Law in Eastern Europe - Böcker

Winner of the Hart/Socio-Legal Studies Association Book Prize for Early Career Academics, 2005.This book traces the development of the rule of law in Georgia since its independence and speculates on its future direction. It does so by focusing on changes in the legal profession after 1991. Intriguingly, the book, which is based on extensive field-work, concludes that culture and informal regulation are key to understanding how Georgian lawyers are governed, or rather govern themselves. Indeed, for several years after independence from the Soviet Union there was no functioning law on attorneys; informal regulation, based on the importance of reputation and networks, was the only sort of regulation. Other topics addressed in the book include Georgia’s legal history, its current human rights situation, theories of professionalization, and the link between law and development. The book also compares the Georgian experience to that country’s South Caucasian neighbors - Armenia and Azerbaijan - thus rounding the book out as a regional study.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation was ratified in 1993 amid great hopes and aspirations following the collapse of the USSR. The constitution proclaims the goal of establishing a “democratic, federal state” that functions according to rule of law and promises a broad array of social, political and economic rights to its citizens. But how well has the Russian government lived up to realizing these promises? Seven distinguished scholars on Russian politics and law examine the state of political accountability, federal power-sharing, judicial independence, press freedom, and criminal procedure in Russia today. The picture that emerges is decidedly mixed; they conclude that the Russian constitution remains a work in progress.

In Russia and European Human-Rights Law: The Rise of the Civilizational Argument, Lauri Mälksoo and his co-authors critically examine Russia's experiences as part of the European human-rights protection system since its admittance to the Council of Europe in 1998. The authors combine legal and constructivist international-relations theory perspectives in studying Russia's practice and rhetoric as a member of the Council of Europe and a subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Certain aspects of human-rights doctrine and practice in Russia are particularly highlighted: the increasing impact of Orthodox Christian teachings on the Russian government's ideology, the situation with media freedom, freedom of religion, etc. The authors draw widely on Russian sources and media. The questions whether modern-day Russia truly fits in the human-rights protection system of the Council of Europe, and whether a margin of appreciation will suffice when dealing with Moscow, are highly relevant in contemporary European politics.

The year 2017 has been an uneasy one for the EU, with so-called Brexit on the horizon and the rise of populist euroskepticism in a number of Member States. This year, with the tenth anniversary of the Romanian and Bulgarian accession to the Union, is a good year to pause and reflect over the life and future of the Union. In this work, we envision the next decade with Europe 2020 strategy and review the fruits of the 2004 accession in Central and Eastern Europe. What has the Union achieved? Which policy areas are likely to change and how? How successful, and by what measure, has the accession of the 10 Member States in 2004 been? Reviewing European Union Accession addresses a wide range of issues, deliberately without any thematic constraints, in order to explore EU enlargement from a variety of perspectives, both scientific and geographical, internal and external. In contrast to the major works in this field, we highlight the interrelated, and often unexpected, nature of the integration process – hence the subtitle, unexpected results, spillover effects and externalities.

This book provides a concise and analytical introduction to private international law in Hungary: international jurisdiction of courts, choice of law (applicable law) and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judicial decisions. It presents both Hungarian conflicts rules and their judicial practice and the application of EU conflicts rules by Hungarian courts.

In 1968, the predecessor of this volume was published as Number 15 of the Law in Eastern Europe series, under the title "Soviet Citizenship Law". The decision to put out a new version of that study was prompted by the enactment in 1978 of the CUTTent Law on the Citizenship of the USSR and the various changes in Soviet prac­ tice in this domain which occurred in the intervening decade. I have drawn on the earlier work for background material and in order to make comparisons between the previous record here and the substance ofthe latest statute. However, the pres­ ent monograph is not a second edition in the sense of being an expanded and updated revision of the original, but stands as an independent piece of research and analysis. Thus, three of the chapters (out of a total of six) featured in the 1968 vol­ urne - citizenship and state succession, state succession and option of nationality, and refugees and displaced persons - have now been omitted for the simple reason that the situation in these areas has remained virtually static during the past ten years so that the initial treatment requires no significant alteration. On the other hand, fresh problems have meantime arisen - such as, for instance, the connection between citizenship and emigration, and the relationship between citizenship status and the international protection of human rights - which called for attention and are dealt with in this book.