Transition? To rule of law? Constitutionalism and Transitional Justice Challenged in Central & Eastern Europe

TOWARDS A TRANSITION TO RULE OF LAW

Radical Change and Unbalance of Law in a Central Europe under the Rule of Myths, not of Law [1996] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
1. Post-modernity Diagnosed [9] 2. Radical Change with Radical
Uniformisation [10] 3. Some Symptoms [16] (a) Unpreparedness [17] (b)
Utopianism [18] (c) Bibó-syndrome [19] (d) Between the West – and the West
[21] 4. Brave New Start with Tradition Left Behind [23]

Legal Scholarship at the Threshold of a New Millennium in the Central and Eastern European Region [1997] . . . . . . . . . . .26
(Naivety from the Beginning) [27] 1. (The Limits of Law-modernisation) [33]
2. (The Need for Scholarly Reconsideration) [34] 3. (Rebuilding the Social
Contexture of Law) [36] 4. (Following Alien Patterns) [37] 5. (Want for
Clarification) [42] 6. (New Unorganic Components) [46] (Past Legacy in Legal
Experience and Scholarship [46])

Rule of Law: Imperfectly Realised, or Perfected without Realisation? [2000] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
1. Declarations [50] 2. Question-marks [54]

Rule of Law – at the Crossroads of Challenges [2001] . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(Law: Values & Techniques [59] Human-centeredness and Practical Orientation
[66] Theological and Anthropological Foundations [74] An Irreplaceably Own
Task [80] Recapitulation [81] A Final Remark in Comparison [82])

Rule of Law, or the Dilemma of an Ethos: to be Gardened or Mechanicised [2007] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
I (Two Models for Transition, Post-WWII and Post-Communism) [85] II (With
Differing Understandings) [91] III (What is to Remain if the Peak is Shaken?)
[95] IV (Circus Trainer, or a Gardener?) [98] V (The German Master v. the
Hungarian Disciple) [100]

THE BURDEN OF THE PAST

Why Having Failed in Facing with the Past? [2003] . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Creeping Renovation of Law through Constitutional Judiciary? [2005] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
1. Transitions in the Age of Globalisation [117] 2. Constitutional Assessment:
the Hungarian Way [122] 3. An Example: Human Dignity in Isolation and
Sterility [133] 4. Public Law Privatised with the State Targeted as a Common
Enemy [138] 5. A Future with no Past [146] 6. Legality with Justice Silenced:
Crimes and Unpunishment [147] 7. Rule of Constitutional Court Dicta, not of
Law [154] 8. A Sliding Self-image [157]
What Has Happened and What Is Happening ever Since (In Remembrance of Deportations to Forced Work Camps at Hortobágy) [2005] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
(Preliminaries to a Betrayal [161] “Deportation” with Consequences [165]
“Deportation” with no Silence Broken Since [168] Considerations on How to
Treat the Past after the Communism has Fallen [171] Cul-de-sac as Assessed
even by Liberal Standards [175])

1956 Judged by Ethics and Law, or the Moral Unity of the Law’s Responsiveness as a Post-totalitarian Dilemma [2006] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
(Law and its Socio-ethical Basis [178] The Necessity of an Ethical Minimum
in Law [185] The Drama of 1956 [187] The Shame of Posterity for the Law
getting Silenced [192])

PERSPECTIVES

Failed Crusade: American Self-confidence, Russian Catastrophe [2002] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
(1. The Pattern-provider and its Transitology [199] 2.a. Organised Pressure on
Making Patterns Followed [202] 2.b. Provoked Bankruptcy [206] 2.c. Cui
prodest? [210] 2.d. Democracy Conceived in Tutelage [214] 3. Becoming a
Pray of Globalism [216])

“Radical Evil” on Trial [2002] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .220
A. Historical Background [222] B. Normative Dimensions [225] a) Political
Aspects [225] b) Moral Aspects [227] c) Legal Aspects [227]

Rule of Law between the Scylla of Imported Patterns and the Charybdis of Actual Realisations (The Experience of Lithuania) [2004] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236
Transitology Questioned [236] Lithuania [238] (Ideal: Law & Balance [239]
Ideal: Rights Counterbalanced by Duties [241] Anything Except to Democracy
in Outcome [242] Legal Personalism as a Response [246]) A Call for Local
Experience Assessed [246]

WHAT CAN BE HOPED FOR NOW?

In Bondage of Paradoxes, or Deadlock at the Peak of the Law we have Created for Ourselves [2007] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
(A ‘Good’ Constitution [251] With Moral Crisis behind It [254] In Want of
Legal Defence Available [259])

At the Crossroads of Civil Obedience and Civil Disobedience [2007] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262
(Civil Disobedience [262] Civil Obedience [267])

Subject index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273

Index of Normative Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283

Name index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284

Bibliography of CSABA VARGA’s further books . . . . . . . . . . . . .290