…genuine security and counter-terrorism experts, including within intelligence agencies, are not all driven by vested interests related to power and money. Their professional integrity can become a decisive factor in swinging back the pendulum to a zone where rational discussion is possible. This will not stop the pendulum but it will at least provide opportunities for correcting past mistakes and introducing measures that are based on evidence and a proper assessment of both the security benefits and of the human rights impact of surveillance. And if those measures produce tangible results, they may also persist in times when new calls to do ‘something’ are heard…

The Court’s recent judgment in Big Brother Watch, the first case to reach the Court concerning the allegations in the Snowden files, demonstrates the considerable limits on the Court’s ability to protect privacy in the face of mass surveillance. It suggests that whilst the Court will continue to play an important role in ensuring that states have a legal framework and that they satisfy important minimum safeguards it will not push back on the use of mass surveillance…

The process of forced migration and internal displacement inevitably leads to the infringement of human and constitutional rights. Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) often find themselves lacking access to water, food, shelter, health care, education, and a minimum income. The Colombian Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence on this issue can enlighten us both to good practice and what could be done better. Certainly its firsthand experience in dealing with the complexities of the rights of IDPs is worth further consideration, for both its virtues and its vices…

Since the 2008 economic crisis some have tried to retrospectively cast European integration as a kind of ideological plot in which the purpose of the whole project was the creation of a neo-liberal economic constitution. This is obviously false because it is logically counterintuitive and historically incorrect to believe that the nation states that created the modern welfare states after 1945 with social and economic rights in their constitutions were aiming few years later to create a supranational organization which would encourage neo-liberal ideas guided by neo-liberal technocrats. Or even worse, that they did so not on purpose but because their economic sovereignty had been hijacked by a cabal of economic doctrinaries and European judges, when nation-states had had plethoric state administrations and organised interests attentive to any movement made at the European level since the beginning…

There may be conflicting views about what food security choice confronts us, but what is undeniable is that whatever we choose, we cannot avoid the concept of food sovereignty, which dwarfs national and even regional concerns; which has, in fact, a global character in a globalised world. To achieve effective food sovereignty we need to have a global ‘food democracy’, in the sense that all the regulatory bodies – be they national, regional or global – have to be accountable, impartial, representative. In a word: democratic…

I wanted to address the issue of the types of discussions the so-called migration of proportionality produces. First of all, the sequence of steps was less visible in the explosion of the narrative about migration in the German proportionality test. This seems to be crucial in the German constitutional version of the test. However, it is not the case in other practices. This reveals two things. On the one hand, the migration of proportionality is limited. On the other, highlighting these re-interpretations or the (implicit) rejection of the structured methodology provides a window of opportunity to pose new questions to old issues. For instance, Latin American Courts are well known for ruling on constitutional rights. Nevertheless, some of these Courts refuse to reveal in advance the method of rights adjudication to justify the decision in a fully structured and explicit way. I would argue strongly that the discussion (reception or rejection or transformation) of the test of proportionality is influenced by the specific context in which it is performed.

Over a century later: a pair of children are sitting on a balcony, licking lollipops and letting their legs hang over the side. There is suddenly the sound of shelling and the children run inside. Now the perspective widens. Countless shell-destroyed buildings can be seen. A war scared town. It is Aleppo in Syria, four years ago and a scene from Oscar-nominated documentary Watani – My Homeland. Again, the audience is shocked by the images they have seen on screen. Again, the reality is overwhelming. But this time the audience is at the opening of the first Human Rights Film Festival Berlin in September 2018.

‘Should I draw a picture for you?!’ I often heard this question in Naples when someone reproached a person for not understanding an argument fast enough. It was quite a popular expression, underpinned by something not very nice: the interlocutor seemed to not be smart enough to grasp the verbal meaning of the sentence. The need for visual support has traditionally been denigrated, even in Naples, homeland of gesticulation. In particular during intellectual exchanges, people had to be able to understand complex arguments by reading or listening to long discourses!...

It can happen: small publishing houses giving international visibility to wonderful but unknown writers. In Cape Verde, ‘Rosa de Porcelana Editora’ is one of them. Founder Filinto El.sio who created the publishing house with his partner M.rcia Souto speaks to This Century’s Review.

…The answer should be to reinforce all legal procedures that stress the universality of human dignity and are directed to overcome the drivers of conflict – race, religion, politics. Thus, legal awareness becomes a potent weapon against terrorism. The author explains with rare clarity how legality is strictly related to empathy for the victims of terror. The only real way of escaping fear is to not be indifferent to the destiny of others…

…All of these books manage to tackle often quite complex issues with immense economy and clarity, providing an enlightening and engaging summary of the enduring effort it takes to hold a society – any society – together, and safeguard the Rule of Law.

Art in 2019 promises much in the way of creativity in a world in which borders are no longer permanent but continually in flux and up for definition. In this, Art and Law have much in common, continually reinventing themselves to meet the challenges of our times. From Jerusalem to London, Paris to Marrakech, passing through Alberta, Vienna and Kanazawa, the main private foundations and public institutions bring us a world in constant conflict, wounded and full of contradictions, but also interconnected and constantly developing new forms of expression…

We have chosen to feature Felix Dobbert’s photographs in this edition of TCR to explore a modern dilemma: while we may benefit from new communication technologies in both our working and private lives, this can come at a cost. Whether it is to our privacy, the commodification of our identity in a market where we amount to little more than data to be bought and sold, or our very existence is reduced to a shallow ‘virtuality’ rather than a living, breathing, complex human being, Dobbert’s still lifes provide a metaphor for a world in which beautiful, living creatures are

“The fracturing of speech and its nefarious effects on democracy can be greatly magnified by the deployment of new technologies as attested by the spread of hate speech and misleading information across the web and via social media such as Facebook. News outlets, even if fragmented, operate under editorial supervision which typically insures some form of cogent control over output. Social media, in contrast, are in significant respect not, or insufficiently, editorially managed…”

“Yes, there are human goods aplenty outside democracy. Just as surely, however, outside democracy there will never be any regime of human rights.”

“The uniform civil code has a strong symbolic value and may seem a necessary passage on the path towards modernisation of the country. However, it is also possible to ask whether the uniform civil code is an appropriate instrument or if, on the contrary, the current system of personal laws applied by secular Indian courts within the constitutional framework and progressively harmonised by legislation can ultimately achieve an adequate management of Indian pluralism.”

“Stella makes an immediate impression – tall, slim, beautiful, with pearly white seashells nestled in her long blonde dreadlocks –she isn’t exactly the clich. of the dowdy do-gooder”

“It was the promise of a fair civil service entrance exam, based on merit and transparency, that convinced the young couple to walk for five days to Feyzabed, provincial capital of Afghanistan’s Badakshan Province. Shortly thereafter, their son, Ahmad Nader was born – a sign, perhaps, of hope, of renewed trust between the citizens living in the remote areas of the country and the state.”

“There are two distinct but related issues here: the diverse probabilities of receiving protection in the EU depending on the country in which one makes a claim, and the credibility of decisions that are made. There is currently no European institution implementing these directives or ensuring that criteria are uniformly applied – instead considerable discretion remains at national level, with the result that where one makes one’s claim matters enormously, a fact ignored by the Dublin regulation.”

“The three stages that constitute modern law, despite their differences, have a noteworthy similarity: the articulation of the self of the Global North by means of the articulation of the self of the Global South. The former is a legal subject, the latter a legal barbarian.”

“It may even be possible that the ‘Great Deceleration’ – done fairly, justly and sustainably – can create a more stable, cohesive and civically engaged society, living a better quality of life amidst a less polluted and more abundant environment.”

But we should not forget that the organic cotton farmer takes a high economic risk when entering the organic field. If insects damage his fields he is in trouble and might even lose the entire crop as he or she is bound to the standard requirements, which mean doing otherwise would risk losing certification status. Organic farming is a system. Farmers produce not only one single crop, but many others and those have to be produced as certified organic as well.

“Pribán’s essays are not about the nation’s historical struggle for survival and independence, but rather the decline of democratic constitutionalism and civility in post-national Europe, with a particular emphasis on the region once known as Central Europe.”

“…its greatest strength is its commitment to an independent publishing culture free from any interference from corporate interests. By partnering with a wide range of overseas presses like Columbia University Press in North America and Pluto Press in the UK, it aims for its international programme to grow year by year.”

“Manifesta is an extraordinary Biennial of Contemporary Art. Born in the early Nineties in The Netherlands as a response to the political and economic changes brought about by the end of the Cold War and the consequent moves towards European integration, it has been hosted by cities from Murcia in Spain to St Petersburg, Russia. In 2018, it arrives in Palermo, Sicily, a cultural crossroads of three continents at the heart of the Mediterranean.”

“Laura Di Gregorio meets world-renowned legal philosopher Robert Alexy…
Rationality is thrilling for two reasons. The first is that rationality is possible. Rationality starts with asking, asserting, and arguing…”

“Why Sweden’s refugee crisis spending should be a Keynesian lesson for all of Europe…
The perception here is that refugees constitute a cost, an expense, and that is the end of the story…”

“Opportunity credit, not basic income, would transform lives…
Policy makers have not yet succeeded in shaping the major shifts of our era – technological change, globalisation, and the information society – to the majority’s satisfaction. This not only applies to Germany but almost all of the world’s industrial countries. The widespread perception of rising social inequality is fuelling the success of populists.”

“The changing nature of the Eurozone…
Over a decade dominated by lurid headlines, the Eurozone has quietly evolved from a “jurisdiction” to an “organisation” – one that threatens to eclipse the EU itself. But is the new institution fit for purpose?”

“Constitutional identity in Australia. For a start, the Constitution fails to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the ongoing traditional owners of the land and members of the oldest living cultures in the world.”

This Century‘s Review talks about film and culture with the European Commission’s Martine Reicherts and Roberto Viola…
In times of crisis, the role of culture is revealing its political and economic influence, reinforcing cohesion among Member States…”

“While we have long recognised the terrible fate meted out to the child victims of the Holocaust, the children who were sent to the Gulag under Stalin’s Terror exist only in the shadows of popular understanding, if they exist at all.”

“Cases, controversies, legal and political perspectives from the cutting-edge of global law…
My daughter has a book of folk tales, published in a European country. Translated into English, the title of the book is ‘Folk Tales from the Four Corners of the World.‘ There are tales by the Brothers Grimm, H. C. Andersen, some English, Italian, Slavic, and Middle Eastern tales. And that‘s it. These are the four corners of the world. Even if it is true that this was the world a European knew many centuries ago, today…”

“Like their skyscrapers, the Law of the Cities is rising in prominence…As the profile of states has drawn back in the wake of globalisation, that of cities is again on the rise.”

“Climate change is the legal issue of our age. At stake are billions of dollars and millions of lives. Industries can rise and fall, and nations can find themselves at threat from the consequences of our changing climate. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that despite the weight of evidence, climate change is at the centre of a fierce debate, and science can sometimes find itself in the crosshairs.”

“A Madagscan publisher pushes back…Dodo Vole from Madagascar is more than a typical publisher producing books for children and adults. It is a political statement and a project of empowerment.”

“Celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, the journal remains unashamedly intellectual in a dumbed-down age”

“Celebrated graphic novelist Guy Delisle will be artist of honour for Geneva’s 2018 International Festival and Forum on Human Rights, which has been running in parallel with the main session of the UN Human Rights Council for the past 15 years. The festival is widely regarded as the most important festival of its kind…”

Water is a metaphor for movement and flow but also provides an opportunity for action and reaction – a theme explored in a series of simultaneous exhibitions on show in Tuscany until next year by celebrated Albanian artist Adrian Paci.

Malcolm Coulthard is Emeritus Professor of Forensic Linguistics at the University of Aston and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. He is probably still best known for his work on the analysis of spoken and written discourse, but since the late 1980s he has become increasingly involved with forensic applications of linguistics. He has written expert reports in over 220 cases and given evidence on author identification in the Courts of Appeal in London, as well as in lower courts in England, Germany, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland. Major publications with Alison Johnson in the area of Forensic Linguistics are ‘An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics’, 2007 and ‘A Handbook of Forensic Linguistics’, 2010.

Gábor Halmai is professor of Law at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He is currently Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton University and, since 2003, he has been the national director of the European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratization in Venice. He is a former member of the Management Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, and had previously served as chief counsellor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court. He has published widely on Comparative Constitutional Law and Human Rights. His latest book Perspectives of Global Constitutionalism will be published by Eleven International Publishing.

Adamantia Karali is a PhD researcher in Forensic Linguistics at the University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece. She has been a distance learning tutor in Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, UK, since 2000, and a court secretary at the Athens Court of Appeal, Greece, since 2001.

Petra Hardt studied Romance Literature and wrote a PhD on the ‘Lyrik der Résistance’. She has worked at Suhrkamp Verlag (Berlin) since 1995 and has been the Head of the Rights Department since 2000.

Marta López Torres is Deputy Head of the Institutional Law Division at the European Central Bank. Before joining the ECB, she worked in the European Commission and the international U.S. firm Hunton & Williams. She also served one year in the legal services of the International Monetary Fund. She has a law degree from her home-town university in Pamplona, Spain. She completed her post-graduate education at King’s College, London, and the European University Institute, Florence.

Frank Mc Namara is a PhD candidate at the European University Institute. His doctoral research considers the effects of externalisation and privatisation on migrants in the EU. He has previously worked in the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal in Ireland and as a Trainee at the European Commission in the Unit for Border Management and Schengen Governance/Relations with Frontex. His postgraduate degrees are an LL.B (from the National University of Ireland, Galway); an LL.M in European Law (University of Edinburgh); and an LL.M in Comparative, European and International Legal Studies (European University Institute).

Christoph Möllers is Professor of Law at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandeburg. He is also Permanent Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg of Berlin where he is the Head of the Programs ‘Law in Context’ and ‘Legal Cultures’ (Co-head Prof. Susanne Baer). He studied Philosophy of Law, Public and Comparative Law at the legal faculties of Tübingen, München and Madrid.

Iker Nabaskues teaches Philosophy of Law and Theory of Law at the University of the Basque Country. He has also worked in Public Administration in the area of Social Services. Specialized in welfare-state policies, he is the author of Globalización y nueva política local (IVAP, 2003) on the role of local governments as creators of new social policies in the era of globalization. He received his doctoral degree from the University of the Basque Country for his thesis “Robert Louis Stevenson: Ethics, narrative and justice”. His research has focused on literature and film as cultural elements that help in the formation of free citizens and on the use of novels as a means of iusphilosophical analysis.

Thomas Weitin is Professor of German Literature at the University of Konstanz.

Mattias Kumm is Inge Rennert Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, as well as holding a Research Professorship on 'Globali- zation and the Rule of Law' at the Social Science Research Center (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, WZB) and Humboldt University in Berlin. Kumm's research and teaching focuses on basic issues in Global, European and Comparative Public Law. His work emphasizes the analytical and normative connection between law, claims to legitimate authority and public reason, and the institutional conditions under which such claims can be made plausible. He argues for the need to reconceive the liberal-democratic constitutional tradition in cosmopolitan and pluralist terms. Among his intellectual influences are Hans Kelsen, Robert Alexy, and Ronald Dworkin. Professor Mattias Kumm lives and works in New York City and Berlin.

Virgílio Afonso da Silva is Professor of Law at the University of São Paulo, where he teaches constitutional law, human rights, constitutional theory, and political and electoral systems. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Kiel, Germany. His works on constitutional interpretation, human rights (including social and economic rights), political representation and electoral systems have been published in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and German. He has been a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, and at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a member of the scientific board of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp).

Guilherme Leite Gonçalves has a Ph.D in the Sociology of Law from the University of Salento, Italy. He is currently a Humboldt Foundation George Foster Research Fellow at the Free University in Berlin and at Bremen University.

Edmund Boyo is a Partner at Clifford Chance based in Frankfurt who joined the firm in 1998. He specialises in International Project Finance (including toll roads, airports, ports, petrochemicals, and mining), asset finance and general banking. He is the global co-head of the firm’s Africa Group. Boyo has led the Clifford Chance team on numerous landmark transactions including advising the finance parties on the commercial bank and Islamic bank backed project financing of a USD 12.5 billion bauxite mine and refinery and aluminium smelter and rolling mill in Saudi Arabia (Middle East Industrial Deal of the Year 2010 – PFI and Middle East Mining and Metals Deal of the Year 2011 – Project Finance Magazine), and advising SABIC (as sponsor) and Saudi Kayan (as project company) on Saudi Kayan’s IPO and the ECA and commercial and Islamic bank backed project financing of a USD 10 billion petrochemicals project in Saudi Arabia (Middle East Petrochemicals Deal of the Year 2009 – Project Finance Magazine).

Mariella de Masellis has been a judge since 1989. She has worked in Calabria and Campania in Italy dealing with complicated cases involving organized crime, and was the anti-mafia public prosecutor in Salerno in Southern Italy for seven years. She is currently the counsellor for the Fourth Penal Section of the Corte d’Appello in Rome, where she is in charge of enforcing arrest warrants issued by other European Union countries, also in matters of freezing assets - the seizure and confiscation of assets of those who are considered a danger to society, for example Mafiosi – and also for the award of compensation to those who were in preventive custody and were subsequently found not guilty. She has been involved for many years in educational activities. She is the co-author of the book Violenza in famiglia. Percorsi giurisprudenziali (Giuffré 2011).

Winfried Bullinger was born in Munich, Germany in 1965. He studied Fine Art (Painting) at Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa and at the University of Art Berlin (UDK), Germany, from 1987 to 1993. He studied for his Masters Degree at the UDK in 1993, writing his dissertation on art and falsification. Bullinger has also studied law and now practices at the international law firm CMS Asche Sigle. In both his photographic artwork and in his legal work he focuses on the human condition. He lives in Potsdam and Berlin. Recent exhibitions (selection): 2008 Caves, Goethe Institut in Cooperation with Herakleidon Museum, Athen (Solo); Caves Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg; 2009 Traces, Concent Art Berlin; 2009 Artists from Berlin, Museum of Modern Art, Skopje; 2010 Waterplaces, Curatorial Partners, Karlsruhe; 2010 Gallery Bob van Orsouw, Zürich; 2011 Gallery Sassa Trülzsch, Berlin.

Simonetta Agnello Hornby is a writer of international renown – she is the winner of many literary prizes, including the ‘Stresa di Narrativa’ and P.E.N. Club Italy awards. She has spent most of her life working as a children’s lawyer in Brixton, South London. Moreover, she chaired The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal for eight years. Novels: La Mennulara (The Almond Picker), 2002; La Zia Marchesa (The Marchesa), 2004; Boccamurata (Sealed Lips), 2007; Vento Scomposto (There’s Nothing Wrong with Lucy), 2009; Camera Oscura (The Dark Room), 2010; La Monaca (The Nun), 2010; Un filo d’olio, 2011

Klaus Walter is a DJ and author on topics related to pop culture, politics, and sports. From 1984 to 2008 he was moderator of the programme ‘Der Ball ist rund’ (The ball is round) of the Hessischen Rundfunk (Hessian Radio) in Frankfurt/Main – voted numerous times the best radio programme in Germany by the readers of the ‘Spex’ and ‘Intro’ magazines. Since 2008 he has worked as moderator and editor for the ByteFM Internet radio (‘Grimme Online Award’ winner in 2009). He has written articles and hosted radio programmes for numerous publications (Rolling Stone, Spex, Die Zeit, Frieze, Süddeutsche Zeitung, TAZ, WOZ, Melodie & Rhythmus, Spiegel Online, Jungle World) and radio channels (DLF, Deutschlandradio Kultur, BR, NDR, WDR, HR). In 2005 he co- authored ‘Plattenspieler’ (Turntable), a book of conversations with Frank Witzel and Thomas Meinecke, which was followed by ‘Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland’ (The German Federal Republic) in 2009. He is also active in giving seminars and lectures – recently at the University of Paderborn and the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main.

Clemens-Tobias Lange is born in Berlin 1960, works in Hamburg. He was a student both of Emilio Vedova and Ennio Chiggio and trained in the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Venice. His works are of international significance, and are regularly exhibited in Europe, the United States of America, and Japan. He has received prestigious prizes, the latest being ‘The City of Ludwigsburg Antiquarian Prize for Book Culture’ (2012)TEST.