Constitution for a Disunited Nation

More than two decades after the post-communist constitutional transition, Hungary got into the spotlight again. As a result of the 2010 elections, the governing majority gained two-thirds of the seats in parliament, which made constitutional revision exceptionally easy, bypassing extensive political and social deliberations. In April 2011, on the first anniversary of the 2010 election, a brand new constitution was promulgated, named the Fundamental Law.

This collection (pdf) edited by Gábor Attila Tóth is the most comprehensive account of the Fundamental Law and its underlying principles. The objective is to analyze this constitutional transition from the perspectives of comparative constitutional law, legal theory and political philosophy. The authors outline and analyze how the current constitutional changes are altering the basic structure of the Hungarian State. The key concepts of the theoretical inquiry are sociological and normative legitimacy, majoritarian and partnership approach to democracy, procedural and substantive elements of constitutionalism. Changes are also examined in the field of human rights, focusing on the principles of equality, dignity, and civil liberties.

More details (pdf)>>

“Constitutionalism as a democratic practice to safeguard human rights can never be taken for granted. This book takes constitutionalism seriously – it is a guiding light for Hungary and beyond, and a forceful, enlightened intervention in complicated political times” – Susanne Baer, Justice, Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

Share

Related articles

NGOs Reject "Safe Harbor 2.0," Urge EU and US to Protect Fundamental Rights

Leading human rights and consumer organizations have issued a letter to urge the US and the EU to protect the fundamental right to privacy.

Read more »

Human Rights Organizations Participate in Public Hearing on the Right to Protest in Brazil

On Tuesday, November 18th, a representative of the ACLU, CCLA, CELS, EIPR, HCLU, KHRC, LRC and Liberty, who are part of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO), made a presentation at a public hearing on the right to protest organized by Brazil’s Federal Attorney General’s Office and Sao Paulo State’s prosecutors’ office. The purpose of the hearing was to exchange data, information, criticism and proposals related to exercising that right.

Read more »

We have started monitoring the elections

Now that the election date has been set, we will start to feel the menacing deficiencies of the new election procedures. HCLU has started its election monitoring work, during which it is going to document if and how these procedures, which are going to be applied for the first time in 2014, harm our constitutional rights. In the coming months we are going to examine if the data, which draws an objective picture of the different election phases, supports our suspicion that the new regulations violate participation rights in practice.

Read more »