Suchergebnisse

Non-compliance with compulsory military service as a form of homeland defence (i.e. conscription) is typically justified by various types of conscientious objections. However, in this article, I offer an alternative type of justification that is based on the common good. To achieve this, I present the concept of the common good and its relationship to the political obligation of homeland defence from the perspective of different traditions of political thought. Subsequently, I outline two types of exceptions to this political obligation: the liberal type of exceptions and the membership-based ones.

The Slovak political system has changed rapidly since the Republic's formation in 1993. Today the number of ideologically conservative political parties is rapidly rising. This article clarifies some aspects of recent party-political developments in Slovakia. To provide an overview, only the most important social milestones have been taken into account. Specifically, the 2015 referendum on the protection of the 'traditional family', the mass civic protests that erupted in 2012 and 2018, and the business–mafia–political connections that have been exposed will be discussed.

Politolog Stein Ringen z Oxfordské univerzity nabízí čtenářům provokativnízamyšlení nad principy demokratického vládnutí: jak vláda přiměje občany,aby respektovali její autoritu? Každá vláda musí prosazovat i nepopulárníopatření, od výběru daní přes vymáhání práva po dodržování předpisů.Podle Ringena na to však síla nestačí; občané musejí být ochotní se podřídita nechat se vést. Autor tento politický rébus rozplétá bez rozpaků, napříkladu Spojených států a Velké Británie břitce a přesvědčivě demonstruje,jak se vytváří a udržuje národní kultura poslušnosti. Ukazuje, jakými cestamise musejí vydat vůdci, kteří chtějí vládnout pomocí autority spíše nežpomocí síly a kteří chtějí, řečeno s Immanuelem Kantem, "udržet pořádek vnárodě ďáblů.

Knižní recenze / book review.

Knižní recenze / book review.

In February 2015, Slovakia held a referendum ʻfor the protection of the traditional family.' It was indirectly aimed against the potential legalization of same-sex marriages or civil unions. Owing to the initiative of the Slovak President, the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic (CCSR) reviewed four proposed referendum questions, while one of them was later declared unconstitutional. I attempt to point out the flaws in the CCSR's judgment while looking for an argumentation in favour of the recognition of same-sex marriages/civil unions. I argue that Slovak constitutional law provides several principles for such recognition, which include: civic equality, similarity, equal access, democratic state, and the right to privacy. These principles are compared with the recent ground-breaking judgments of the US Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Finally, I briefly scrutinise the objection that recognising a right for same-sex unions means excessive judicial activism and judicializes politics.

Catholic social teaching (CST) is viewed as one of the most eminent social concepts. A global governance as a more or less new idea of the CST seems to be appealing and provocative. In this paper, I aim to examine its plausibility in the light of the current debates on democratic innovations. It seems that the idea of global governance, as offered by the CST, is focussed mainly on pure institutional boosting and seeking the most appropriate 'global political authority', which observes 'consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity (and) seeks to establish the common good', as written by Benedict XVI. I suggest that a viable type of global democracy should make room for active peoples' engagement. Viewed from this perspective, I propose to introduce some elements of public deliberation into the global democratic network. Such an improvement could help to reach more credible global governance and achieve an expected level of its efficacy.

Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo spolku slovenských spisovateľov, 2014. Edícia Pohľady za horizont, zv. 15. 492 s., ISBN 978-80-8061-815-5. Preklad: Richard Cedzo, predslov: Ľuboš Blaha.