The NSA Report

The NSA Report PDF

Author: President's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, The

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-03-31

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1400851270

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The official report that has shaped the international debate about NSA surveillance "We cannot discount the risk, in light of the lessons of our own history, that at some point in the future, high-level government officials will decide that this massive database of extraordinarily sensitive private information is there for the plucking. Americans must never make the mistake of wholly 'trusting' our public officials."—The NSA Report This is the official report that is helping shape the international debate about the unprecedented surveillance activities of the National Security Agency. Commissioned by President Obama following disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden, and written by a preeminent group of intelligence and legal experts, the report examines the extent of NSA programs and calls for dozens of urgent and practical reforms. The result is a blueprint showing how the government can reaffirm its commitment to privacy and civil liberties—without compromising national security.

International Order and Individual Liberty

International Order and Individual Liberty PDF

Author: Mark E. Pietrzyk

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780761822936

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Pietrzyk (political science, Benedictine U., Lisle, Illinois) investigates whether the observed correlation between democratic states and peace is a case of peace facilitating democracy. If the reverse is true, he says, if in fact it is democracy that fosters peace, then the equation provides yet another reason for a policy of supporting democracy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

How Constitutional Rights Matter

How Constitutional Rights Matter PDF

Author: Adam Chilton

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 0190871458

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Does constitutionalizing rights improve respect for those rights in practice? Drawing on statistical analyses, survey experiments, and case studies from around the world, this book argues that enforcing constitutional rights is not easy, but that some rights are harder to repress than others. First, enshrining rights in constitutions does not automatically ensure that those rights will be respected. For rights to matter, rights violations need to be politically costly. But this is difficult to accomplish for unconnected groups of citizens. Second, some rights are easier to enforce than others, especially those with natural constituencies that can mobilize for their enforcement. This is the case for rights that are practiced by and within organizations, such as the rights to religious freedom, to unionize, and to form political parties. Because religious groups, trade unions and parties are highly organized, they are well-equipped to use the constitution to resist rights violations. As a result, these rights are systematically associated with better practices. By contrast, rights that are practiced on an individual basis, such as free speech or the prohibition of torture, often lack natural constituencies to enforce them, which makes it easier for governments to violate these rights. Third, even highly organized groups armed with the constitution may not be able to stop governments dedicated to rights-repression. When constitutional rights are enforced by dedicated organizations, they are thus best understood as speed bumps that slow down attempts at repression. An important contribution to comparative constitutional law, this book provides a comprehensive picture of the spread of constitutional rights, and their enforcement, around the world.

Individual Rights and the Making of the International System

Individual Rights and the Making of the International System PDF

Author: Christian Reus-Smit

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-08-29

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1107292204

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We live today in the first global system of sovereign states in history, encompassing all of the world's polities, peoples, religions and civilizations. Christian Reus-Smit presents a new account of how this system came to be, one in which struggles for individual rights play a central role. The international system expanded from its original European core in five great waves, each involving the fragmentation of one or more empires into a host of successor sovereign states. In the most important, associated with the Westphalian settlement, the independence of Latin America, and post-1945 decolonization, the mobilization of new ideas about individual rights challenged imperial legitimacy, and when empires failed to recognize these new rights, subject peoples sought sovereign independence. Combining theoretical innovation with detailed historical case studies, this book advances a new understanding of human rights and world politics, with individual rights deeply implicated in the making of the global sovereign order.

Beyond Human Rights

Beyond Human Rights PDF

Author: Anne Peters

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-10-27

Total Pages: 645

ISBN-13: 1107164303

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Beyond Human Rights, previously published in German and now available in English, is a historical and doctrinal study about the legal status of individuals in international law.

Human Rights

Human Rights PDF

Author: Andrew Clapham

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0198706162

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Focusing on highly topical issues such as torture, arbitrary detention, privacy, and discrimination, this book will help readers to understand for themselves the controversies and complexities behind human rights.

Protecting the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights

Protecting the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights PDF

Author: Bychawska-Siniarska, Dominika

Publisher: Council of Europe

Published: 2017-08-04

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13:

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European Convention on Human Rights – Article 10 – Freedom of expression 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. In the context of an effective democracy and respect for human rights mentioned in the Preamble to the European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression is not only important in its own right, but it also plays a central part in the protection of other rights under the Convention. Without a broad guarantee of the right to freedom of expression protected by independent and impartial courts, there is no free country, there is no democracy. This general proposition is undeniable. This handbook is a practical tool for legal professionals from Council of Europe member states who wish to strengthen their skills in applying the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in their daily work.

Liberty, Order, and Justice

Liberty, Order, and Justice PDF

Author: James McClellan

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 664

ISBN-13:

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This new Liberty Fund edition of James McClellan's classic work on the quest for liberty, order, and justice in England and America includes the author's revisions to the original edition published in 1989 by the Center for Judicial Studies. Unlike most textbooks in American Government, Liberty, Order, and Justice seeks to familiarize the student with the basic principles of the Constitution, and to explain their origin, meaning, and purpose. Particular emphasis is placed on federalism and the separation of powers. These features of the book, together with its extensive and unique historical illustrations, make this new edition of Liberty, Order, and Justice especially suitable for introductory classes in American Government and for high school students in advanced placement courses.

Freedom in the World: 1997-1998

Freedom in the World: 1997-1998 PDF

Author: Adrian Karatnycky

Publisher: Transaction Pub

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 610

ISBN-13: 9780765804761

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The Comparative Survey of Freedom is an institutional effort by Freedom House to monitor the progress and decline of political rights and civil lib­erties in 191 nations and 59 related territories. These year-end reviews of freedom began in 1955, when they were called the Balance Sheet of Free­dom and, still later, the Annual Sur­vey of the Progress of Freedom. This program was expanded in the early 1970s, and has appeared in Freedom Review since 1973. It has also been issued in a more developed context as a yearbook since 1978. Since 1989, the Survey project has been a year-long effort produced by regional experts, consultants and hu­man rights specialists. The Survey derives its information from a wide range of sources. Most valued of these are the many human rights activists, journalists, editors and political fig­ures around the world who keep us informed of the human rights situa­tion in their countries. Throughout the year. Freedom House personnel regularly conduct fact-finding missions to gain more in-depth knowledge of the vast political transformations affecting our world. During these week-to-month-long in­vestigations, we make every effort to meet a cross-section of political par­ties and associations, human rights monitors, religious figures, represen­tatives of both the private sector and trade union movement, academics and journalists. During the past year. Free­dom House staff traveled to numerous countries throughout most of the world's geographical and political re­gions. The Survey project team also consults a vast array of published source materials, ranging from the reports of other human rights organi­zations to often rare, regional news­papers and magazines. This year's Survey team includes: Adrian Karatnycky, Martin Edwin Anderson, Kristen Guida, Marshall Freeman Harris, Thomas R. Lansner, Arch Puddington, Leonard R. Sussman, and George Zarycky. The general edi­tor of Freedom in the World is Roger Kaplan; the managing editor is Tara Kelly. This year's research coordinator was Charles Graybow.