Baltic Journal of Law & Politics 2013, vol. 6, iss. 1

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  • research article
    Svetlicinii, Alexandr
    ;
    Lugenberg, Külliki
    Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 2013 vol. 6, iss. 1, p. 1-26
    The paper represents a comparative study of the merger remedies practices of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Based on comprehensive merger control data (2004-2011) and a comparative assessment of merger remedies imposed by the NCAs in the selected economic sectors (telecoms, alcoholic beverages, construction materials, trade in pharmaceuticals) the study identifies trends and tendencies of merger control that are characteristic for small market economies. Despite harmonization of national competition laws and enforcement practices with the EU rules and standards, the study highlights an obvious divergence from the EU guidance expressed in increasing acceptance of behavioral commitments. The results of the assessment indicate the need to develop more specific guidance on behavioral remedies that would better reflect the merger control realities of small market economies.
      43  23Scopus© SNIP 0
  • research article
    Liivik, Ero
    Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 2013 vol. 6, iss. 1, p. 27-44
    The Estonian parliament is the only institution in the country that may call a referendum, i.e. the parliament itself can formulate the crucial question and put it forward for people to vote. The constitution, though, lacks the institution to harness the people's initiative, giving citizens an opportunity to put some questions or draft acts to vote by themselves. A large group of MP’s submitted a draft of an amendment to the constitution which would add people's initiative, with 25,000 signatures gathered, enabling them to put a draft act or question for vote. This draft act was in legislative proceedings on two separate occasions but failed to be completed and take effect within those eight years. In the parliamentary debates we could see a strong „clash of discourses“. On the one side, the proponents of direct democracy stressed different aspects of „alienation of power“; unfortunately the parliament as a representative body maintained the sole monopoly to act, while the parliamentary elections have been media-manipulated by certain interest groups. Alternately, other speakers on the contrarian-side shared the view according to which direct democracy is unnecessary, even risky, populist means to cope with the strain of governance. Curiously, the deliberations in the parliament did not change anything; previously existing relationships of power were maintained.
      32  30Scopus© SNIP 0
  • research article
    Kerikmäe, Tanel
    ;
    Nyman-Metcalf, Katrin
    ;
    Papageorgiou, Ioannis
    Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 2013 vol. 6, iss. 1, p. 45-62
    This paper discusses the problems and dangers of proceeding with European integration without facing a transparent constitutional debate. The crucial issue demanding clarity is whether the current integration in the form of the EU shall be seen within the framework and concepts of public international law or within those of constitutional law. The authors argue that more intensive integration cannot be achieved on the basis of undermining rule of law and democracy by vacillating between different international law or constitutional law models of proceeding without taking any clear standpoint.
      25  20Scopus© SNIP 0
  • research article
    Mažylis, Liudas 
    ;
    Unikaitė-Jakuntavičienė, Ingrida 
    ;
    Ivanovas, Bernaras 
    Baltic journal of law & politics [elektroninis išteklius]. Kaunas ; Berlin : Vytautas Magnus university ; Walter De Gruyter, 2013, Vol. 6, no. 1, p. 63-88
    This article examines the genesis of a new Lithuanian political unit, the Drasos kelias party, which was created in 2012 and successfully participated in the 2012 Lithuanian parliamentary elections, reconstructing it in three stages based on the analysis of news portals. Reconstruction of the first stage is based on the competing “conspiracy versions” (two different interpretations of the unsolved criminal story in the news media) in 2009- 2010. Two archetypal characters (criminal and/or hero) were sought in the interpretation of the two aforementioned versions. Agenda setting and media framing theories were used as explanatory theories. The second stage (2011-2012) is reconstructed through further analysis of the news portals as well as through the analysis of some additional research from the interviews and focus group discussions. This data allowed us to retrace the logic of collective thinking. This logic of collective thinking contributed to the formation of a continuous “single issue” protest community which was united by the slogan “do not hand the child to a paedophilia clan”. This group of people constantly hindered the governmental institutions from the implementation of the court decision to hand the child to her mother, and over a long period of time its protest arguments expanded from “not handing the child to her mother” to protests against the entire Lithuanian legal system. Further, the third stage associated with formal institutionalization of political party and its rising of popularity among the voters in the 2012 Lithuanian parliamentary elections is analyzed. The analysis stresses the importance of social and personal networks for the regional dispersion of party election results.
      49  112Scopus© Citations 3Scopus© SNIP 0
  • research article
    Ščerba, Filip
    Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 2013 vol. 6, iss. 1, p. 89-105
    This article deals with Czech legal regulation of alternative measures and their use in practice within the Czech criminal justice system. Attention is focused on procedural alternative measures, i.e. diversions in criminal proceedings, as well as on alternative punishments. The development of Czech criminal law has been strongly influenced by the conception of restorative justice, which was the base for the effort to spread the scope of alternative measures and to reduce the number of the imprisoned. But the introduction of new measures (diversions, community service, house arrest, etc.) was accompanied by some problems regarding their use in practice; some of them were connected with legal regulation, other ones were caused by incorrect use. The article identifies these problems (also through analysis of statistical data) and also describes solutions to the problems.
      22  27Scopus© SNIP 0