The form of political responsibility can be very different. It is usually accompanied by coercive measures against the violating state and entails liability. The forms of political responsibility are as follows: reprisals, retortions, restaurateurs, satisfaction, expulsion or suspension of membership in an international organization, and finally, the aggressor is suppressed by force. Also, coercive measures in the form of sanctions can be applied to the violating state.
Terminology
Political responsibility overtakes a state that has violated international rules or the interests of another country, primarily in the form of retortions. This is the first step in the form of a response to hostile actions, often restoring violated rights. Retortions include the recall of ambassadors from the state who have decided on an unfriendly act. If a country expels diplomats from its territory, that state can respond by expelling the same number of diplomats.
Political responsibility can also come in the form of a retortion, when any delegation is prohibited from entering the country, including the first person of the offending state. All planned visits of delegations in this case are canceled. The political responsibility of the second level is reprisals. Unarmed reprisals are legitimate coercive actions, they are proportional to the damage inflicted, and in size they are exactly the same that can give full satisfaction to the party whose rights have been violated.
Other forms
Reprisals as a form of political responsibility can be expressed in breaking or suspension of diplomatic relations, as well as in the introduction of an embargo, that is, a ban on the import of raw materials and goods from the territory of a country that violates good neighborly rules. These are not all subspecies of reprisals, there are a lot of them. In addition, satisfaction shall apply to political responsibility, which means satisfaction. In this case, the violating state provides the affected country with satisfaction for the damage that was caused to its dignity and honor. This can be an official apology, an expression of sympathy and regret, assurances that there are no future illegal actions of such a plan, honoring the flag and performing the anthem of the state that has been damaged - all this, accordingly, is carried out in an official and solemn atmosphere. If compensation and restitution cannot fully compensate for the damage, satisfaction is required, which at the same time pursues three goals: recognition of their actions as unlawful, apologizing, punishing the perpetrators, and preventing such a violation again.
If the state requires a different form of political responsibility, restaurateur can be applied - this is the restoration by the violator of a damaged material object. For example, you can demand the restoration of the previous quality of river water, due to the fault of the offender ceased to be drinking. The suspension of privileges and rights is a very harsh measure. The political process is based on membership in various international organizations, and the deprivation or suspension of membership in many of them is the lack of the right to represent, receive assistance, services and the like. So, in 1940, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations for the war in Finland.This is an extreme measure, which provides for political responsibility in international law.
In Russia and other countries
Within the state, there are also various types of political responsibility, which can extend to the bodies of municipalities and the state. For example, the political responsibility of parliament ends with its dissolution. The same applies to the legislative assembly of all subjects of the Federation. In some countries (Ukraine, Poland), dissolution is provided if this body did not accept the state budget on time, failed to form a government, or did not start working on time after the election. In Russia, the law establishes the political responsibility of the government and legislative bodies of all entities, as well as heads of administrations, representative bodies and municipalities. Bodies that violate the Constitution or laws of the Russian Federation are dissolved, and the heads of administration and mayors are deprived of their posts.
Also, voters themselves can early recall members of parliament and legislative assemblies of constituent entities of the Federation, local governments, councils and the like. Representative bodies can deprive a mandate, and after that, members of parliament are often subjected to criminal liability. The political responsibility of the president is provided for in the form of impeachment, as in Russia, in the USA and some other countries, in the form of early recall, as in Austria, dismissal from court by court, as in Italy. Only after this procedure will civil law liability and other penalties be applied to the presidents. Monarchs, of course, never bear any responsibility and are not subjected to impeachment. Ministers may be charged with a vote of no confidence as a reason for dismissal with a censure resolution and dismissed. The government can be dismissed by the will of the president in many countries. Both the government and ministers may be subject to both criminal and disciplinary liability. But legal responsibility does not immediately come, political responsibility must precede.
Power and people
The political process has its own characteristics. There are bodies and officials who are not subject to political responsibility, for example, judges. They can be recalled by voters (but this is rare). The responsibility of the authorities to the people is a political principle, which means that those vested with authority must necessarily be responsible for all the consequences of their own actions. This item is currently many Russian politicians and political parties include in their programs. The Stalinist Constitution of 1936, which declared political and legal responsibility, stated in particular that it was said that a deputy must report to his voters and can be recalled at any time by decision of the majority. Since then, the concept of political responsibility has not been revised, but in practice irreversible changes have taken place with it. Nothing like it now exists anywhere - neither in Russia, nor in Europe, nor in the USA.
How could it be
A specific mechanism promising the practical implementation of such responsibility of the authorities to the people was proposed several times, but was not adopted: this is a special law, according to which the people can condemn both the government and the president; and the introduction of control through a referendum, when the term of office of the president and deputies ends, with three possible assessments: “Deserving of punishment”, “Without consequences”, “Deserving of encouragement”. The statesman who received the latest grade is declared a hero, with the second grade goes on vacation, and with the first one, any government official faces imprisonment.But the people in no country have the status of the subject of legal relations with the existing government, are not organized as a whole, the rights of each are not guaranteed.
A referendum on the introduction of such an amendment to the Constitution could not be held in Russia. One thing is good that, despite the sanctions, Crimea is still ours, since it was possible to organize such a referendum. The proposed concept regarding the mechanism of control over the responsibility of the authorities corresponds to all the principles of democratic governance, when in the first place are the interests of the cause, and not the wishes of the higher authorities. But in order to implement such control, the people need to obtain the status of the subject of legal relations with the authorities, and this people should be guided by legal standards, which should also be subject to control. And if you do not comply with the dispositive and peremptory norms of law, the right of everyone will never be guaranteed.
International liability provision
An unlawful act committed by a subject of international law entails international responsibility. If a state violates obligations or goes beyond international law, depending on the circumstances, various types of legal relations can be applied to it. Political responsibility in international law dictates the following:
- Entities are responsible for their own conduct regarding their own international legal obligations.
- If an unlawful act was committed under the direction or control of another entity, the controlling state will also bear international responsibility.
- Responsibility can result in violations of any legal obligation - whether it is a customary rule of international law, an agreement or a general principle of law.
- International responsibility occurs even if an unlawful act can be expressed by the active action or inaction of the subject.
Coercive measures are provided for by international law and are applied in the established procedural order to entities that have committed offenses with respect to these norms.
Sanctions
The international legal responsibility of states is considered in two forms - political and material. The first is usually accompanied by coercive measures against the state that committed the offense, and is always combined with material liability. Sanctions are coercive measures and are applied by regional and universal international organizations, such as the UN, OAU, ICAO, as well as groups of states or individual states.
The scope and types of sanctions primarily depend on the damage caused and the severity of the offense committed by the state. The aggressor state may receive restriction of sovereignty, exclusion of a certain part of the territory, war, occupation, partial or full demilitarization of part of the territory or the whole country, reduction of armaments and armed forces in size and types, even prohibition of possession of one or another type of armament or armed forces, restriction jurisdictions in cases concerning the liability of war criminals, and much, much more.
From the UN Charter
An attack on peace between peoples and security is punishable by the sanctions provided for in Articles 39, 41, 42 of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the charters of many regional organizations. The highest form of political responsibility of the country has always been the deprivation of state sovereignty, when representatives of the victorious countries exercised supreme power. This was the case in Japan and Germany when they signed unconditional surrender. It should be noted that sanctions are punishable by a country that has committed a serious crime against humanity.In other cases, such sanctions are unacceptable to be considered legitimate, since by themselves they are a reaction of the international community to unlawful acts committed intentionally.
Thus, sanctions were completely unfairly applied in the nineties of the twentieth century to the state of Iraq, when its armed forces were defeated. The country was ordered to withdraw troops from the borders with Kuwait, it was forbidden to have chemical and missile weapons, international inspections in the state observed the elimination of both, the movement of troops, counted weapons, and so on. That is, the country was completely deprived of sovereignty, and according to false information, everyone remembers the test tube shown at the UN.
Sanctions Examples
Sanctions can certainly be introduced and implemented, if the Security Council so decides. They can be very tough, right up to the economic blockade, which, for example, Armenia and Turkey suffered for a decade from Turkey and Azerbaijan (and also - their legitimacy is very, very controversial). The cessation of economic and diplomatic relations, coupled with the blockade of railway, air, sea, and the blockade of means of communication - radio, television, telegraph, mail ... At the moment, something similar is happening with the DPRK, which so far has not lost its composure and presence of mind. Russia has been under sanctions since 2014, and, right, they do not interfere with it at all.
But something else is being undertaken with the state of Kuwait, to which all countries of the Arab world, except Turkey, Iran and Iraq, have announced a boycott and blockade. Here Kuwait, despite its myriad wealth, may not be able to withstand sanctions. So the richest Libya fell, Afghanistan was completely defeated. Apparently, the world community is aimed at destroying unity in the Middle East, it has drawn up "long-playing" plans and is gradually realizing them. And political responsibility in international law can threaten anyone, but not those who use this right. There are countries that are not afraid of any responsibility at all.
Material liability
A country bears material liability in case of violation of international obligations that caused material damage to another country. Forms of such liability are reparations, restitution and substitutions. The former require compensation for material damage in the form of services, goods and money. The volume and type of reparations is established in accordance with international treaties.
Most often, reparations do not completely cover the amount of damage. For example, by the decision of the Crimean Conference in 1945, German reparations amounted to twenty billion dollars, which cannot be compared with the losses that the Soviet Union suffered as a result of Nazi aggression. And the agreement to end the eleven-year-old horrific war in Vietnam says that the United States is only obliged to "contribute" to the destroyed economy of the country and all of Indochina.
findings
Any kind of responsibility requires the participation of the judiciary, which can authoritatively ascertain whether an offense has occurred or not. Inside the country, it can be a supreme or constitutional court, a special tribunal or something similar to objectively establish an offense or its absence, which will further serve as the basis for the application of certain coercive measures.
In the meantime, the participation of the judiciary in bringing to political responsibility is not provided for, international responsibility is exploited by organizations, and within the countries, including European and American, this postulate does not work. In the Netherlands, the authorities calmly ignored the decision of the referendum on Ukraine, for example. And only in Britain does Brexit seem to take place, although it is unlikely to be fully in the volumes that the popular vote required.