle of reimagining access of justice for litigants embroiled in international commercial disputes. It argues that the SICC’s enduring contribution to improving access to justice is that it helps to change our frame of reference for international commercial litigation. Hybridisation, internationalisation, and party autonomy, the underpinning values of the SICC, are likely to be the values of the future of dispute resolution. International commercial dispute resolution frameworks – typically litigation frameworks – that unduly emphasise national boundaries and formalities need not and should not be the norm. Crucially, the SICC co-opts a refreshing public-private perspective to the resolution of international commercial disputes. It illuminates on the public interest element of the resolution of such disputes which have for some time fallen into the domain of international commercial arbitration; at the same time, it introduces greater scope for self-determination in international commercial litigation. |
Article |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | international commercial courts, international business courts, third parties, third party joinder, recognition and enforcement |
Authors | Drossos Stamboulakis and Blake Crook |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In this article we explore the approach of the Singapore International Commercial Court (the ‘SICC’) to jurisdiction and joinder of non-consenting parties, and way that any resulting judgments are likely to be treated by foreign enforcing courts. This novel juncture arises as international commercial courts, such as the SICC, rely predominantly upon party autonomy to enliven their jurisdiction over disputants. This does not require any territorial link of the parties or the dispute to the host jurisdiction (Singapore). At the same time, however, the SICC is granted a mandate under Singaporean law to join non-consenting parties, again with no necessary territorial link. Where such joinder occurs, any resulting judgment is likely to face significant difficulties if recognition and enforcement is sought outside of Singapore. To support this argument, we first set out the ways in which non-consenting disputants may be joined to proceedings before the SICC, and offer some initial thoughts on how these powers are likely to be exercised. Second, we argue that any such exercise of jurisdiction – that lacks either territorial or consent-based jurisdiction grounds – is unlikely to gain support internationally, by reference to transnational recognition and enforcement approaches, and the SICC’s most likely recognition and enforcement destinations. Finally, we offer some concluding remarks about the utility of international commercial court proceedings against non-consenting parties, including the possibility they may impact on domestic recognition and enforcement approaches in foreign States. |
Article |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | choice of court, commercial court, lawyers’ preferences, survey on lawyers, international court |
Authors | Erlis Themeli |
AbstractAuthor's information |
France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands have taken concrete steps to design and develop international commercial courts. Most of the projects claim to be building courts that match the preferences of court users. They also try to challenge England and Wales, which evidence suggests is the most attractive jurisdiction in the EU. For the success of these projects, it is important that their proposed courts corresponds with the expectations of the parties, but also manages to attract some of the litigants that go to London. This article argues that lawyers are the most important group of choice makers, and that their preferences are not sufficiently matched by the new courts. Lawyers have certain litigation service and court perception preferences. And while the new courts improve their litigation service, they do not sufficiently addressed these court perception preferences. |
Article |
Listening deeply to public perceptions of Restorative JusticeWhat can researchers and practitioners learn? |
Journal | The International Journal of Restorative Justice, Issue 2 2019 |
Keywords | Public perception, media, apophatic listening, online comments, understandings of restorative justice |
Authors | Dorothy Vaandering and Kristin Reimer |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article explores public perceptions of restorative justice through the examination of media articles and negative online reader comments surrounding a high-profile incident in a Canadian university in which a restorative process was successfully engaged. Utilising relational discourse analysis, we identify how restorative justice is presented in the media and how that presentation is taken up by the public. Media representations of restorative justice create understandings among the public that are profoundly different from how many restorative justice advocates perceive it. The aim of this article is to examine media representations of restorative justice and how these are received by the public so that we can respond constructively. |
Rulings |
ECJ 11 April 2019, joined cases C-29/18, C-30/18 and C-44/18 (Cobra Servicios Auxiliares), fixed-term workCobra Servicios Auxiliares, S.A. – v – José David Sánchez Iglesias, José Ramón Fiuza Asorey, Jesús Valiño López, Fogasa, Incatema, S.L., Spanish case |
Journal | European Employment Law Cases, Issue 2 2019 |
Keywords | fixed-term work |
Abstract |
It is objectively justified to grant fixed-term workers a lower severance payment than indefinite term workers, if the payment has other aims and is paid in a different context. |
Article |
Digital Identity for Refugees and Disenfranchised PopulationsThe ‘Invisibles’ and Standards for Sovereign Identity |
Journal | International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | digital identity, sovereign identity, standards, online dispute resolution, refugees, access to justice |
Authors | Daniel Rainey, Scott Cooper, Donald Rawlins e.a. |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This white paper reviews the history of identity problems for refugees and disenfranchised persons, assesses the current state of digital identity programmes based in nation-states, offers examples of non-state digital ID programmes that can be models to create strong standards for digital ID programmes, and presents a call to action for organizations like International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). |
Article |
Mobile Online Dispute Resolution Tools’ Potential Applications for Government Offices |
Journal | International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution, Issue 1 2019 |
Keywords | mobile online dispute resolution, MODR, ODR, computer mediated communication, dispute prevention, workplace conflict |
Authors | Stephanie Gustin and Norman Dolan |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Online communication practices have become intrinsic to government work environments. Understanding the impact of these practices, whether they be general computer mediated communication (CMC) or specifically online dispute resolution (ODR) processes, is an essential step in supporting respectful and healthy work environments. ODR literature focuses almost exclusively on e-commerce, leaving large gaps in the body of knowledge as ODR applications diversify. Available ODR tools, which simply transpose traditional alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes online through the use of office videoconferencing systems, are not mobile and do not utilize the full capabilities of the existing technology. This article explores the potential impacts mobile ODR (MODR) tools could have on the dispute interventions and prevention initiatives in government office settings. The study used an exploratory model to establish an understanding of the experiences and needs of Canadian and Australian government employees. Findings demonstrate an interest in the introduction of education-oriented MODR tools as supplementary support with the purposes of knowledge retention and further skill development following dispute prevention training. Findings suggest that workplace attitudes towards online communication and ODR have a significant impact on the extent to which individuals successfully develop and maintain relationships either fully or partially through the use of CMC. |
Article |
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Journal | Family & Law, July 2019 |
Authors | Nola Cammu MA |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In 2016 the Dutch Government Commission of Reassessment of Parenthood (GCRP) proposed a wide array of legal changes to Family Law, e.g. with regard to legal multi-parenthood and legal multiple parental responsibility. Although the commission researched these matters thoroughly in its quest towards proposing new directions in the field of Family Law, multi-parents themselves were not interviewed by the commission. Therefore, this article aims to explore a possible gap between the social experiences of parents and the recommendations of the GCRP. Data was drawn from in depth-interviews with a sample of 25 parents in plus-two-parent constellations living in Belgium and the Netherlands. For the most part the social experiences of parents aligned with the ways in which the GCRP plans to legally accommodate the former. However, my data tentatively suggests that other (legal) recommendations of the GCRP need to be explored more in depth. |
Article |
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Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 2 2019 |
Keywords | radical right-wing populist parties, economic policies, welfare chauvinism, populism, deserving poor |
Authors | Simon Otjes |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article examines the economic agenda of the Dutch Freedom Party. It finds that this party mixes left-wing and right-wing policy positions. This inconsistency can be understood through the group-based account of Ennser-Jedenastik (2016), which proposes that the welfare state agenda of radical right-wing populist parties can be understood in terms of populism, nativism and authoritarianism. Each of these elements is linked to a particular economic policy: economic nativism, which sees the economic interest of natives and foreigners as opposed; economic populism, which seeks to limit economic privileges for the elite; and economic authoritarianism, which sees the interests of deserving and undeserving poor as opposed. By using these different oppositions, radical right-wing populist parties can reconcile left-wing and right-wing positions. |
Article |
From Supra-Constitutional Principles to the Misuse of Constituent Power in Israel |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | unconstitutional constitutional amendment, constitutional law, constitutional principles, constituent power, Israel, judicial review |
Authors | Suzie Navot and Yaniv Roznai |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Israel has no one official document known as ‘the Constitution’ and for nearly half a century was based on the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. Still, since the ‘constitutional revolution’ of the 1990s, Israel’s supreme norms are expressed in its basic laws and laws are subject to judicial review. This situation is the result of the enactment of two basic laws dealing with human rights in 1992 – which included a limitation clause – and of a judicial decision of monumental significance in 1995, the Bank Hamizrahi case. In that decision, the Supreme Court stated that all basic laws – even if not entrenched – have constitutional status, and therefore the currently accepted approach is that the Knesset indeed dons two hats, functioning as both a legislature and a constituent authority. The novelty of the Bank Hamizrahi decision lies in its notion of a permanent, ongoing constituent authority. The Knesset actually holds the powers of a constitutional assembly, and legislation titled ‘Basic-Law’ is the product of constituent power. Though it is neither complete nor perfect, Israel’s constitution – that is, basic laws – addresses a substantial number of the issues covered by formal constitutions of other democratic states. Furthermore, though this formal constitution is weak and limited, it is nonetheless a constitution that defends the most important human rights through effective judicial review. |
Article |
A View on the Future of Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments in TurkeyAn Invitation to Judicial Dialogue |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | basic structure doctrine, Constitutional Court of Turkey, constitutional identity, judicial dialogue, immunity amendment, unconstitutional constitutional amendments |
Authors | Ali Acar |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In this article, I discuss and analyse the Turkish case concerning judicial review of constitutional amendments in light of a recent decision by the Constitutional Court of Turkey (CCT). In the said decision, the CCT rejected carrying out judicial review over a controversial constitutional amendment, which lifted MPs’ parliamentary immunity. This decision urges to consider its implications for the possible future cases. I refer to comparative constitutional law with the hope to shed more light on the Turkish example and grasp it comprehensively. In this respect, I illustrate the most crucial arguments developed by the Supreme Court of India (SCI), the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVG), and the Conseil Constitutionnel (FCC) in their case law. Based on the comparative account, I draw some lessons for the CCT and invite it to get into a judicial dialogue with other supreme/constitutional courts with regard to the issue. |
Article |
Transitional Constitutional Unamendability? |
Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | transitional constitutionalism, constitutional unamendability, decline of constitutional democracy, constitution-making in Hungary, the Hungarian Constitutional Court |
Authors | Gábor Halmai |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article discusses the pros and cons for a suggestion to use unamendable provisions in transitional constitutions to protect the integrity and identity of constitutions drafted after a democratic transition. The presumption for such a suggestion could be that most democratic constitution-making processes are elite-driven exercises in countries with no or very little constitutional culture. The article tries to answer the question, whether in such situations unamendable constitutional provisions can help to entrench basic principles and values of constitutionalism with the help of constitutional courts reviewing amendments aimed at violating the core of constitutionalism. The article investigates the experiences of some backsliding constitutional democracies, especially Hungary, and raises the question, whether unamendable constitutional provision could have prevented the decline of constitutionalism. |
Article |
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Journal | European Journal of Law Reform, Issue 3 2019 |
Keywords | constitutional amendments, constitutional law, constitutional politics, constitutionalism, entrenchment clauses, eternity clauses |
Authors | Michael Hein |
AbstractAuthor's information |
‘General entrenchment clauses’ are constitutional provisions that make amendments to certain parts of a constitution either more difficult to achieve than ‘normal’ amendments or even impossible, i.e., legally inadmissible. This article examines the origins of these clauses during the American Revolution (1776-77), their migration to the ‘Old World’, and their dissemination and differentiation on the European continent from 1776 until the end of 2015. In particular, the article answers three questions: (1) When, and in which contexts, did general constitutional entrenchment clauses emerge? (2) How have they migrated to and disseminated in Europe? (3) Which constitutional subjects do such clauses protect, and thus, which main functions do they aim to fulfil? |