Is the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in an Existential Crisis?

Employing a sociological perspective on the law, this study explores instances of resistance against the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Union’s continental human rights judicial body. This approach allows us to examine different forms of resistance that might not necessarily be of a legal character, but which may still have profound implications for the Court’s authority, legitimacy, and operation. Accordingly, the article identifies two forms of resistance against the African Court: ‘pushback’ and ‘backlash’. The former refers to an ordinary form of critique directed against the overall development of an international court, while the latter is understood as an extraordinary form of critique that puts the fundamental authority of a court at stake. While pushback was mainly seen in the early stages of the Court’s establishment, backlash started to emerge following its ground-breaking judgments that caused heated debates on controversial topics. This article concludes that based on the identified and analysed forms of resistance, it is doubtful that the African Court can maintain and fulfil the purpose for which it was established: the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa.

Konflikte um Erneuerbare-Energien-Anlagen im kommunalen Bereich

Given the key role of municipalities in the transformation of the energy system and observing the increased occurrence of conflicts about the construction of renewable energy plants, the author analyses conflicts relating to renewable energy plants from a sociological perspective. For this purpose, she undertakes three case studies on the construction of biogas and wind power plants, focusing in particular on the parties involved in the conflicts and their positions, perceptions, actions and potency. She shows that the conflicting parties were either in favour of the construction of the plants or advocated the preservation of the sites on which the plants were proposed to be built.

GENDERIZING CONSEQUENCES OF FAMILY POLICIES IN POLAND IN 2010S: A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The aim of this paper is to analyze four reforms introduced in the Polish family system in the 2010s. The reforms were introduced as an answer to a problem of very low fertility rates, as well as instruments helping women in achieving their work-life balance. The reforms are analyzed here in terms of their (de)genderization effects on Polish mothers and fathers. The use of a genderization-degenderization axis shows that the gendered division of domestic and care work is not challenged by the reforms, but it is rather reinforced by them. It is also doubtful if the reforms will manage to reverse current demographic trends.

LEGAL AND TELEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROTECTIVE FUNCTION OF PROCEDURAL NORMS OF SOCIAL INSURANCE

Determining the protective function of the norms of the pre-trial procedure in cases of pension and retirement benefits based on the aim and scope of the norms is not only possible but also necessary for a wider understanding of social insurance. The legal and teleological context plays the role of a determinant of the aim of a legal norm desired by the legislator and allows for the indication of exemplary institutions which, established by the legislator, perform a protective function. When norms are being examined through the prism of the psychological theory of law they show that social security law is a psychological phenomenon and should be subjected to a multidimensional study that will reveal the intended aim of the legislator. The protective function is also performed by a specific procedure model with the precisely defined boundaries of the function. From the sociological perspective, an undesirable goal is also important, unintended by the legislator, which is caused by the norms fulfilling the protective function, and which is visible from the conducted analysis.

The field of solidarity in times of a pandemic

Despite its central importance, solidarity is seldom analysed in a comprehensive manner. The majority of related studies target only specific aspects of its complex mechanisms, such as the functioning of redistributive systems; the related values; the private networks of care; or the civil society. Our study aims at providing a comprehensive analysis by understanding solidarity as a field in Bourdieu’s sense: it involves supportive interactions; competition for the related symbolic capital; illusions providing legitimate frames of deservingness and respectability; and divergent habitus depending on the broader structural position. In order to understand the contemporary solidarity field of Hungary, these dimensions are mapped in parallel: types of problems and needs; sources of received support; the problematic aspects of support; types of support provided to family members and friends; types of support provided to generalised others constitute the dimensions of a cluster analysis describing the idealtypical positions. These positions are analysed from the perspective of their structural background and the solidarity related attitudes. From a sociological perspective, situations like the pandemic provide unique opportunity for analysing otherwise tacit patterns of solidarity. Beside this opportunity, the pandemic is also used as a comparative framework: in the final section, the changes occurring in the various positions are also overviewed in order to highlight the dynamics of the solidarity field.

Juridical and Sociological Considerations of Judges in Granting Marriage Dispensation after Enactment Law No. 16 Of 2019

This research is motivated by many applications for dispensation for Marriage after implementing the latest law related to the age limit for Marriage. This study examines judges' considerations from both normative and social aspects so that this dispensation application can be accepted. This research focuses on 1) how does the Judge review the application for a marriage dispensation after enacting Law Number 16 of 2019 at the Palangkaraya Religious Court? Religion of Palangkaraya?. This empirical research uses a statute approach and Islamic law. The research subjects are 5 (five) judges and 2 (two) informants who are substitute clerks at the Palangkaraya Religious Court. Data were collected through observation, interviews, documentation and analyzed through Islamic Laws and normative. The results of this study indicate that judges in deciding cases of marital dispensation do not only look at the Completeness of the legal administration. But also from a sociological perspective, granting a dispensation application sees aspects of the benefits that must be obtained to avoid more significant damage. The implication is that changes of the law related to marriage dispensation are increasing because it becomes a procedure to complete the marriage administration for underage couples in the provisions of the law.

Naturalist Methods in the Sociology of Creation: The Case Against Reductionism

The Sociology of Culture has much to say when it comes to the ever-changing general consensus on what constitutes legitimate culture and definitions of creativity. The naturalistic studieson cognition in social and cognitive sciences show this empirically (Bourdieu, 1979: Becker, 1982, 2002; Sennett, 2012; Author, 2014). Creative cognition is part of an institutional context. However, the influential culturalist branch of cognitive sociology (CCS) reduces creativity toa cognitivist psychological level (Lizardo and Strand, 2010). We start from the conjecture that the Sociology of Culture can draw on the naturalistic paradigm of cognition to explain creativity without falling into reductionist or atomist positions. The authors take the diversityof theoretical-empirical proposals into account in identifying the starting points for focusing the debate at both the macro and micro levels. The body of the article comprises a literature review which, while not exhaustive, offers a full picture of the pragmatic and integrated models of creativity. The studies analysed present inter-subjective processes of creationand the transmission of variable legitimate criteria concerning cultural consumption such as categorisations, evaluations and aesthetic judgments. The sociological perspective offers scope for strengthening critical tools for examining creativity.