Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho: Constitutions and countries
Some people think that only countries have constitutions. I find that strange, since both write at Planet Debian; surely, Debian is not a country!
[Update: As hinted in the comments, I did not get MJR's posting. My bad. Let it be known here that he expresses roughly the same argument I presented above.]
In fact, the European Union is a country. It has a bicameral parliament
(the council of ministers is sufficiently upper-house-like to qualify as one
IMHO), a currency it governs, a passport, and it is the highest authority
inside its borders. It is an unusual country in that its meber states
have broad powers, but it is a country nonetheless. It possesses all four
of the defining properties of statehood according to the Montevideo
convention: The state as a person of international law should possess
the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined
territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the
other states.
The first three are uncontroversial, and though the fourth
is weak, it is present.
(Okay, that last paragraph is controversial, and I know the arguments are not airtight, but I do believe the case is valid.)
2004-06-21T22:24+0300 - /en/politics
Trackback url: http://antti-juhani.kaijanaho.info/blog/en/politics/constitution.trackback (trackback on rikki / trackback is broken)
Re: Constitutions and countries
In addition to not reading properly the last article of mine you referred to, did you not follow any of my links this time then?
- MJR/slef, ma, 21 kesä 2004 22:00
Re: Constitutions and countries
No. If you have an argument, present it in the posting, or indicate clearly that your argument is contained in the links.
- Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, ma, 21 kesä 2004 22:18
Re: Constitutions and countries
Now you know what a link-quote is.
- MJR/slef, ti, 22 kesä 2004 00:14
Re: Constitutions and countries
And now we know what a misbehaving arrogant bastard is.
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