Número 1, julio-diciembre, 2021

TERRITORIAL FEDERALISM, IDENTITY FEDERALISM AND INTERCULTURAL FEDERALISM. A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION The article focuses on the impossibility of absorbing the contemporary experiences of composite states within traditional models and the weakness of traditional classifications. Furthermore, the Eurocentrism of these classifications hinders the analysis of systems other than liberal-democratic ones. It presents a critical analysis of classical models, and suggests using, in order to classify, further elements, such as cultural homogeneity. With the use of this criterion, it is possible to compose and decompose decentralized systems regardless of formal characteristics (representation, second chamber representative of local interests, constitutional guarantees, etc.), and include within this categorization the different Western systems or those that represent different forms of state. In particular, the article focuses on the limited capacity of federalism to represent blurred cultural identities within the territory, as is now the case in Western countries with immigration and in other regions of the world indigenous claims, and suggests the local as the optimal level.

CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AT THE CROSSROADS OF POPULISMS Independent justice, division of powers, freedom of expression, pluralism and democratic alternation, free and transparent periodic elections (solid institutions) are characteristics of Constitutional Democracy as a complete and complex political legal model that unites a form of government (popular self-government) and a form of State (the Constitutional State). The Constitutional Democracy therefore has a procedural aspect and a institutional aspect. This model adopted mainly through presidential or parliamentary systems by the Western world, has been enshrined by the Inter-American Democratic Charter, requires the member countries to apply and strengthen these institutional characteristics. However, in Latin America – in theory and practice – models of democracy coexist that give different importance to the procedural and susbstantial elements that define Constitutional Democracy. For the author, the populisms that threaten constitutional democracy today are enlisted in a non-constitutional democratic model in the historical and philosophical sense of the movement of liberal origin.

BETWEEN PANDEMIC AND POST-TRUTH: THE RISE OF POPULISMS The international community has been shocked by the scourge of a pandemic generated by the coronavirus that has disrupted the usual rules of coexistence, leading to the mandatory confinement of the population, measures of temporary limitation of individual freedoms and having to regret numerous deaths all over the planet. In addition, the unease and uncertainty generated by the plague has led to the development of false news that, generally of unverified origins, have been causing greater insecurity and irrational fears about the nature of the pandemic. To all this, with tortious intentions, some totalitarian and populist governments have taken advantage of the prevailing confusion to further limit individual rights and weaken the democratic model and the rule of law, in the face of which serious and considered reflection is necessary. in order to expose these anti-democratic currents that are hiding themselves in the Iliberal model of democracy.

STATES OF EMERGENCY AND THE PANDEMIC CRISIS: SOME REMARKS ON THE ROLE PLAYED BY CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS This article examines the role of constitutional courts in times of emergency from a comparative perspective. In particular, it aims at understanding if, how and to what extent these bodies can place effective checks on the executive branch, thus contributing to protecting against the abuse of emergency powers. The article discusses the constitutional courts’ review of the declaration and extension of the state of emergency, as well as the review of the emergency measures adopted by state authorities during periods of crisis, with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The article suggests that constitutional courts can represent an important bulwark for the defence of the principles of constitutionalism in times of emergency.

JUSTICE, REMOTE HEARINGS AND TECHNOLOGY TO FACE THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC This work analyzes the technological measures to face the effects that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on the judicial system, which can be grouped into three categories. In the first place, to face the health crisis: measures to protect the health of those who are related to the Administration of Justice and of those who work in it (carrying out procedures and supplying information electronically, telematic trials, teleworking and telematic deliberations) . Secondly, to face the economic crisis: measures to face the new demand for justice, in other words, the new needs for judicial response derived from the pandemic (automation of procedural actions, artificial intelligence and online platforms for litigation resolutions) And finally, to address the crisis or social dislocation: measures to facilitate access to justice for vulnerable people, who are being disproportionately affected by justice, addressing the digital gap. And the second part of this work will dive into the problem linked to telematic assistance to trials and other judicial acts, which has to be carried out respecting the values and procedural guarantees, but also under material conditions that allow the proper celebration of the act.

TERRITORIAL FEDERALISM, IDENTITY FEDERALISM AND INTERCULTURAL FEDERALISM. A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION From the constitutional perspective of democracy and taking the Peruvian case as a reference, this report analyzes the exercise of rights and the requirement of duties in situations of constitutional emergency in an unknown scenario and of uncertainty in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The constitutional rights-duties equation serves as a premise to prioritize the protection of life and health in a context of health emergency where the precariousness of State services is also part of the problem. Within democratic constitutionalism, the role of the constitutional state and the responsibility that this entails is indispensable, in light of situations that affect the very existence of the human being, a challenge that also reaches and commits to citizenship.

THE WELFARE STATE UNDER STRESS The welfare State has been historically developed from the mit-20th century, puting in practice a whole range of interventionist instruments whose operability was put to the test by the great crisis of Covid-19. The centrality acquired by the executive implies a tension in the balance of powers that is reinforced in extraordinary situations, implying some risks on future developemnts. In any case, we can detect some of the posible patterns of evolution of the Welfare state for the 21st century.

THE RESPONSE CAPACITY OF THE WELFARE STATE FROM THE TERRITORIAL PERSPECTIVE The health, social and economic crisis derived from the pandemic is putting the already stressed Welfare State to the test. Each country has reacted with the means at its disposal, taking similar measures and with mixed results. In this paper we have tried to describe the formula with which the response to the global health crisis has been given from the decentralized Spanish model. Likewise, the traces that the health crisis has left on the territorial Constitution have been verified.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: SOME IDEAS FOR DEBATE Article 45 of Spanish Constitution foresees the right to enjoy the environment and, therefore, the need to protect the exercise of the environment. This precept combines several protectionist postulates such as the quality of life and the rational use of natural resources with the achievement of goals of progress and development. Jurisprudence has recognized the dynamic nature of this right, but has denied the status of fundamental right. Nevertheless, from the perspective of states commitments to meet their existing obligations under international environmental law, environmental judicial review claims have focused on new approaches in order to ensure effective judicial protection in environmental matters.

CRISIS AND GENDER: ON THE EXCLUSIONARY ROOTS OF THE STATE AND THE URGENT NEED TO REDEFINE THEM The Covid-19 sanitary crisis has broken out at a time when other crises, both financial and democratic, are as yet unsolved. As they collide, the exclusionary dynamics that feed modern States have been made more visible than ever, as has the urgent need to address them. Doing so requires us to contemplate the gender component of these dynamics and their intersectional profile, as well as their deep structural roots. This makes it urgent to redefine the State in parity terms that revitalise the legitimacy of its representative institutions. To this end, our relational autonomy as democratic citizens needs to be enhanced. The current crisis thus confronts us with challenges that go beyond health and health care and point to the need to rethink modern citizenship in inclusive terms.

CRISIS AND GENDER: ON THE EXCLUSIONARY ROOTS OF THE STATE AND THE URGENT NEED TO REDEFINE THEM The Covid-19 sanitary crisis has broken out at a time when other crises, both financial and democratic, are as yet unsolved. As they collide, the exclusionary dynamics that feed modern States have been made more visible than ever, as has the urgent need to address them. Doing so requires us to contemplate the gender component of these dynamics and their intersectional profile, as well as their deep structural roots. This makes it urgent to redefine the State in parity terms that revitalise the legitimacy of its representative institutions. To this end, our relational autonomy as democratic citizens needs to be enhanced. The current crisis thus confronts us with challenges that go beyond health and health care and point to the need to rethink modern citizenship in inclusive terms.

FAMILY JURISDICTION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC The global pandemic generated by Covid-19 is detrimental to victims of gender violence, and has caused new family conflicts that have highlighted the need to strengthen the Justice Administration with personal and material resources to be able to respond to situations like the one we are experiencing, since the Justice and the access to it is a fundamental right, the guarantee against possible violations and the way of defense and protect the most vulnerable groups.

SOME REFLECTIONS ON GENDER, INTERSECTIONAL DISCRIMINATION AND ITS LEGAL RECOGNITION IN TIMES OF CRISIS Intersectionality is an analytical category to identify how the convergence of different factors (gender, race, nationality, class, disability) generates complex situations of discrimination. However, its recognition as a tool of analysis by anti-discrimination law has not been homogeneous. In the case of the Inter-American system for the protection of rights, its implementation has been successful. This has not been the case in Europe, where the intersectional approach is applied in the elaboration of public policies, although it is hardly used either in norms or in national and international jurisprudence.

This paper aims at analyzing a legal paradox regarding the principle of the free development of the personality. On the one hand, it is used as a strong argument to include within the behaviors protected by the fundamental rights to physical and moral integrity and personal privacy the decisions to have, or not to have, biological descent, which would include the use of contraceptive methods and the voluntary termination of pregnancy. On the other hand, that same principle of the free development of the personality is not taken into account when it comes to accessing some techniques of artificial fertilization or surrogacy.

THE INTER-AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC CHARTER REJECTS POPULISM The promotion of democracy has been one of the main missions of the inter-American human rights system. In this sense, the adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter constitutes a milestone, as it represents the synthesis of a series of juridical and diplomatic mechanisms that the member states had developed and provides a valuable tool for the collective defense of the democratic system. However, one of the challenges for regional systems today is authoritarian populism that undermines the institutional essence and quality of democracy. It is possible to observe that, up to now, the OAS responses to situations of threat to the constitutional order have been firm, but they have failed to react when presidents have used formal democratic mechanisms to concentrate power. For this reason, it is also necessary to analyze normative and institutional mechanisms outside the regional systems to confront populism.

MANAGING THE STATE OF HEALTH EMERGENCY IN AFRICA. THE CASE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO This article discuss all the strategies adopted by the political and administrative institutions of the DRC to mitigate the harmful effects of Covid 19. The management of the state of the health emergency in the DRC has developed along three lines: first, the personal leadership of the President of the Republic through the full powers granted to him by the Constitution; secondly, the government mobilised all coordination platforms of the actors involved (public and private) and all available resources; thirdly, the local goverments ( (provinces, cities, town councils) was fully involved in the implementation of the measures required by the health emergency. These three strands have prevented a fragmented political response in the management of the state of health emergency.

INDIGENOUS, MESTIZO CONSTITUTIONALISM AND FEDERALISM Based on a historical review of indigenous constitutionalism and federalism, this work analyzes one of the forms of decentralization of power expressed in the so-called Indigenous Autonomies. This work deals with the study of Indigenous Autonomies in Bolivian constitutionalism, pointing out their advances and setbacks in the face of the force of Western constitutionalism.