Thomas Paine was undoubtedly one of the most important figures of his times. The untiring liberal and democrat may be considered as the restless spirit of the Enlightenment, arguing for a revolution and freedom both in Europe and America. His main works are „The Rights of Man”, „First Principles of Government”, „The Agrarian Justice” and the most famous and influential — „Common Sense”. Even though he did not form a comprehensive political doctrine (he appealed both to the British and French liberal traditions), he is to be considered as a great liberal ideologist. Paine believed in sovereign and independent men, who under the principle of self-government can establish the best government possible. The state was the necessity, since mankind was prone to sin; however, it was to be constructed according to the civil contract as the least burdensome and in compliance with the rights of men (both natural and civil), as a true republic. Moreover, it was only rational, argued Paine, to abandon unequal division of estates and trade protectionism, to allow for universal welfare and peace.
The article is devoted to the federal system in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (North and East Syria), or the so-called Rojava. The case of this system is for many reasons special: on the one hand, it realizes the concept of ethnofederalism; on the other hand, it realizes the doctrine of democratic confederalism, i.e. political thought of Abdullah Öcalan. Democratic confederalism, referring largely to the communalism and municipalism of Murray Bookchin, advocates the implementation of a new order in the Middle East, in which various self-administrating ethnic and religious communities could co-exist in a confederal network based on the principles of participatory democracy, legal pluralism, federalism, equality of women and men, ecology and the social economy. According to its proponents, it leads to peace: first in Syria and later in the entire Middle East.
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Artykuł jest poświęcony systemowi federalnemu w Demokratycznej Federacji Północnej Syrii (Północnej i Wschodniej Syrii), tzw. Rożawie. System ten stanowi przypadek szczególny: z jednej strony ze względu na realizację koncepcji etnofederalizmu, z drugiej zaś z uwagi na zakorzenienie w doktrynie demokratycznego konfederalizmu (tj. myśli politycznej Abdullaha Öcalana). Demokratyczny konfederalizm, nawiązując w dużej mierze do komunalizmu i municypalizmu Murraya Bookchina, opowiada się za realizacją na Bliskim Wschodzie nowego ładu, w którym rozmaite wspólnoty etniczne i religijne mogłyby w ramach swoich odrębnych, lecz połączonych ze sobą w konfederalną sieć, organizacji realizować model demokracji partycypacyjnej i pluralizmu prawnego. Porządek ten, oparty na zasadach demokracji, federalizacji, równouprawnienia kobiet i mężczyzn, ekologii oraz ekonomii społecznej, ma prowadzić do wygaszenia istniejących konfliktów i pokojowej współpracy pomiędzy społecznościami – najpierw Syrii, a później całego regionu.
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (the so-called Vienna Convention, CISG) is considered one of the most important and influential private law acts of the past decades. The most compelling evidence of the impact of the CISG is the European private law. It is especially evident in case of consumer sales law of the European Union. The Consumer Sales Directive (99/44) and, to some extent, even the Directive on Consumer Rights (2011/83/EC) were based on principles and institutions derived from the CISG. The most important influences are of course the objective liability of a debtor and the institution of conformity of the goods; however, even the basic terms (such as “conformity of goods” and “non-conformity of goods”) are defined per analogiam. And even though European legislator did not borrow from the CISG its’ concept of the fundamental breach of contract, the further cases of CISG’s impact are seen in cases of Nachfrist and remedies available to the parties of a contract. Since European consumer sales law is one of the most important spheres of EU interests and influences national civil law systems, CISG may easily be described as the model and backbone of future private law harmonization.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the Americans the creation of the New Deal as he won the 1932 presidential election. It was a realization of a new and progressive vision of the world and, in consequence, it was to bring the Great Depression to an end. The scale of the metamorphosis was of unprecedented magnitude in the history of the United States. The next decade witnessed a doctrinal shift from the negative to a positive freedom,from deontological ethics to consequentionalism, and from the night watchman state to the welfare state. These changes found further reflection in the introduction of economic interventionism, centralization, trade protectionism and the development of the social care system. However, while seeking an ideological support for the transformational reform of the liberal doctrine, Roosevelt appealed to the traditional values of the American classical liberalism – freedom and equality. The legitimization of the system and of the political reforms was to be accomplished mainly by using the authority of the Founding Fathers. This rhetoric allowed Roosevelt to gain public support for the New Deal. The president-successor to the heritage of Jefferson and Madison acquired a moral right to lead the nation andsteer the state in a new direction. His program became “liberal” and “American” even if it bore a startling resemblance to the European authoritarian regimes of the age.