Articles

Enforcing Socioeconomic Rights in Neoliberal India

This Article challenges the conventional narrative on fundamental rights adjudication in India. The narrative goes like this: The Indian judiciary, led by the Supreme Court, produced several transformational decisions in the 1980s. These decisions, among other things, loosened procedural rules to permit fundamental rights petitions on behalf of poor and marginalized groups and also recognized an array of socioeconomic rights, such as rights to work and shelter.

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The Impact of Recording Artists and Music on Legal and Social Change

MJIL

Whether you are in your car, on a run, or in a store, music surrounds you. Music is a part of everyday life. We form opinions, talk about, and connect with music on personal levels. Furthermore, music can influence not only personal decisions but broader social goals and ideas. This article focuses on how recording artists use their music and their celebrity status to influence social and humanitarian goals, including legal regulations and the business world. Nearly everyone can name a current or past artist associated with a social movement.

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Foreword: What’s Left of a Bright Future?

Studying Abroad: Foreign Legislative Responses to Mass Shootings and Their Viability in the United States

barne102

As difficult as they are to relive, the horrors of Newtown, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland conceal a horrifying truth: mass shootings—incidents in which four or more individuals are shot and killed (not including the shooter)—are on the rise in the United States. They are occurring more frequently and have become more deadly. Yet following each unspeakable tragedy, as cries for reform grow increasingly shrill, gun sales rise and legislatures stonewall.

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The Case for Transitional Justice: Transparency, Undemocratic Institutions, and the Legitimacy Problem in American Prisons

MJIL

In July 2014, Ramon Fabian entered the Ulster Correction Facility in upstate New York as an inmate. Less than a week later, Fabian had one of his testicles surgically removed because of damage resulting from a beating administered by a prison guard, Michael Bukowski. Bukowski beat Fabian as punishment for talking during the morning head count. After the headcount ended, Bukowski took Fabian to an isolated part of the prison. There were no cameras and no fellow inmates. There, he ordered Fabian to face the wall, stretch out his arms, and spread his legs, which is commonly known as a frisk position. Bukowski then kicked Fabian between the legs, with such force that his testicle ruptured, and he had to crawl back to his cell. Bukowski then left Fabian in his cell. It was not until later, when Fabian reported to the mess hall, that a different prison guard sent him to the medical unit, and eventually to the hospital for surgery.

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Consociationalism: A Constitutional Solution for Ethnic Tension and Violence in South Sudan

barne102

Consociationalism, a theory based around power-sharing mechanisms for different ethnic groups, is a key component of many modern solutions to ethnic-based conflict. Consociationalism is a theory aimed to reorient Western policy away from its preference for majoritarian solutions to end ethnic conflicts. Instead, Arend Lijphart, the promulgater of consociationalist theory, urged policy makers to recognize the value of ethnic identities. Lijphart asserted that a recognition of the complexities of ethnic tensions would allow policy makers to create governments that could alleviate, if not eliminate, ethnic tensions by creating ethnic-based governments. Consociationalism provides a path for countries suffering from ethnic conflict, like South Sudan, to return to political stability.

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An Interview with Professor Stephen Befort

MJIL

Professor Stephen F. Befort is the Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty, and Bennett Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. He practiced in the labor and employment field extensively before joining the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 1982, and he continues to serve as a frequent arbitrator of labor and employment disputes. Professor Befort is a widely published scholar in the field of labor and employment law, having authored more than 40 articles and eight books, including INVISIBLE HANDS, INVISIBLE OBJECTIVES: BRINGING WORKPLACE LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY INTO FOCUS (with John Budd, 2009). He has served as Co-Editor of the ABA Journal on Labor and Employment Law, Chair of the American Branch of the International Society for Labor and Social Security Law, Chair of the Labor Law Group, and as a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators Board of Governors.

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The Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Rebuilding a Nation: the Rwandan Model

MJIL

Twenty-five years ago, Rwanda experienced an unprecedented human rights atrocity. In just one hundred days in the spring and early summer of 1994, over 800,000 Rwandans were killed by their fellow countrymen and women.2 The dead totaled nearly eleven percent of the country’s population.3 What was horrifically unique about the Rwandan genocide was the number of citizen killers.4 These individuals used rudimentary means to slaughter their neighbors and fellow community members. Families, friendships, communities, and an entire country, were torn apart within the course of three months. And with a fifty percent drop in GDP in 1994, the country’s economy also was in shambles.5 After the genocide, the task of rebuilding community trust and economic stability was beyond daunting.

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