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The European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 is not only an international treaty of protection of human rights, but also, in Strasbourg Court's terms, an instrument for maintaining and promoting the values and aspirations of a democratic society. This aim permeates all the case law of the Court, particularly in the field of articles 8-11 of the Convention and article 3 of the First Optional Protocol. On the other hand, the "quality" of the national political process has been considered in recent case law as a criterion for the application of the margin of appreciation doctrine. This paper analizes the concept of democracy shaped by the Court and its consequences for defining the extension of the national margin of appreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examine the Law 15/2015, October 17th, that reforms the one that regulates the Spanish Constitutional Court, and tries to ensure the efficiency in the enforceability of the Spanish Constitutional Court decisions. The paper deeply analyze paragraph 5 of article 92 of the Law that regulates the Constitutional Court, focusing on the aspects in which, under article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, a State control over the Autonomous Communities can be developed. This paper covers a gap: the doctrine has not sufficiently studied article 155 of the Spanish Constitution although it is the one most mentioned in any independence attempt that has hit Spain over 37 years: from the «Ibarretxe Plan» (2004) to the Catalonian independence roadmap (2012) and so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the political process of the independence demand in Catalonia and, specifically, the argument of the democratic principle as constitutional basis of the right to decide the future of Catalonia. This paper also analyzes the comparative experience of other countries, particularly Canada, where there have been similar demands and with the same argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex and relationships education is, and has been, the great absent in Spanish both school curriculum and the sociological research on it. Some relevant theoretical and methodological developments have been needed for the construction of the research topic, in order to produce sociological knowledge within this field. This paper continues with this methodological task. It describes the process of design of an evaluation questionnaire to portray the initial state of the issue. In turn, it enables the research on sex and love relationships. In so doing, the paper offers a useful well-founded tool to produce sociological knowledge on this research topic, emerging in Spain. In this process of design, the paper sets a dialogue between a double process of categorisation: on the one hand, the themes involved in the revised literature on the topic; on the other hand, the themes offered by the adolescent voices of the subjects participants in the research. Along the paper, some key debates in contemporary social theory are addressed, such as the appeal to action research, education for democratic citizenship and human rights, the visibilisation of minors' agency and voices, the use of participatory and critical evaluation, and the reflection on power as inherent to social relations.

The use of methodological «recipes» and the appeal to various forms of political correctness in the study of different groups are temptations to which a large number of social scientists often embrace. In this article, we attempt to develop a critical revision of the way in which some of these common places of social research operate, based on «methodological» principles as dogmas in the abstract. In the same vein, we also describe, by appealing to research examples, frequent impostures of the «right» way that abound in academic discourses, as is sometimes the case with researchers who define themselves as «militants» when they study subaltern sectors. Consequently, in this paper some tricks are developed, as defined by the sociologist Howard Becker, who question formalities, tendencies and agreements implicit in the scientific-academic work that do not precisely stimulate creativity. The application forms that circulate in the scientific system, the «methodological» subjects, the guidelines for the evaluation of academic production and the intellectual impostures, configure a diversity of situations that often promote comfortable routines linked more to rigidity than rigor. Although this text is constructed in perspective with the Argentine case, it refers to practices that are also present in the diverse scientific traditions in the social sciences. Such approaches, guided by political correctness, often result in asymmetric assessments that sacrifice creativity because they to lie down in comfortable routines that are usually celebrated in the academic environment. On the contrary, other types of academic proposals are confronted with the censorship of «normal science», which in certain contexts are accompanied by a set of moral and ideological judgments that can dissemble creativity, open discussion of ideas and exploration of problematic empirical vacuums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic crisis has forced some Spaniards to apply for social aid. Although it is not possible to adequately quantify how many people are in food deprivation, it is a problem that needs to be diagnosed given its severity. This paper explores the way in which this group manages food aid in a context that is new to them in a double sense: it is the first time that they find themselves without resources to solve their daily needs and this is the first time they request aid social. The data come from in-depth interviews conducted with 14 people who have participated in a food emergency program in 2012. It has been shown that people with severe material deprivation manage food aid with expertise. Nonetheless, this effort does not meet their basic needs because they prioritize other payments before food. It has also been seen that they perceive their situation as provisional and show indignation towards a situation of which they feel victims. They hope to leave this situation through the employment and not through the institutional aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the social sciences, methodological debates contribute to the understanding of social research. This paper discusses one way of understanding the role of the investigator in relation to the approach and analysis of the object/subject of study. The objective is to question the use of the researcher's metaphor as a craftsman. This image appears in the 1950s in order to explain the creativity required by the research process and qualitative data analysis. However, the artisan's metaphor represents a deductive approximation of the researcher to the subject/object of study. On the contrary, the qualitative analysis is oriented by inductive procedures. The metaphor of the hunter after the prey is then proposed as a resource with a paradigmatic and epistemological consistency that contributes to the understanding and training in the qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is the proposal of a new framework for the study of data structures based on the combination of several types of multivariate and social network analysis. By means of these techniques we obtain the most frequent events in a given set of scenarios as well as those events that tend to occur with them. In this respect we can define several coincidence gradients for the events under study. Ranging from zero to total coincidence and passing through statistically probable coincidences with predetermined confidence levels. The appearance structure of the set of events studied according to the selected coincidence gradient can be conveniently represented by a graph. In addition to its rationale, three free software programs are shown so that any user could apply this framework: coin, netcoin and webcoin. This type of procedure can be applied to the exploratory analysis of questionnaires, to the study of semantic networks, to the revision of databases and even to the comparison of different techniques of statistical analysis of interdependence. This is made posible by using factorial and classificatory methods and different methods for representing graphs based on attraction-repulsion forces, like those of Fruchterman-Reingold and Kamada-Kawai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is analysed the possible transfer of motherhood model between mothers and daughters and the factors that may depend on this influence. It has carried out a qualitative research with women with children and their mothers. In the cases analysed, the hypothesis that the influence is positive it has been confirmed. However, this does not mean that the daughter always take the same direction taken by the mother. The direction that takes this influence is due mainly to two factors. On the one hand, to the contemporaneity of maternity strategy followed by the progenitor, and secondly, to the satisfaction of the experience in childhood daughters with the strategy followed by their mothers. For the daughters to follow a similar strategy of their mothers is necessary that this strategy had been successful for the child in its infancy and that socially and culturally was according to the thinking of the moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of inequality in cities has a wide tradition, from the analysis of urban areas through factorial ecology of the Chicago School to contemporary studies on 'urban vulnerability'. From an operative point of view, its main objective has been to elaborate a synthetic index that allows to place to the urban areas in a continuum with respect to the resources that own its residents and/or the risks that they face. This paper presents a proposal to measure the socioeconomic level of urban areas and its validation. First, some basic aspect in the analysis of urban inequalities are reviewed. Then, the proposal is presented and validated, and finally, some few conclusions about the proposal and its limitations are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The content analysis is at the core of a large number of social studies. On the other hand, the stakeholder analysis has been widely used in the study of local development processes from different approaches. However, this paper aims to show the potential and advantages of content analysis based on the actors' discourse involved in local development processes. Primary information obtained from interviews conducted with a sample of social, economic and institutional actors linked to the starting up and operation of Villonaco Wind Farm (Loja, Ecuador), has been taken as a starting point. According to the Ecuadorian government, this wind farm should have a clear projection in local development, hence the interest in the analysis of these processes using this methodological approach. Software MAXQDA is used to show the potential of content analysis. This tool allows, after the encoding process of information, to analyze the various topics and subtopics that define the positions adopted by the actors and their appraisals of the studied processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alter the failure to build a parliamentary majority and the need to hold new elections in Spain in 2016, certain social and political sectors have pointed out the convenience of reviewing the Spanish procedures for appointing a new Government. In particular, the role of the King has been analysed, trying to suggest new formulae capable of granting stability and surmounting the political fragmentation which resulted from the last general elections. The paper focuses mainly on the Belgian model for appointing a government, which reserves an important role for the King. It tries to show that, taking into account not only the -formal and informal- rules, but also the political practice, the Belgian model does not appear at all as more efficient than the Spanish one. And, what is more important from a systemic point of view, it allows a deeper debate on the political and institutional position of the Head of the State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the current status of the different electoral reforms which have been promoted in various regional legal systems after the autonomous elections of 2015. The results of these elections have led to a deeply fragmented political scenario and, largely, debtor of the commitment undertaken by the political parties with the citizenship to make effective the adequate electoral reforms that would guarantee, inter alia, a more equal and fair electoral system. Various standard-setting instruments are analysed and contextualised, as well as the alternative options on which the need for a concrete legal reform rely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focused on the risks for Constitutional Court legitimacy if the need of special constitutional trascendence, on the Amparo appeals procedures, is rigidly applied. This need was introduced in order to avoid a crisis situation on the Amparo appeal procedure (to avoid that it will die of success), but extremely rigid applied can cause a failure of it (live in failure). The Constitutional Court legitimacy depends on its capacity to protect and guarantee the fundamental rights: a strong inadmissibility of the appeal could deeply shrink it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the territory is creation of the policy: How to represent it? This paper argues that there is no territorial representation other than political representation, even in federal states. The history of the second federal cameras proves it. The so-called territorial representation is the result of applying to political representation the principle of division of labor defended, among other authors, by Enmanuel Sieyès. But the territorial background of policy is raising, in the decentralized states, new challenges that are questioning the idea that the membership of parliament is of the entire nation. The «West Lothian question» or the «english question» and the use of the clause opting in / opting out in some parliamentary procedures to solve territorial decision problems in federal-type parliaments is marking the beginning of a new stage. Exploring these alternative ways may be more useful than continuing to try to provide meaning to the second cameras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the 2016 and 2017 Compliance Reports of Group of States against Corruption of Council of Europe (GRECO) about corruption prevention in Spain and it is focused on the study of its judiciary aspects. These Reports warn about the dangers of corruption in the Organs of Judiciary Government and in the election of Judges for High Courts caused by the political interference and also indicate that in Spain is not accomplished at all with the recommendations that GRECO addressed to the State in 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a single-case psychological intervention with a Spanish National Greco-Roman Wrestling Team wrestler. The aim of the intervention was to reduce pre-competitive anxiety in order to increase his athletic performance through a psychological skills program based on mental imagery, thought stopping, cognitive restructuring and pre-competitive routines. The CSAI-2R was used before, during and after the intervention for assessing anxiety. Self-monitoring registers for mental imagery, thought stopping, cognitive restructuration and precompetitive routines specifically designed for this case was also used. Results showed the athlete highly reduced precompetitive anxiety and increase athletic performanc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific publications are one of the basic dimensions of the evaluation of the quality of research of teaching and research personnel in Spain. The most used criterion for the evaluation is the publication of papers in journals included in the Web of Science (WoS) or Scopus databases. The objective of this work is to know that psychology journals, which publish works of legal psychology, are currently included in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases, offer an analysis and comparison of the quality indicators of the journals in these databases, in order that researchers working in this discipline know the status of publications in their field of knowledge and provide them with the best choice to publish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child-to-parent violence (CPV), also known as adolescent- to-parent abuse (APA), is a type of family violence characterized by different kinds aggressions directed to-wards parents or people in their place. This paper describes the development of the first CPV risk assessment tool, derived from bibliographic review, expert opinion, and pilot applications in clinical context. Responses of 112 professionals about the adequacy of 28 factors as well as the interest/utility/need of the proposal of a risk assessment tool for CPV were analyzed. Results showed a great agreement among professionals, as well as a positive evaluation of the proposal. After the pilot application of the tool in 7 cases and discussion with experts, the final version was composed of 24 risk factors and 6 protective factors, as well as 15 variables included in an initial section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the activist research strategy in social movements, thought from the perspective of feminist epistemology. It presents retrospective analyzes of the authors' own Activist Research experiences and puts them in the light of a new methodological framework: Feminist Activist Research (FAR). The paper starts from the proposal of the «situated knowledge» and places the emergence of the FAR at the confluence of the new global movements and the third wave of feminism. We conclude that the activist research experiences in which we have participated can be included in the FAR and suppose the most adequate approach from the social sciences to the subject social movement both epistemologically and methodologically, since they allow us to collect data and analysis that become as situated knowledge, academically relevant and socially useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the essential core of the pressumption of innocence nowadays, specifically about the main content and the protection given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the moment that liberal revolutions attributed sovereign power to the nation and constituted representative government as the only way to organize the exercise of political power, bicameralism and, in particular, the Senate will become a much discussed institution in comparative law. The extension of suffrage and the assumption of the democratic principle of popular sovereignty will further enhance the contradiction between the single popular will and its double expression. According to this idea, the twentieth century has shown a clear downward trend of bicameralism in the unitary states; not so in federal states. This paper analyzes the trend of bicameralism at the beginning of the 21st century, as well as the most recent debates around the Senate in both unitary and federal states. We will see how, despite the initial impression, the reduction of Senate power is widespread in contemporary democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex and relationships education is, and has been, the great absent in Spanish both school curriculum and the sociological research on it. Some relevant theoretical and methodological developments have been needed for the construction of the research topic, in order to produce sociological knowledge within this field. This paper continues with this methodological task. It describes the process of design of an evaluation questionnaire to portray the initial state of the issue. In tum, it enables the research on sex and love relationships. In so doing, the paper offers a useful well-founded tool to produce sociological knowledge on this research topic, emerging in Spain. In this process of design, the paper sets a dialogue between a double process of categorisation: on the one hand, the themes involved in the revised literature on the topic; on the other hand, the themes offered by the adolescent voices of the subjects participants in the research. Along the paper, some key debates in contemporary social theory are addressed, such as the appeal to action research, education for democratic citizenship and human rights, the visibilisation of minors' agency and voices, the use of participatory and critical evaluation, and the reflection on power as inherent to social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's aim is to analyze the effects the secession of territories in the Member States can have within the EU, regarding the hypothetical independence of Scotland in the case a majority of Scotish citizens would back that opinion in the referendum on September 18, 2014. Those who are promoting and independent Scotland are completely convinced that the territory will remain in the EU, as an independent Member State, and that it will reach this new status from within the EU. In their mind, that is an EU's «internal» matter, which doesn't need any special procedure, as far as it would be just little more than a formality. On the contrary, this paper analyzes the issues a proposal like this of Scotland encounter within the EU both in the fields of Law and Politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper has been to carry out a review of the historical evolution of one aspect of test validity - content validity - as well as to expose some of the most popular methods used for its evaluation. The concept of content validity has undergone many modifications from its inception to the present time. However, in the past these changes have focused on which pieces of evidence must be presented and the different statistical methods used to study it, while keeping its meaning essentially stable over time. Nowadays, evidence for content validity is considered necessary (though not the sole factor) for interpreting test results. Finally, the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods is recognized as the best procedure for performing an in-depth study of content validity. Regarding the former, this paper recommends the IVC index because, besides being currently the most used, it shows the most benefits when compared to the alternatives proposed over the years. Regarding the latter, the Generalizability Theory is understood as the most comprehensive and accurate procedure for measuring this aspect of test validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union and the Council of Europe have reminded its Member States that it is necessary to improve the protection of unaccopanied foreing minors. In particular, we are going to study in this paper the rights of detainees. Concerning this matter, we consider of a remarkable interest the rule of the European Court of Human Rights in Rahimi v. Greece (2011): it has been the first time that the Court has considered as a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when an unaccompanied minor is neglected by national authorities after being released without any kind of protection from a detention center. At the same time, the documents that in this paper we have studied --approved from 2010 to 2012-- explicitly recognize that in Europe have not yet been adopted the measures required to protect effectively the rights recognized in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and that it necessary to promote the adoption of procedures to safeguard the administrative and judicial protection of these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the German Federal Constitutional Court case-law about the European integration process. Both concepts of sovereignty and democracy, base of its reasoning, have been constructed as related to a national legal system. Therefore, the nature, functions and limits of the EU has been determined by the BVerfG in relation to state categories. This paper tries to show how since Lisbon's ruling (2009), the bases for a definition of sovereignty and democracy from the point of view of the common constitutional tradition of Member States may have been established. That's to say, what modern Schools for Scientific Thought call iuspublicum europaeum. The German Federal Constitutional Court makes this methodological transformation returning to the material concept of democracy established during the 50's and 60's. If it was then used in order to construct a militant democracy ad intra against the enemies of democracy, it may be now used to the militant defense ad extra of democracy. The respect for German political identity imposed by Lisbon's ruling supports this idea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aimed to clarify concepts related to decision-making in sport and to apply them to the teaching-learning process of the pick and roll in basketball. An historical analysis was developed and it was examined the state of the art of the decision-making teaching and learning, showing advantages and disadvantages of incidental and intentional teaching strategies. Later, concepts reviewed (if-then rules and incidental and intentional teaching strategies) were applied to a proposal for teaching pick and roll. Through different decisional trees and specific training tasks this proposal tries to potentiate the players' decision according to the logical of the game, and at the same time, to promote a unique and individual decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a heuristic pathway for the construction of typologies in sociological research. We show the main characteristics of the types, their relationship with the concepts of common sense and their place within scientific concepts. At the same time, using data from a survey conducted in late 2014 as part of an ongoing research about the forms of subjectivation of homosexuality in Lima, we present a typology of the lifestyles of men who practice homoeroticism. With this presentation we seek to reconstruct the modus operandi of the development of typologies, as it articulates the theoretical and technical-methodological research levels. For the first level we draw upon a brief framework for the analysis, as for the second we use two techniques of statistical analysis: the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and the hierarchical ascendant classification (HAC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two are the main aims of the paper: to highlight the contributions of sequential mixed method designs in the study of migrations, more specifically in the study of migratory trajectories of skilled Romanian professionals in Barcelona and explain the trajectories of a profile of immigrants that in the Spanish context must be understood from a double exceptionality. Based on a design that includes an online survey to 217 Romanians (belonging to a professional network abroad), 30 biographical interviews and 30 life charts satisfaction of Romanian professionals living in Barcelona, the article tackles the way mixed methods are shaped in the case of skilled profiles of migrants and the particularities of a profile that counts with a low social and academic visibility. As for the methodological contributions, the article reveals the usefulness of online survey (and cluster analysis) as a tool to determine the selection of the profiles studied in the second phase of the study (qualitative). The second methodological contribution links with the way life satisfaction charts may be combined with the analysis of biographical interviews. Finally, the main empirical contribution highlights the heterogeneous nature of the profile of skilled migrants, who develops strategies and different paths depending on the set of resources that mobilize before and especially after migrating. While those who migrate through the transfer of a multinational company count on a safety net that is the company itself, for those who correspond to the profile of international students, the institution is perceived as a launching platform that leads to the incorporation into the skilled labour market, even in times of economic crisis. Finally, when the meso level resources do not exist, the micro-level resources (social networks) are the one that explain successful careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the first direct judicial dialogue between the Spanish Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union on the European Arrest Warrant and the interpretation of Article 53 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU when the national level of protection of rights is higher than that provided by a rule of secondary legislation of the Union. It highlights the possible tensions between constitutional supremacy and primacy of European Union law, and the evocation made by the Constitutional Court of its doctrine on rights constitutionally recognized as limits to the European integration contained in the judgment which closes the dialogue between both Courts within the so-called Melloni case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) has acquired an unquestionable relevance in its material scope. The Luxembourg Court, as ultimate interpreter of the Charter, intervenes to define the extent of its precepts, establishing a European standard of protection of fundamental rights. This paper describes this evolution, taking into consideration the most relevant resolutions from the Luxembourg Court on the art. 47 CFREU, which establishes the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tackles the enforcement of judgments of the Court of Justice as the most emblematic aspect of the constitutional dimension of the European Union, in line with the principle of loyalty or sincere cooperation in the fulfillment of European obligations. From this point of view, the State's international responsibility in implementing the judgments of the Court of Justice is also analyzed through the principle of responsibility of all public authorities. In this sense, the essay analyzes the virtues and complexities of the Spanish constitutional practice regarding the enforcement of judgments of the Luxembourg Court carried out not only by the national courts but also by other public authorities (executive and legislative ones) at both state and regional levels. In conclusion, beyond the media impact of some European judgments, the emphasis is placed on their actual enforcement as a factor to optimize the domestic legal order and, above all, as an essential element to improve the degree of Europeanism of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right from the first very chapters of the European construction under the Treaty of Rome (1957), which turns 60 this year 2017, the jurisprudence by the Court of Justice has truly been decisive to shape the constitutional dimension of the European Community legal order. In a series of historical decisions, the CJEU has affirmed its primacy, its binding efficacy and unity, while guaranteeing its uniform interpretation and implementation. But it has also, above all, enshrined the fundamental rights resulting from the common constitutional traditions as a source of European Law (i.e general principles). This legal doctrine has been ultimately consolidated in positive Law, finally, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon (TL) in 2009, incorporating the TEU, the TFEU and, most notably, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (CFREU) with the «same legal value as the Treaties». Charter Fundamental Rights have turned to be, consequently, a parameter for examining the validity of secondary EU legislation, as well as for scrutinizing and reviewing the standard of compatibility of the national legislation of EU Member States with European law. The legal doctrine of the ECJ on fundamental rights has been particularly relevant in its impact on the data protection in the framework of the rights to privacy, privacy with regard to the electronic data transfer, and access to judicial protection of these rights (art. 7, 8 and 47 CFREU). It combines the principles of reservation of law (in due respect of its essential content) as well as proportionality and necessity for legislative measures that might affect them. But, moreover, this doctrine has had a decisive impact on the legal articulation of the so-called transatlantic partnership between the EU and the US, confronting data protection standards on both sides of the Atlantic and imposing guarantees of an «adequate level of protection» for all European citizens. This paper explores the impact of two recent relevant decisions by the ECJ -- its rulings on Digital Rights Ireland case (2014) and on the Schrems case (2015) -- upon the secondary EU legislation (Data Retention Directive of 2006, Data Protection Directive of 1995, and the «adequacy» Decision of the European Commission of 2000), as well as upon International Law instruments (Safe Harbour Agreement) between the EU and the US. It imposes, as a consequence, not only a negotiation that remedies the shortcomings detected in both decisions, but also a compelling updating of European law itself (new Data Protection Package in 2016) and a new US federal law, which, for the first time ever, provides European citizens with access to judicial remedies in U.S. Courts in defending their right to data protection (Judicial Redress Act, 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the binding effectiveness of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in relationships between individuals. After explaining briefly its binding capacity in relation to public authorities (vertical efficacy), either in the Union or in the Member States (when applying Union law), the article focuses on the description of the various positions and arguments about the inter privatos effectiveness of the Charter, that is, its ability to bind or constrain (directly or indirectly) individuals (horizontal effectiveness). In that respect, these lines also aim at one of the main issues the Court's case-law is currently facing in this area: whether the connection of a Charter right with a Directive, or its realization in it, strengthens its horizontal binding effectiveness (knowing that, by definition, these rights lack of efficacy in the relationships between individuals), or its invocability, an issue that is being raised in relation to the Charter's rights of equality (particularly, non-discrimination) and of solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis places the Law before litmus tests. Precisely, the economic and financial crisis can be counted from all points of view as a type of story about the existing federal level of tension, which will be reflected in the pronouncements of the highest judicial spokesmen, who play here a leading role. A clear example of this tension is analyzed in this paper, where, having as background the controversy that arose between the German Federal Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union in the thread of analyzing the legitimacy of a Programm of the Central Bank of European Union to combat the crisis, questions are raised regarding the effectiveness of national constitutional checks in times of European crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of the Austrian Constitutional Court in relation to the application of EU law. It focuses on the European dimension of the main Constitutional Court rulings on EU matters and shows the Constitutional Court of Austria as an European Union Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes as its starting point the importance of the preliminary ruling as a fundamental instrument of the current multi-level European constitutionalism, since it allows for strengthening the basic principles of the rule of law at both the State level and the EU level (especially legal certainty, responsibility, due process of law and optimization of fundamental rights). With such a premise, a critical analysis of more than dubious strategies (not always apparently guided by good procedural faith) is carried out. Indeed, these strategies, by action or omission, breach Article 267 TFEU by challenging the fluid articulation of the European legal system (of national and supranational provisions) as well as the correct distribution of the European judicial power (between national and supranational courts) and, as a result, the optimal realization of the European system of fundamental rights. Finally, the paper concludes with proposals that seek to improve supranational judicial dialogue through a true spirit of collaboration supported by a solid training of judges in European law, a positive jurisdictional will (inspired by the favor libertatis principle), a re-dimension of the obligation to submit the preliminary ruling in the cases referred to in Article 267 TFEU and a specific discipline of a double preliminary ruling (both before the national Constitutional Court and before the Court of Justice). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper purports to reflect on the complex issues that arise from the fact that both the European Court of Justice and the national constitutional court have the power to adjudicate on fundamental rights and that, therefore, on the basis of the application of different rules -- the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the national Constitution -- they can occasionally arrive at different decisions. National courts are more and more aware of this dual avenue to challenge national regulations, through the preliminary reference to the ECJ and through the reference to the Constitutional Court of constitutional doubts with regard to national legislation. In consequence, national Constitutional Courts must accommodate into this new scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses those CJEU rulings that admonish the flawed debtor protection of Spain's foreclosure procedures. By insisting on the joint application of both the effectiveness principle and the right to effective judicial protection, the Court makes two related and highly significant points. Firstly, it contributes actively to improving the standard of judicial protection available to mortgage debtors across the EU. Secondly, the CJEU's rulings clarify that with regard to such matters, the principle of member States' procedural autonomy has become rather irrelevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children’s Perfectionism Scale (Oros, 2003) is an argentinian instrument of simple implementation which allows investigating the presence of irrational thought, showed as a self-demanding behavior, and its related perfectionist reactions when those self-demands are not fulfilled as expected. The scale has proved to be a good psychometric instrument when applied in a sample of children attending school between the ages of 8 and 13 years old. However, it has not been developed so far any national scale that provides reference values for the interpretation of the scores. The aim of this paper is to provide the results of such scale standardization, establishing differences based of gender and age. Two thousand two hundred and seventy children completed the scale within the school context. Analysis of variance ANOVA and MANOVA showed higher scores for the boys in the global scale and in the self-demand dimension. With regards to age, it has been found that children aged 8 to 10 show differences in the self-demand dimension showing more irrational self-demands. Therefore, normative values are presented and segregated by gender and age, which represents a significant contribution for clinical practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to international statistics, Latin America young people are shown concerned by the violence climate in their communities. This paper seeks to identify the role of socioemotional competences as a protection factor against aggressive behaviors in young people. 970 middle school students which inhabit in a context of psychosocial risk were inquired. The results showed that risk perception seems to have bigger impact in men, keeping its predictive level, even when it controls socioemotional capabilities, unlike women. These findings are discussed at the light of other studies in which vulnerability of male sector against communitarian violence is highlighted. Likewise, anger management’s role, interpersonal capabilities and the formation of a positive mood with the aim of suggesting social actions targeted towards violence reduction are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relativistic ethical position rejects the possibility of relying on universal moral norms to draw conclusions from moral judgments. It can influence moral behavior, particulary in prosociality and penalization of faults and crimes; empathy has an important mediating role. The objective of the present paper was to test an interaction of variables model (using SEM), being relativism and moral absolutism predictor variables, empathy variable mediator and prosocial behavior and penalization of faults and crimes dependent variables. The variables were measured in a sample of 515 adolescents between 17 and 20 years of age, with a mean age of 17.49 (SD = 72); 166 males and 349 females, belonging to the province of Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results indicated a good fit between the proposed model and the empirical data. It was obtained an X2(1) = 2.55, p = .11, X2(2), gl = 2.55. The following adjustment indexes were also obtained: GFI = .99, AGFI = .97, CFI = .99. Absolutism as a predictor variable had a positive effect on the penalization of crimes and faults. This positive effect was increased by empathy as a mediating variable between both variables. Relativism had a negative effect on the penalization of faults and crimes. The results of the proposed theoretical model confirm the importance of relativism and moral absolutism on the penalization of faults and crimes, and prosocial behavior; with an important mediating role of empathy for the concretion of the moral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze what proportion of variance of prosociality and aggressiveness predicts positive emotions (joy and gratitude, serenity and personal satisfaction), empathy (perspective taking and empathic concern), and social self-efficacy. Since there is abundant research showing that there are significant differences in prosocial behavior and aggression by sex it is that these separate analyzes were performed on children. The sample consisted of 221 children of both sexes (42.2 % males), 10 to 13 years (M = 11.45, DT = .80), middle class, who attended primary schools in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results indicate that both empathy and positive emotions are involved in predicting prosocial behavior in both boys and girls. However, it seems clear that in the case of boy’s empathy has greater predictive power that positive emotions, unlike girls where both variables seem to share similar power. On the other hand, social self-efficacy predicts prosocial behavior only in girls. Finally, the results indicated that both empathy and positive emotions inhibit aggressive behavior in girls only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constitutes a reflection about the pioneer Systematic Desensitization (SD), which bases seem to have been assumed by more popular procedures. Although SD fell into oblivion; its foundations remain as part of new approaches such as the Relational Frame Theory or mindfulness and targets a wide range of disorders besides specific phobias. Theoretically speaking and in comparison, with other exposition techniques, SD contributes in a better way to the reduction of anxiety by: relaxation, calibration of the exposures and a longlasting learning of an alternative response within a varied stimulating context that favors generalization process. Moreover, SD is better accepted by patients and is a flexible procedure with consolidated bases. These serve as sufficient arguments to revalue this technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the decision by the Belgian Cour constitutionnelle n.° 18/2016, 3 February. In this decision, the Court examines the constitutionality of 318 paragraphs first and second, of the Belgian Civil Code, due to the presentation of two referred questions by the Court of First Instance francophone in Brussels. The analysis of this decision in the context of the processes of filiation, lies at the heart of the legal reflection the rights to private and family life, the development of children and the guarantee the preferential nature of the interest of the child in all that it is concerned, and by their connection also the right to equality and non-discrimination among children. The constitutional judgment will be constructed over the jurisprudence of the ECHR regarding the content and scope of rights to private and family life. Moreover and regardless from the media and social impact of the material matter, the facts that substantiate the cause of filiation project this legal analysis on the status of the monarch as head of the Head of State and on the consequences of the abdication in the crown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the main constitutional dimensions of gun possession in the United States of America: individual rights and freedoms, public safety and the distribution of powers between the Federation and the States. Our study focuses mainly in constitutional history and constitutional case law interpretation, especially in Heller and Lopez cases. We conclude that this case law breaks dramatically with the progressive federalization of competencies developed because of the commercial clause. Furthermore, we see no means for a constitutional development in favor of gun control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitutional Court begins to solve the unconstitutionality actions brought against the Rationalization and Sustainability of Local Administration Law. Its analized in this paper the content of the first two sentences (SSTC 41/2016, and 111/2016), which mostly reiterate well-established case law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the constitutional reform process in Chile. This process is characterized by the civil participation in local meetings. This civil initiatives advance to provincial and regional organisms, whose central ideas will be the bases to elaborate and present institutionally to the National Congress the constitutional reform and the modification of the constitutional procedure. The next National Congress, elected at the end of 2017, will decide about the reform proposal given the definitive decision of the citizenship by a referendum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of the Revista de Derecho Público, published in Spain between 1932 and 1936, in the field of Constitutional Law and of the Political Thought in this country; it analyses the origin of the review, its contents and the academic and political situation in which it was published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]