Papers by Antoni Abat Ninet
Journal of Legal and Political Education , 2024
The study of private international law in EU universities lacks a unified, standardiz... more The study of private international law in EU universities lacks a unified, standardized framework, leaving future legal professionals unprepared for the increasingly interconnected nature of modern legal issues involving cross-border transactions, disputes, and relationships. In today’s globalized world, private international law should be a mandatory core subject for law students, providing them with essential knowledge and skills to navigate the complexities of international legal practice effectively. A common curriculum is urgently needed across EU Member States to address this gap while preserving the distinctiveness of each legal system’s genealogy. This article explores the critical role of private international law in contemporary legal education. By analyzing various law degree programs, it argues that this discipline should be compulsory, central, and autonomous within legal studies to prepare lawyers for the transnational challenges of modern legal practice.
Beijing Law Review, 2012
We are in the midst of a strong revival of interest in the Subnational units (Autonomous Communit... more We are in the midst of a strong revival of interest in the Subnational units (Autonomous Communities) within the Autonomous Spanish State. Recent reforms of the Statute of Autonomy by certain autonomous regions have revealed new mechanisms and new ways of interaction and communication between policy-statutory subnational units-within the scope of the reforms of the Statute of Autonomy. This interaction is the assumption of a phenomenon called "horizontal autonomism". This concrete phenomenon has not only reopened, with still more force, the theoretical and practical debate about the nature of the territorial organization of the Spanish State, but also demonstrates that the notion of autonomy and the relations between national and sub-national units in Spain are permanently evolving. In addition, the recent statutory amends have initiated a new evolutive stage of the hybrid state model without reforming the Constitution. The article focuses primarily on two elements of study. First, starting from a constitutional perspective the phenomenon of what is called "horizontal autonomism" as the basis of the recent reforms of the Statutes of Autonomy (subconstitutional rules). The second aspect is to analyze one of the main consequences and effects of this "horizontal autonomism" in relation to the development of the territorial nature of the Spanish state. Concretely, we focus on how the autonomous rules, are real sources of law for other autonomies, and, potentially, for the state.
This paper analyses from a legal and philosophical perspective the appearance of a new human spec... more This paper analyses from a legal and philosophical perspective the appearance of a new human species, the so-called Homo Digitalis, a Homo Sapiens permanently interconnected with others throughout I.T devices. Twenty-four hours a day. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, living in a world of ones and zeros. We all are inexorably the new-born Homo Digitalis, or as some authors define it, post-humans, and there is no possible opposition to this Darwinist evolution, or between the Homo digitalis and other citizens. The first section deals with the relationship between technique (τεχνη), technology and humanity, a relation that is ancient as philosophy. The starting point is the pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, and it ends by analysing the relation of the three concepts in modernity and post-modernity (Weber, Heidegger and Marcuse). The second section deals with the definition of the Homo Digitalis from an evolution of Sartori´s Homo Videns. The paper ends by exposin...
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Diderot, Jun 22, 2018
Sumario: 1. Introducción: un modelo federal dominante adaptado a su contexto. 2. Límites del mode... more Sumario: 1. Introducción: un modelo federal dominante adaptado a su contexto. 2. Límites del modelo federal dominante en democracias nacionales con conflictos nacionalistas. 3. Límites del modelo federal dominante en procesos democráticos de integración política a nivel supraestatal. 4. Perspectivas de renovación teórico-prácticas. 5. Conclusión. * Il contributo prende le mosse dal Convegno "Il federalismo in tempi di transizione", tenutosi a Torino il 16-17 ottobre 2017, ed è stato referato dal Comitato scientifico del Convegno stesso. El presente artículo es fruto de la reflexión conjunta de los autores. Hay que imputar a Antoni Abat la tercera parte del artículo; a Jorge Cagiao la segunda y la quinta; a Gennaro Ferraiuolo la primera y la cuarta. 1 Se usa la expresión en analogía con "Estado nación".
Revista Espanola De Derecho Constitucional, Apr 27, 2020
Revista Catalana de Dret Públic, 2020
The European Union’s (EU) constitution and constitutionalism is best seen as a sphere of conteste... more The European Union’s (EU) constitution and constitutionalism is best seen as a sphere of contested imaginaries, competing narratives over the legal-political construction of Europe. These imaginaries have been historically reinforced by EU technocrats and political elites, as well as by various social and economic actors, whether progressive democrats or powerful businesses. When technocrats and elites turned their hands to the project of the constitutionalization of the EU in the early 1990s, what they had in mind was to legitimate the Union. In this respect, constitutionalization was necessary because the Union had ceased to be a typical international organization. Laws, regulations, and policies that were adopted at EU level had an impact on citizens; however, these had no influence over either law-making or policy-making processes. The first segment of this paper addresses the forging of the EU’s constitutional identity through the juridification of values, imaginary, and constellations. It then analyses the progressive creation of constitutional imagination at EU level and the effects on this imaginary that the lack of a proper answer to the humanitarian crisis has caused. The paper ends by posing a set of questions that relate the ideological project of European collective identity, the process of political integration and the role that the founding values of solidarity and human dignity may play in these processes.
espanolEn los ultimos anos, tanto la Union Europea (“UE”) en su conjunto, como algunos de sus est... more espanolEn los ultimos anos, tanto la Union Europea (“UE”) en su conjunto, como algunos de sus estados miembros se han enfrentado a desafios sin precedentes que han puesto en grave peligro no solo el proyecto de la UE en su totalidad, sino tambien la integridad de algunos de sus paises miembros: la crisis economica que comenzo en 2008, la crisis migratoria con tremendas implicaciones humanitarias y tensiones politicas, el Brexit y el referendum de independencia catalan, el aumento del populismo o la crisis actual de COVID-19, son solo ejemplos de este complejo fenomeno. En este contexto problematico, se esconde el valor de la solidaridad, un principio que no solo esta profundamente arraigado en los textos constitucionales de algunos de sus estados miembros, sino que ha informado profundamente al modelo de la UE desde su inicio. Tomar la solidaridad mas en serio y redescubrir su significado legal (no solo moral / aspiracional) podria representar una herramienta concreta para dominar l...
King's Law Journal, 2014
A few months ago, I received an email from the Constitutional Commission of the Parliament of Cat... more A few months ago, I received an email from the Constitutional Commission of the Parliament of Catalonia inviting me to advise other countries on their constituent processes. I accepted the task with some reservation, as my knowledge of those countries left something to be desired. The Parliament invited me to participate in a workshop in Sicily, which culminated in a meeting with Salvatore Giuliano, President of the Sicilian Constitutional Council. The scope of our conversation was to be rather narrow, but it would involve a problem central to the constituent process: the constitutional accommodation of language. My initial impression was that this might be a fraught issue with many unforeseen ramifications for the evolving political identity of Sicily. 'Why not?' I asked, and I soon found myself on a breezy Mediterranean cruise to Palermo. A few hours later, I spotted Salvatore in the beautiful Palazzo dei Normanni.
Diversity, Autonomy and Solidarity in Multinational States: Current Developments in The Spanish-Catalans and the Jews- Arabs Political Disputes, 2021
The concept of the nation state – and specifically the tension between affirming solidarity among... more The concept of the nation state – and specifically the tension between affirming solidarity among nation-state compatriots and respecting national minorities’ rights in order to preserve diversity and secure their autonomy – has been on the global agenda over the last two centuries, especially in Europe.
In recent years, two cases, in Catalonia and in Israel – different in many respects but similar in others – serve as inspiring test cases for analysing questions of national identities and state cohesion. Both of these cases portray the dilemmas surrounding national identity in an allegedly dichotomic fashion, thus requiring a choice between independence and secession or unionism and assimilation.
This article suggests that a dichotomic perspective is not compelling and that solidarity and autonomy are not necessarily contradictory.
It explores the connection between solidarity and autonomy and applies the analysis to the case studies of Catalonia and Israel separately, given the unique characteristics of each case.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014
It is characteristic of federal states that the scope of subnational power and autonomy are subje... more It is characteristic of federal states that the scope of subnational power and autonomy are subjects of frequent dispute, and that disagreements over the reach of national and subnational power may be contested in a wide and diverse array of settings. Subnational units determined to challenge nationally-imposed limits on their power typically have at their disposal many tools with which to press against formal boundaries. Federal systems, moreover, frequently display a surprising degree of tolerance for subnational obstruction, disobedience, and other behaviors intended to expand subnational authority and influence, even over national objection. This tolerance, however, has limits. In this paper, we examine a set of rulings by national constitutional courts invalidating formalized claims by subnational units to a distinctive subnational identity. The emphatically negative reactions of these courts contrast instructively with the tolerance often displayed by other state actors toward similar identity claims when they are asserted in political and sub-constitutional settings, suggesting that the legal formalization of distinctive identity claims is perceived by courts to pose an unusually acute threat to the state.
This chapter deals with the process of constitutionalization of human dignity in Denmark, which i... more This chapter deals with the process of constitutionalization of human dignity in Denmark, which is a non-written constitutional principle introduced in Danish domestic system, in its modern form, by international norms and the communitarian acquis. It follows exanimating Danish case law related with the clusters of rights enshrined in the EU charter that normatively define the concept of human dignity. The chapter focuses on the repercussions of the amendment of the Danish Aliens Act to asylum seekers, migrants and refugees, and Danish Supreme ruling on two extradition cases of Romanian convicted citizens. The final section is a conclusion that links the case analyzed with the candidacy of Denmark presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2019-2021 that emphasizes human dignity as one of the main goals to be promoted.
The Law and Legitimacy of Imposed Constitutions, 2018
ICL Journal, 2020
In composed and decentralised states, sub-national entities and (ethnic, linguistic, racial) mino... more In composed and decentralised states, sub-national entities and (ethnic, linguistic, racial) minorities ought to play a determinant role in the process of appointment of constitutional courts justices to obtain a balanced representation in the guardian of the constitution. The necessary appearance of constitutional justice independence can be at stake without a proportionated participation of minorities and sub-national entities in the court. It is not enough to introduce a symbolic presence. The first section of this essay analyses the transcendence and political-legal significance that the system of appointment of constitutional court judges has and its relation to the separation of powers (horizontal and vertical). The second section is a return to the roots, ie the system of appointment the Austrian Constitution of 1920, even that first constitutional court was created in 1919, and Kelsen’s theory on federalism. The third section carries out an analysis from a comparative consti...
The theological origin of legal and political concepts has been an accepted belief by figures suc... more The theological origin of legal and political concepts has been an accepted belief by figures such as Locke, Hume, Machiavelli and Hobbes. The list of legal authors will also include Robert Cover's narrative on legal violence, Fitzpatrick, Sanford Levinson and Weiler. The constitutional texts around the world are good examples of transposition and complicity of theological and juridical thoughts. In the US example, the flag, the Declaration and the Constitution constitutes the holy trinity of what Tocqueville called “American civil religion”. The drafters of the US Constitution consciously played the role of a civil God; the US Supreme Court developed the role of secular prophets; the Constitution was the sacred tablets; and the people of the United States became the chosen people. As the law was received by Moses on the tablets, so too did the constitution adopt a legal, moral and religious character. This paper focuses on the study of messianic elements of Carl Schmitt's c...
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Papers by Antoni Abat Ninet
In recent years, two cases, in Catalonia and in Israel – different in many respects but similar in others – serve as inspiring test cases for analysing questions of national identities and state cohesion. Both of these cases portray the dilemmas surrounding national identity in an allegedly dichotomic fashion, thus requiring a choice between independence and secession or unionism and assimilation.
This article suggests that a dichotomic perspective is not compelling and that solidarity and autonomy are not necessarily contradictory.
It explores the connection between solidarity and autonomy and applies the analysis to the case studies of Catalonia and Israel separately, given the unique characteristics of each case.
In recent years, two cases, in Catalonia and in Israel – different in many respects but similar in others – serve as inspiring test cases for analysing questions of national identities and state cohesion. Both of these cases portray the dilemmas surrounding national identity in an allegedly dichotomic fashion, thus requiring a choice between independence and secession or unionism and assimilation.
This article suggests that a dichotomic perspective is not compelling and that solidarity and autonomy are not necessarily contradictory.
It explores the connection between solidarity and autonomy and applies the analysis to the case studies of Catalonia and Israel separately, given the unique characteristics of each case.