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2331.More information
In following dialectic reasoning, avenues of analysis are proposed to assess the insolvable contradiction that puts the vectors of globalized expansion at odds with the requisites of the Rule of Law. The issue of their reciprocal compatibility cannot be eluded because the two phenomena are based upon hegemonic premises, which allow them to lay claim to the preeminence of distinct fields. Thus, during the 1990s, the tangible progression of the Rule of Law as a means of expression for constitutional democracy beyond the limited circle of occidental countries contributed to the latent universalization of the principle, but also of the development of a rhetoric that transformed it into a myth that forms the basis of contemporary political debates. The ideas (constitutionalism, political democracy, the « juridical handling » of fundamental freedoms) that nurture discussions on the Rule of Law point the political and institutional practices of sovereign states in a specific direction. Conversely, globalization is associated with the emergence of « borderless laws » and the creation of new machinery for imposing regulations that would reduce state sovereignty in various areas currently under their exclusive jurisdiction. Since the integrity of national legal systems is solidly based upon the prevalence of constitutional standards, the effectiveness of the Rule of Law and constitutionalism may become shaky owing to the multiplication of legal systems in potential competition with one another. Globalization offers fertile ground for devising various scenarios wherein states no longer have precedence over the dynamics for creating standards or setting reference points. If this analysis highlights the exacerbation of many contradictions, it correspondingly underscores the complementarity arising from the limits of the State being outpaced by the classical sources of international law. Between the globalization of the Rule of Law and its correlative integration into the multiform realities of globalization, current transformations demonstrate the need for reformulating the Rule of Law.
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2332.
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2335.More information
The career of Pierre Bédard (1762-1829) deserves to be more widely known. He was the first leader of a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and he founded the political journal Le Canadien in 1806 in response to attacks from english merchants in the Quebec Mercury. The mercantile oligarchy had allied itself with the colonial government to neutralize opposition forces, led by Bédard, and their demands expressed through the Assembly. In 1810, as the upshot of a parliamentary crisis, Governor James Craig ordered general elections, shut down Le Canadien and imprisoned Pierre Bédard along with several other assembly members. despite these repressive measures, the population re-elected the same representatives to the assembly. Bédard spent thirteen months in prison and was never brought to trial, despite his demands to be judged. singlehandedly he defied the colonial power and never yielded to attempts to coerce him into confessing to sedition and rebellion. as a courageous defender of justice and freedom of expression, Bédard remains an example of resistance to oppression and arbitrary government.
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2336.
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2340.