This thesis investigates the moral permissibility of military privatization. My analysis focuses on two distinct concepts: the authorization of war and the supply of war. Entities that authorize war decide that military force will be used and by whom; entities that supply war then execute the various tasks that have been authorized for performance. Part I argues that private actors may not justifiably authorize war. The reason is that, in so doing, they would impose considerable risks on individuals who lack a say in authorization—particularly fellow countrymen who may suffer from retaliatory military action—and we ought not to impose considerable risks on individuals who lack such a say. Public actors have a right, and indeed a duty, to prevent private actors from authorizing military force. Moreover, public actors have a further duty to authorize military force when their constituents are threatened. Part II then seeks to show that public actors who authorize military force may rely upon private contractors to an extent in military supply. Public actors may not rely upon private contractors to exercise command. The reason is that commanders must be able to punish their subordinates in intrusive ways (e.g. imprisonment) to ensure the prosecution of just wars. Such intrusive forms of punishment should only be dispensed by public actors. In addition, public actors may not rely upon private contractors to serve above commanders on the chain of command. Such high-ranking military officers exercise substantial political power over civilian decisions of military authorization and supply; moreover, these officers make weighty decisions in battle that substantially affect the well-being of others. Public actors, however, should be permitted to rely upon private contractors to serve below military commanders on the chain of command in rank-and-file military roles so long as these contractors are properly constrained and regulated.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2008.

One of the core issues in contemporary political philosophy is concerned with `political obligation.' Stated in an overly simplified way, the question being asked when one investigates political obligation is, "What, if anything, do citizens owe to their government and how are these obligations generated if they do exist?" The majority of political philosophers investigating this issue agree that a political obligation is a moral requirement to act in certain ways concerning political matters (e.g. a moral requirement to obey the laws and support one's country). Despite this agreement about the general nature of what is being searched for, a broad division has arisen between political obligation theorists - there are some who take political obligations to actually exist ("defenders of political obligation") and there are some who take there to be no general political obligation ("philosophical anarchists"). While there is debate within the camp defending political obligation about what it is that generates the obligations, the common core of all "defender theories" is the fundamental idea that one has a moral requirement(s) to support and obey the political institutions of one's country. Despite utilitarianism's status as one of the major ethical theories, historically, it has largely been dismissed by theorists concerned with political obligation. Within the contemporary debate it is generally accepted that utilitarianism cannot adequately accommodate a robust theory of political obligation. The overarching objective of this dissertation is to challenge this general dismissal of a utilitarian account and to build upon the two accounts which have been developed (R.M. Hare's and Rolf Sartorius') in offering a robust utilitarian theory of political obligation which can be considered a competitor to the other contemporary theories (i.e., theories of consent, gratitude, fair play or fairness, membership or association, and natural duty). However, as this utilitarian account of political obligation develops, the possibility will also emerge for a non-antagonistic relationship between the utilitarian theory on offer and the contemporary political obligation debate. The moral reasons posited by the traditional theories of political obligation (i.e., consent, fair play, gratitude, associative, and natural duty) can be included in and accommodated by my utilitarian account. The utilitarian account of political obligation can accept that there are many types of reasons explaining why broad expectations concerning individual and group behavior are created, and each type of reason can be understood as supporting the utilitarian claim that there are moral reasons for following the laws and supporting legitimate political authorities. Taken all together, my arguments will take the form of a three tiered response to the prevailing opinion that any utilitarian attempt to account for political obligations is doomed. The first tier contends that the utilitarian can consistently claim that there are moral reasons to follow the law. This is not a particularly strong claim, but it is one which has been denied by the vast majority of political theorists. The second tier of my argument addresses this apparent issue by contending that even the traditional deontological accounts of political obligation are not offering more than this. Lastly, it is contended that, given the contingent features of humans (i.e., intellectual fallibility, selfish biases, and the way moral education is tied to rules), the strength of the utilitarian political obligations is comparable to other accounts' analyses of the obligations.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo a análise da atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança no contexto do ordenamento jurídico, na vigência da Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Especial atenção será dispensada à construção dos contornos da autovinculação do Poder Judiciário, que permite que o indivíduo possa ter a legítima expectiva de que o entendimento adotado pela jurisprudência será aplicado a seu caso e, em consequência, possa legitimamente definir sua conduta com base nesse entendimento, permitindo, por consequência, que a jurisprudência atue como base de confiança. Receberão atenção especial também os elementos que permitem aferir a aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança e avaliar a evolução da capacidade da jurisprudência para gear confiança no tempo. A pesquisa desenvolvida é exploratória quanto a sua técnica e justificativa quanto a seu objetivo. É exploratória, porque busca no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, na jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal e do Superior Tribunal de Justiça assim como na doutrina elementos que permitam compreender a atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança; é justificativa quanto a seu objetivo, pois busca compreender os fenômenos jurídicos envolvidos na atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança, buscando explicálos adequadamente e identificar, no âmbito do ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, os elementos que permitem construir a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário e que possibilitam estabelecer critérios para a aferição da aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança. Deste estudo resulta que a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro e a definição de seus contornos podem ser reconstruídas não apenas a partir de princípios estruturantes — como o princípio da igualdade e o princípio da segurança jurídica — e de postulados hermenêuticos — como o postulado da unidade e o postulado da coerência —, mas também dos diversos mecanismos que visam a assegurar que, uma vez que a interpretação do texto normativo pelo Poder Judiciário atingiu determinado grau de definitividade, ela seja adotada nos outros casos sujeitos à aplicação da norma, seja pelo Poder Judiciário, seja pela Administração Pública, exigindo-se que os indivíduos se conformem com a aplicação dessa interpretação, a partir dos quais pode ser induzida uma regra geral segundo a qual: a) o Poder Judiciário deve uniformizar e estabilizar a interpretação dada aos textos normativos e o conteúdo das normas a partir deles reconstruídas; b) uma vez uniformizado e estabilizado o conteúdo da norma, ele deverá ser adotado pelo Poder Judiciário e pela Administração Pública nos demais casos em que a norma for aplicável; e c) os indivíduos devem se conformar com essa aplicação. Resulta, também, que a utilização pelo Poder Judiciário (e, em alguns casos, também pela Administração Pública) de mecanismos processuais cuja aplicação pressupõe a existência de jurisprudência que ostente as características que a tornam apta a atuar como base de confiança fornece elementos para que se afira se a jurisprudência está apta a atuar como base de confiança e para acompanhar a evolução no tempo da capacidade da jurisprudência de gerar confiança e da intensidade da confiança gerada. / This work aims at analyzing precedents as the basis for legitimate expectation within the Brazilian legal system under the 1988 Constitution, especially concerning the definition of the circunstances under what will a precedent be considered binding, allowing individuals to legitimately expect that their cases will be ruled in accordance with the suitable precedent, and of the conditions for precedents to be deemed suitable to serve as grounds for legitimate expectation and of the criteria to gauge whether precedents can generate expectation. Attention will be given also to the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence. This research conducted is exploratory as to its method and justificatory as to its objective. It is exploratory because it seeks to find within the Brazilian legal system and case law, as well as within doctrine, instruments to understand the role of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation. It is justificatory as to its objective in that it seeks to understand the legal phenomena involved in precedents as the grounds for legitimate expectation, by seeking to explain such phenomena properly and to identify within the Brazilian legal system the conditions that must be present for precedent to become the grounds for legitimate expectation and the criteria that can be applied to assess whether precedent is suitable to generate expectation. This study has demonstrated that the hypothesis in which judicial courts must follow precedents can be defined not only according to principles and postulates, but also in accordance with the mechanisms provided for in the Brazilian legal system to ensure that, once the judiciary has consolidated the interpretation of a given legislative text, said interpretation is adopted in other cases that are subject to the application of the precedent whether by the judiciary or by public authorities, while demanding that individuals comply with the application of this interpretation. From these mechanisms, a general rule can be drawn whereby: a) the judiciary should standardize and consolidate the interpretation given to legislative texts and the content of the rules drawn therefrom; b) once the content of the rules are standardized and consolidated, they must be adopted by the judiciary and by the public administration in other cases to which the same standard applies; and c) individuals must comply with such application. This general rule evidences the boundaries of the binding effects of the precedents within the Brazilian legal system and the suitability of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation, as a means to define the behavior to be adopted by the individual. These mechanisms also allow for the definition of the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo a análise da atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança no contexto do ordenamento jurídico, na vigência da Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Especial atenção será dispensada à construção dos contornos da autovinculação do Poder Judiciário, que permite que o indivíduo possa ter a legítima expectiva de que o entendimento adotado pela jurisprudência será aplicado a seu caso e, em consequência, possa legitimamente definir sua conduta com base nesse entendimento, permitindo, por consequência, que a jurisprudência atue como base de confiança. Receberão atenção especial também os elementos que permitem aferir a aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança e avaliar a evolução da capacidade da jurisprudência para gear confiança no tempo. A pesquisa desenvolvida é exploratória quanto a sua técnica e justificativa quanto a seu objetivo. É exploratória, porque busca no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, na jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal e do Superior Tribunal de Justiça assim como na doutrina elementos que permitam compreender a atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança; é justificativa quanto a seu objetivo, pois busca compreender os fenômenos jurídicos envolvidos na atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança, buscando explicálos adequadamente e identificar, no âmbito do ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, os elementos que permitem construir a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário e que possibilitam estabelecer critérios para a aferição da aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança. Deste estudo resulta que a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro e a definição de seus contornos podem ser reconstruídas não apenas a partir de princípios estruturantes — como o princípio da igualdade e o princípio da segurança jurídica — e de postulados hermenêuticos — como o postulado da unidade e o postulado da coerência —, mas também dos diversos mecanismos que visam a assegurar que, uma vez que a interpretação do texto normativo pelo Poder Judiciário atingiu determinado grau de definitividade, ela seja adotada nos outros casos sujeitos à aplicação da norma, seja pelo Poder Judiciário, seja pela Administração Pública, exigindo-se que os indivíduos se conformem com a aplicação dessa interpretação, a partir dos quais pode ser induzida uma regra geral segundo a qual: a) o Poder Judiciário deve uniformizar e estabilizar a interpretação dada aos textos normativos e o conteúdo das normas a partir deles reconstruídas; b) uma vez uniformizado e estabilizado o conteúdo da norma, ele deverá ser adotado pelo Poder Judiciário e pela Administração Pública nos demais casos em que a norma for aplicável; e c) os indivíduos devem se conformar com essa aplicação. Resulta, também, que a utilização pelo Poder Judiciário (e, em alguns casos, também pela Administração Pública) de mecanismos processuais cuja aplicação pressupõe a existência de jurisprudência que ostente as características que a tornam apta a atuar como base de confiança fornece elementos para que se afira se a jurisprudência está apta a atuar como base de confiança e para acompanhar a evolução no tempo da capacidade da jurisprudência de gerar confiança e da intensidade da confiança gerada. / This work aims at analyzing precedents as the basis for legitimate expectation within the Brazilian legal system under the 1988 Constitution, especially concerning the definition of the circunstances under what will a precedent be considered binding, allowing individuals to legitimately expect that their cases will be ruled in accordance with the suitable precedent, and of the conditions for precedents to be deemed suitable to serve as grounds for legitimate expectation and of the criteria to gauge whether precedents can generate expectation. Attention will be given also to the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence. This research conducted is exploratory as to its method and justificatory as to its objective. It is exploratory because it seeks to find within the Brazilian legal system and case law, as well as within doctrine, instruments to understand the role of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation. It is justificatory as to its objective in that it seeks to understand the legal phenomena involved in precedents as the grounds for legitimate expectation, by seeking to explain such phenomena properly and to identify within the Brazilian legal system the conditions that must be present for precedent to become the grounds for legitimate expectation and the criteria that can be applied to assess whether precedent is suitable to generate expectation. This study has demonstrated that the hypothesis in which judicial courts must follow precedents can be defined not only according to principles and postulates, but also in accordance with the mechanisms provided for in the Brazilian legal system to ensure that, once the judiciary has consolidated the interpretation of a given legislative text, said interpretation is adopted in other cases that are subject to the application of the precedent whether by the judiciary or by public authorities, while demanding that individuals comply with the application of this interpretation. From these mechanisms, a general rule can be drawn whereby: a) the judiciary should standardize and consolidate the interpretation given to legislative texts and the content of the rules drawn therefrom; b) once the content of the rules are standardized and consolidated, they must be adopted by the judiciary and by the public administration in other cases to which the same standard applies; and c) individuals must comply with such application. This general rule evidences the boundaries of the binding effects of the precedents within the Brazilian legal system and the suitability of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation, as a means to define the behavior to be adopted by the individual. These mechanisms also allow for the definition of the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo a análise da atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança no contexto do ordenamento jurídico, na vigência da Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Especial atenção será dispensada à construção dos contornos da autovinculação do Poder Judiciário, que permite que o indivíduo possa ter a legítima expectiva de que o entendimento adotado pela jurisprudência será aplicado a seu caso e, em consequência, possa legitimamente definir sua conduta com base nesse entendimento, permitindo, por consequência, que a jurisprudência atue como base de confiança. Receberão atenção especial também os elementos que permitem aferir a aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança e avaliar a evolução da capacidade da jurisprudência para gear confiança no tempo. A pesquisa desenvolvida é exploratória quanto a sua técnica e justificativa quanto a seu objetivo. É exploratória, porque busca no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, na jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal e do Superior Tribunal de Justiça assim como na doutrina elementos que permitam compreender a atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança; é justificativa quanto a seu objetivo, pois busca compreender os fenômenos jurídicos envolvidos na atuação da jurisprudência como base de confiança, buscando explicálos adequadamente e identificar, no âmbito do ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, os elementos que permitem construir a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário e que possibilitam estabelecer critérios para a aferição da aptidão da jurisprudência para gerar confiança. Deste estudo resulta que a autovinculação do Poder Judiciário no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro e a definição de seus contornos podem ser reconstruídas não apenas a partir de princípios estruturantes — como o princípio da igualdade e o princípio da segurança jurídica — e de postulados hermenêuticos — como o postulado da unidade e o postulado da coerência —, mas também dos diversos mecanismos que visam a assegurar que, uma vez que a interpretação do texto normativo pelo Poder Judiciário atingiu determinado grau de definitividade, ela seja adotada nos outros casos sujeitos à aplicação da norma, seja pelo Poder Judiciário, seja pela Administração Pública, exigindo-se que os indivíduos se conformem com a aplicação dessa interpretação, a partir dos quais pode ser induzida uma regra geral segundo a qual: a) o Poder Judiciário deve uniformizar e estabilizar a interpretação dada aos textos normativos e o conteúdo das normas a partir deles reconstruídas; b) uma vez uniformizado e estabilizado o conteúdo da norma, ele deverá ser adotado pelo Poder Judiciário e pela Administração Pública nos demais casos em que a norma for aplicável; e c) os indivíduos devem se conformar com essa aplicação. Resulta, também, que a utilização pelo Poder Judiciário (e, em alguns casos, também pela Administração Pública) de mecanismos processuais cuja aplicação pressupõe a existência de jurisprudência que ostente as características que a tornam apta a atuar como base de confiança fornece elementos para que se afira se a jurisprudência está apta a atuar como base de confiança e para acompanhar a evolução no tempo da capacidade da jurisprudência de gerar confiança e da intensidade da confiança gerada. / This work aims at analyzing precedents as the basis for legitimate expectation within the Brazilian legal system under the 1988 Constitution, especially concerning the definition of the circunstances under what will a precedent be considered binding, allowing individuals to legitimately expect that their cases will be ruled in accordance with the suitable precedent, and of the conditions for precedents to be deemed suitable to serve as grounds for legitimate expectation and of the criteria to gauge whether precedents can generate expectation. Attention will be given also to the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence. This research conducted is exploratory as to its method and justificatory as to its objective. It is exploratory because it seeks to find within the Brazilian legal system and case law, as well as within doctrine, instruments to understand the role of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation. It is justificatory as to its objective in that it seeks to understand the legal phenomena involved in precedents as the grounds for legitimate expectation, by seeking to explain such phenomena properly and to identify within the Brazilian legal system the conditions that must be present for precedent to become the grounds for legitimate expectation and the criteria that can be applied to assess whether precedent is suitable to generate expectation. This study has demonstrated that the hypothesis in which judicial courts must follow precedents can be defined not only according to principles and postulates, but also in accordance with the mechanisms provided for in the Brazilian legal system to ensure that, once the judiciary has consolidated the interpretation of a given legislative text, said interpretation is adopted in other cases that are subject to the application of the precedent whether by the judiciary or by public authorities, while demanding that individuals comply with the application of this interpretation. From these mechanisms, a general rule can be drawn whereby: a) the judiciary should standardize and consolidate the interpretation given to legislative texts and the content of the rules drawn therefrom; b) once the content of the rules are standardized and consolidated, they must be adopted by the judiciary and by the public administration in other cases to which the same standard applies; and c) individuals must comply with such application. This general rule evidences the boundaries of the binding effects of the precedents within the Brazilian legal system and the suitability of precedents as grounds for legitimate expectation, as a means to define the behavior to be adopted by the individual. These mechanisms also allow for the definition of the criteria to assess whether case law generates confidence and to follow the evolution of its capability of generating confidence.

The Notion and Legal Consequences of the Transgression of Exceeding the Limits of Self-defense and Distress Diploma thesis called "The Notion and Legal Consequences of the Transgression of Exceeding the Limits of Self-defense and Distress" is based on Criminal Code, Act N. 40/2009 Coll., as applicable to 1 December, 2011. The thesis deals with legitimate self-defense and distress, as two circumstances excluding illegality, which belong to basic human rights, that everyone can by himself avert attack or danger threatening his interest protected by the Criminal Code. Thesis's insight of legitimate self-defense and distress is based on situations when person exceeds allowable bounds of legitimate self-defense and distress, and it's behavior becomes lawless and punishable. First part deals with circumstances excluding illegality as a term including legitimate self-defense and distress. Second part is based on actual characteristic and conditions of legitimate self-defense, together with specification of statutory legal limits of behavior in legitimate self-defense and distress. In following third part concepts of exceeding limits of legitimate self-defense and distress are analyzed in detail. There is a description how acting person can extravagate these limits. Nonobservance of time limits,...

Criminal defences in Czech and Irish criminal law This thesis deals with the analysis of individual elements of criminal defences under the Czech and Irish criminal legal statutes with respect to the conclusions, which are therefrom drawn in theory and practice. The aim of this thesis is to render an overview concerning the distinctions and similarities in understanding, importance and operating of the defences in different law systems, rather than to present an exhaustive commentary on all legal institutes which exclude illegality and as such come into mind. Regarding the fact that Czech and Irish systems of law are subsumed under different legal systems, particular institutes of criminal defences cannot be based on the same rules, principles and theoretical grounds. It shall be noted, that while Czech criminal law is mainly to be found in a single piece of legislation known as the Criminal Law Act, Irish criminal law on the other hand not only has a separate statutory legislation, but also mainly depends on common law. The subject has been processed under consideration of the present-day legal regulation, whereas particular legal institutes are structured in compliance with the structure of the Czech Criminal Law Act. The topics of origin and development of defences has intentionally not been...

Religious fundamentalism is a confusing and not well understood phenomenon in present day Western societies. In order to obtain fresh insights into what social forces and conditions affect religious organizational development such that they become fundamentalist organizations, this study seeks to analyze a religious group that historically has been mandated to integrate and utilize alternative scientific and/or religious knowledge into their canon of teachings. A triangulation study consisting of a content analysis of its accepted history and a discourse analysis of its accredited membership are utilized to gather data on this religious organization to understand the historical, organizational, and external social circumstances that have allowed this religious community to engage and interact with alternative scientific and/or religious knowledge without interpretations of conflict becoming a source of social strife within their organization.

Religious fundamentalism is a confusing and not well understood phenomenon in present day Western societies. In order to obtain fresh insights into what social forces and conditions affect religious organizational development such that they become fundamentalist organizations, this study seeks to analyze a religious group that historically has been mandated to integrate and utilize alternative scientific and/or religious knowledge into their canon of teachings. A triangulation study consisting of a content analysis of its accepted history and a discourse analysis of its accredited membership are utilized to gather data on this religious organization to understand the historical, organizational, and external social circumstances that have allowed this religious community to engage and interact with alternative scientific and/or religious knowledge without interpretations of conflict becoming a source of social strife within their organization.