An electronic journal of social sciences
www.pipss.org
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS: "Military Justice in Russia and the CIS"
Pipss.org is a new electronic journal of social sciences devoted to the armed forces and power institutions of post-Soviet societies. Pipss.org is a multi-disciplinary journal, which addresses issues across a broad field of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, economics, history, legal science. Its main objective is to study changes and their underlying mechanisms in post-Soviet republics, through the analysis of the institutions that remain most hidden from the public eye: armies and power institutions. As an electronic journal,
pipss.org also aims to promote scholarly debate across as broad an audience as possible, and make CIS research available to Western scholars. Thanks to its international scientific board drawn from a large pool of leading academics and experts in their respective fields, it is in a position to become a leading source of analysis on post-Soviet societies. Pipss.org is a principal partner of the International Security Network (www.isn.ethz. ch ) and a member of the CNRS/EHESS scientific journals network Revues.org.
EIGHTH ISSUE : "Military Justice in Russia and the CIS"
In Russia, as in the ex-USSR in general, judiciary reform has concerned itself very little with the subject of military justice, a domain at the crossroads of several disciplines: military history, political history, the history of criminality and of criminal justice. Yet whereas these branches have expanded in recent years, military justice has not been sufficiently dealt with, in particular by the social sciences.
The reform of military justice is of major importance in the creation of a state under the rule of law: an independent and impartial judiciary system operating without outside interference or pressure is vital for a democratic state.
The aim of this issue is therefore to assess the mutations taking place in this domain in Russia and in other CIS republics.
The first step in the assessment of systems of military justice in Russia and the CIS is a study of the components of these systems - the laws that define and prohibit certain behaviours and criminal procedures, the institutions and authorities responsible for enforcing the law. At the same time, we must assess the crimes that are judged and the changes in the structure of criminality. The principles according to which people are judged depend on several variables: national judicial traditions and the social role of the army in particular. This is why the approach of social sciences is central.
A glance at western experience is equally essential to an assessment of the post-soviet military justice system. Thus from the viewpoint of comparative law, we are also interested in studies related to countries such as Brazil, the United States, Israel and French Algeria.
This issue could cover the following topics:
THE RUSSIAN MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM
I - A historical approach: the history of military justice in Russia
The history of military justice in Russia will allow us to explore the Russian judicial tradition and to understand in what ways this "cultural" heritage remains present in Russia and post-Soviet CIS.
II - The Russian military justice system after the disappearance of the USSR: reforms and advances
1 - Reforms and advances after the fall of the USSR: The renovation of the system of military justice. What are the guiding principles of this renovation? (For example, in 1993, an advance in the domain of the protection of the rights of soldiers against abuses on the part of their hierarchy ; The 1999 Law removing military courts from the juridiction of the Defence Ministry.
The justifications for a military justice system separate from a civil criminal justice system in Russia. The debate over the abandonment of a distinct justice; the dependence of military justice in regard to the Defence Ministry.
2- Institutions, their functioning and competencies: The system of military courts, the financing of military courts; the role of the military procurator; the role of the social chamber (OP); martial courts; the competence of courts to judge civilians (statistics: civilians judged/military judged).
3 - Staff: training, appointment of military judges, their status and powers; civil personnel in military courts; the role of the military ombudsman; judiciary power of officers and sanctions available to them (range of disciplinary sanctions: disciplinary battalions, the gauptvakhta/ isolation chamber).
4 - Criminal procedures
5 - Crimes judged: number of cases taken up & number of cases judged; protection of soldiers' rights (processing of complaints and soldiers' petitions, changes in soldiers' complaints, cases brought to court by soldiers against their administrating institution so that a decision will be made concerning their disputes); treatment of deserters (desertion, AWOL, etc); criminality in the army (changes in the structure of criminality) ; military statistics as a source for the study of social behaviours.
6 - Defence of the accused: how does one defend one's case in today's Russian army? The role of lawyers and associations (their defence practices, historical evolution, networks of experts specialized in these questions, problems encountered) : in-depth interviews of NGOs' lawyers and representatives on that subject are very welcome.
7 - Ways of enforcing sentences
III - Dependence of military justice on political power: role of the military prosecutor in inquiries concerning political matters
- Chechnya
- rebellions, officers refusing to obey orders, etc.
CHECHNYA: A CASE STUDY
In this section, special attention will be paid to the situation in the North Caucasus with the case of military courts in the North Caucasian region in the context of the Chechnyan conflict; the question of competence sharing between civilian and military courts.
A COMPARATIVE APPROACH
Civil vs. military justice: are there differences in procedures and sentences / condemnations for similar crimes?
The CIS: What model are the CIS republics tending towards? The weight of the Soviet legacy and the influence of western models
The authoritarian legacy: the case of Latin America: authoritarian regimes have often extended the competences of military courts in order to prosecute political opponents or protect members of the police and armed forces engaged in repressive actions. What happens to military courts after the transition towards democracy? Why do some regimes drastically reform their system of military justice and others not? The study of reforms (or non reforms) of military justice in Latin American states will shed considerable light on the weight of the totalitarian legacy on their justice system.
The West: A comparative study of the functioning of courts, of the treatment of deserters, of the system of courts-martial in Russia, Germany, the U.S., French, Algeria, Israel
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Guidelines for article submission
The journal will be published in four languages (French, English, Russian, and German with a 100-word abstract in English) thanks to which most authors will be able to write in their mother tongue. This will ensure greater precision in the articles and avoid a decrease in scientific quality. But we draw your attention to the fact that most pipss.org readers are essentially English speakers, therefore we do encourage articles in English in order to reach an audience as broad as possible.
The articles submitted to pipss.org for publication should be original contributions and should not be under consideration for any other publication at the same time. Manuscripts should be attached as Microsoft Word format. References should be given in footnotes. (For more details about the guidelines for article submission please check www.pipss.org or contact the Editorial Board). There should be a cover page stating the author's background and affiliation, full address.
If you wish to submit an article, please first contact the editorial board and send an 100-word abstract in English. The deadline for article submission is April 10, 2008, with publication in June 2008. Final decisions on publication will be made by the Editorial Board.
Please send your contributions or inquiries to:
Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, Chief Editor, contact@pipss. org
Aude Merlin & Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski (8th Issue Editors)
Papers dealing with other issues related to armies and power institutions in the CIS, as well as book review proposals are also welcome.
REVIEWS
Publishers interested in publicizing their editions, please send review copies to:
Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski
15 rue Charlot
75003 Paris, France
Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski
Chief Editor
The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies
www.pipss.org
Editorial Board : Eden Cole, Anna Colin Lebedev, Francoise Dauce, Gilles Favarel-Garrigues, Anne Le Huerou, Laurent Rucker, Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, Joris Van Bladel
Scientific Board : Adrian Beck (UK), Alexander Belkin (Russia), Frederic Charillon (France), Stephen Cimbala (USA), Julian Cooper (UK), Roger Mc Dermott (UK), Isabelle Facon (France), Mark Galeotti (UK), Aleksandr Gol'ts (Russia), Dale Herspring (USA), Philippe Manigart (Belgium), Kimberly Zisk Marten (USA), Michael Orr (UK), Michael Parrish (USA), Nikolay Petrov (Russia), Eduard Ponarin (Russia), Jean-Christophe Romer (France), Jacques Sapir (France), Manfred Sapper (Germany), Louise Shelley (USA), Richard Staar (USA), Brian Taylor (USA), Mikhail Tsypkin (USA), Stephen Webber (UK), Elena Zdravomyslova (Russia).
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