The article analyses the regulation for premature termination of the Parliament in Latvia. The introductory part of the article provides a short characteristic of the Constitution of Latvia - the Satversme adopted in 1922, and outlines the basic principles of legal regulation of the Parliament, i.e. the Saeima. Further chapters of the article analyse historic development of the premature termination of the Parliament. On 15 February, 1922, when the Satversme was adopted, only one mechanism for the premature termination of the (...) Parliament was established there: dissolution of the Saeima. However, relatively recently, in 2009, after a prolonged public discussion another mechanism for the premature termination of the activity of the Saeima was established, which was the recall.1 Both models of the termination of the activities of the Parliament are analysed in the article by specifying the principal differences between them. Along with the analysis of the provisions of the Constitution and theory, the practice of dissolution of the Saeima is characterised as well, because in 2011 the Parliament (the Saeima) was dissolved in a constitutional way for the first and so far the only time in the history of Latvia and extraordinary elections were held. (shrink)

Approximately twenty years after it was necessary to fight for human rights, the time came when it was necessary to do it again. Or to begin at the very least to protect them very strongly and thoroughly in a preventive manner. Other methods and means will revert to time when human rights were formally anchored but their material establishment is not yet realized, or not at least to the extent expected corresponding to their real substance. The beginning of the 90’s (...) in Central and Eastern Europe was a success in that human rights began to be looked on as natural, forming the basis of democratic State respecting the rule of law. Today we are increasingly more often encountering the reality that human rights, on the contrary, to the same extent that they have been able to be established, they are losing in value. The biggest danger consists in the fact that limiting of human rights often is attended by silence, without wider public discussion or deliberations. The lack of qualified discussion during the limiting of human rights by way of laws and implementing regulations is however a systemic problem. Correction of its results can be often very complex and doing away with the causes a long term effort. It is dependent on the quality of representative democracy and of the civil society as well. This article is devoted to problem of implementation of evidence of data accompanying telecommunications traffic, the so-called data retention, and in its development from lack of legal regulation to roughly unconstitutional legal regulation and finally to hope for a reasonably constitutional solution. (shrink)

The Swiss Confederation is characterised by a long constitutional evolution that can be divided into several important periods: the Old Swiss Confederacy (13–14 C.), Helvetica (1798–1848), Mediation (1803–1814), Restoration (1815–1830), Regeneration (1830–1848) and development since 1874. It can be stated that Switzerland adopted a modern, democratic constitution early; this state is the oldest democratic republic in Europe. In 1874, many amendments to the effective Constitution were made and a lot of gaps in legal regulation came to light, which led to (...) the opinion that in order to remove those shortcomings, a few specific amendments were no longer sufficient; therefore, it was decided to make substantial changes to the Constitution. The new Constitution was approved by the people and the cantons in the referendum of 18 April 1999 and came into effect on 1 January 2000. The most significant features of this Constitution include the entrenchment of the principles of democracy, federalism, and of the state of law and social welfare. Pursuant to the principle of division of governmental powers, the governing of the state is carried out by the following federal institutions: the Federal Assembly, the Bundesrat and the Federal Court. (shrink)

Procesi globalizacije događali su se mnogo puta u povijesti, daleko prije pojave riječi ‘globalizacija’ u drugoj polovici 20. st. Suvremena globalizacija podrazumijeva društvene, gospodarske i političke procese usmjerene na prelaženje državnih granica i stvaranje globalnog svjetskog poretka. No ona se ne smije svesti samo na to, budući da njeni procesi pogađaju sva područja ljudskog života i djelovanja: medije i komunikacije, gospodarstvo, politiku, pravo, kulturu, ekologiju, etiku, religije i crkve. Posljedice globalizacije jesu nova iskustva na društvenoj, političkoj i gospodarskoj razini – (...) povezivanje i umrežavanje kroz procese internacionalizacije i transnacionalizacije, kroz skupove poput G7 i Međunarodnog gospodarskog foruma u Davosu, ali i brojni društveni lomovi i gospodarska recesija. Globalizacija potiče religije na približavanje, na jačanje suradnje i na zauzimanje zajedničkog stava. Religije to i čine kroz postojeće zajedničke institucije, poput Svjetskog parlamenta religija i Svjetske konferencije religija za mir , tražeći nove oblike približavanja, dijaloga, solidarnosti, suživota, suradnje i ostvarenja etičkog konsenzusa, vodeći računa o zaštiti vlastitog identiteta u vremenu pluralizma i multikulturalnosti. Religije su svjesne da je etičko pitanje postalo pitanje planetarne odgovornosti koje zahtijeva globalnu etiku oko koje se trebaju složiti svi subjekti na svjetskoj razini, a u kojoj će čovjek biti aktivni subjekt. Kršćanske crkve uzimaju u obzir određene pozitivne zakonitosti procesa globalizacije tako da možemo govoriti o »kršćanskoj globalizaciji«. Kršćanstvo je od svojih početaka bilo usmjereno na određenu vrstu globalizacijskih procesa – daleko prije nego li se pojavio naziv ‘globalizacija’. Crkve su svjesne svoje zadaće zajednički braniti u vremenu globalizacije dostojanstvo svakog čovjeka, svake tradicije i kulture. One to čine preko brojnih postojećih međucrkvenih institucija na svjetskoj razini kao što su Ekumensko vijeće crkava , Ekumensko vijeće mladih u Europi . Katolička Crkva je od početka bila globalna i iz te je perspektive kroz stoljeća misijski djelovala. Nakon II. vatikanskog sabora to će djelovanje pojačati osnivanjem Papinskog vijeća za jedinstvo kršćana koje je nastalo iz Tajništva za jedinstvo kršćana , zatim Svjetskog dana mladih i Caritasa internationalisa.Processes of globalization have been happening numerous times through history, long prior to the appearance of the word ‘globalization’ in the second half of 20th century. Modern globalization includes the social, economic and political processes headed to crossing national boundaries and creating a global world order. However, globalization cannot be attributed simply to that issue, for its processes deal with all dimensions of human life and activity: media and communications, economy, politics, law, culture, ecology, ethics, religions, and churches. The consequences of globalization are new experiences related to social, political and economical sphere – interconnection and networking through processes of internationalization and transnationalization, through the meetings of the members of G7 and International Economic Forum in Davos, and also the numerous social breaks and economic recession. Globalization inspires religions to aim at the approaching, the stronger cooperation and the intercession for the common attitude. For realization of this purpose religions act through the existing common institutions like The World Parliament of Religions and World conference of religions for peace , asking for a new way of approaching, dialogue, solidarity, coexistence, cooperation and realization of ethic consensus, taking into account the protection of its own identity in time of pluralism and multiculture. Religions are aware of how ethic question has become the question of world’s responsibility. That issue requires global ethical principles around which all subjects on the world scale are to agree with. In that global ethic the human being will be respected as an active subject. The Christian Churches take into consideration the certain positive lawfulness of globalization process, thus we can speak of “Christian globalization”. Christianity has been headed to globalization process from the earliest days of the faith – prior to the process has emerged known as globalization. The Churches became aware of its responsibility in order to protect in the time of globalization the dignity of every person, every tradition, and culture. The Churches respond to this phenomenon through numerous existing interchurch institutions on world domain such as The World Council of Churches , Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe . The Catholic Church from the beginning has been global and based on this perspective the Catholic Church through centuries has been carrying out its missionary work. After the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church has strengthened its activity by establishing Pontifical Council for Christian Unity , which has emerged from Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity , World Youth Day and Caritas internationalis. (shrink)