The Development of Initiatives and Municipal Referendums in Germany

2022 ◽  
pp. 41-65
Author(s):  
Christophe Emmanuel Premat
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Approval Rate ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Citizen Initiatives ◽  
Political Decisions

Direct democracy offers possibilities for citizens to influence political decisions especially at the local level. In Germany, the local political systems have been affected by the introduction of direct democratic tools such as citizen initiatives and local referendums since the Reunification. The state legislations defined new conditions for citizen initiatives and municipal referendums with a minimum number of valid signatures for initiatives and a minimum approval rate for referendums. The chapter evaluates the practice of local initiatives and municipal referendums in Germany and examines the routinization of these tools in local politics.

From Local Activism to Local Politics: The Case of Moscow

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yana Gorokhovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Private Realm ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Local Problems ◽  
Training And Support

Conventional wisdom holds that civil society is a sphere of activity separate from the state and the private realm. Due to a combination of historical, developmental and institutional factors, Russian civil society today is dominated by the state. While not all interactions with the state are seen as harmful, scholars acknowledge that most politically oriented or oppositional non-governmental organizations today face difficult conditions in Russia. In response to the restrictions on civil society and the unresponsive nature of Russia’s hybrid authoritarian regime, some civil society actors in Moscow have made the transition into organized politics at the local level. This transition was motivated by their desire to solve local problems and was facilitated by independent electoral initiatives which provided timely training and support for opposition political candidates running in municipal elections. Once elected, these activists turned municipal deputies are able to perform some of the functions traditionally ascribed to civil society, including enforcing greater accountability and transparency from the state and defending the interest of citizens.

8. Referendums

UK Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 171-191
Author(s):  
Andrew Blick
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Political Decisions

This chapter starts with a definition of the term ‘referendum’. A referendum is a means of involving the public in political decisions via voting on specific issues such as leaving the European Union. The chapter focuses on the use of referendums at the local level. It sets out the key features of a referendum. Who is allowed to vote in referendums? What sort of questions are put to voters? Under want circumstances should a referendum take place on specific issues? What are the risks associated with holding a referendum? The chapter also looks at regulations surrounding referendums in the UK. The theoretical considerations that the chapter examines are the fact that a referendum subject tends to be controversial, the relationship between referendums and direct democracy and the implications of the results.

Los referendos regional y local en el Estado Autonómico. Sus bases y límites constitucionales

2013 ◽  
pp. 97-138
Author(s):  
Antonio IBAÑEZ MACÍAS
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Regional Power ◽  
Organizational Autonomy

LABURPENA: Lan honetan, Espainiako estatu autonomikoan tokiko nahiz eskualdeko erreferendumak egiteko dauden aukerak eta mugak aztertzen dira. Erreferendumaren funtsezko alderdiei dagokienez, Konstituzio Auzitegiaren doktrinatik aldentzen diren ondorio batzuk aurkezten dira. Bereizketa zehatzagoa egiten da herri-galdeketaren (demokrazia parte-hartzaileko metodoa) eta erreferendumaren (demokrazia erdizuzeneko metodoa) artean. Tokiko eta eskualdeko erreferendumen oinarri konstituzionalak udalerrien eta autonomia-erkidegoen antolakuntzaren autonomian jasota daude. Eskualdeetako erreferendumari muga bat jartzen dio Konstituzioak, Estatuak baitu erreferendum bidezko herri galdeketen deialdia baimentzeko eskumena. Eta hori modu murriztailean interpretatu behar da. Beste muga bat ere badago: auzi publikoetan parte hartzeko funtsezko eskubidea garatzeko, lege organikoa behar da. Agindu hori ere modu murriztailean interpretatu behar da. Bestalde, tokiko erreferendumak muga konstituzional hauek ditu: Konstituzioaren 81.1 artikuluak agindutakoa, 23.1 artikuluarekin lotuta; tokiko araubidearen oinarriak arautzeko Estatuaren eskumena (Konstituzioaren 149.1.18 artikulua); eta tokiko araubideari buruzko eskumen autonomikoa. Horrez gain, Konstituzioak ez du finkatzen eskualdeko zein tokiko demokrazia erdizuzenaren eredurik; edonola ere, Estatu-ereduaren oso antzekoa da, legegileak hala nahi izan duelako. RESUMEN: En este trabajo se estudian las posibilidades y límites constitucionales del referéndum local y del referéndum regional en el Estado autonómico español. Se mantienen unas conclusiones que se apartan de doctrina del Tribunal Constitucional en sus aspectos esenciales. Se introduce una distinción más precisa entre consulta popular, como instituto de democracia participativa, y referéndum, como instituto de democracia semidirecta. Las bases constitucionales del referéndum local y regional están en la autonomía organizativa de los municipios y Comunidades Autónomas. El referéndum regional encuentra sus límites constitucionales en la competencia del Estado para autorizar la convocatoria de consultas populares por vía de referéndum, la cual debe ser interpretada de manera restrictiva. Otro límite es la habilitación a la ley orgánica para que desarrolle el derecho fundamental a participar en los asuntos públicos. Ese mandato también debe interpretarse de manera restrictiva. Por el contrario el referéndum local tiene los siguientes límites constitucionales: el mandato del artículo 81.1 CE, en relación con el art. 23.1; la competencia estatal para regular las bases del régimen local (art. 149.1.18 CE) y la competencia autonómica sobre régimen local. Por otro lado, la Constitución no predetermina el modelo de democracia semidirecta a nivel regional y a nivel local. Pero ese modelo ha resultado ser muy similar al estatal por voluntad del legislador. ABSTRACT: In this paper we study the constitutional possibilities and limits of local and regional referendums in the Spanish regional state. We keep conclusions that deviate from Constitutional Court doctrine in its essential aspects. We introduce a more precise distinction between popular consultation, as participatory democracy institute, and referendum, as semi-direct democracy institute. The constitutional bases of local and regional referendum are in the organizational autonomy of municipalities and autonomous regions. The regional referendum has constitutional limits on the power of the State to authorize the call for popular consultations through referendum, which must be interpreted strictly. Another limit is the empowerment of the organic Act to develop the fundamental right to participate in public affairs. That limit should also be interpreted restrictively. By contrast, the local referendum has the following constitutional limits: the empowerment of article 81.1 CE in conjunction with art. 23.1 CE, the state power to regulate the bases of local government (art. 149.1.18 EC) and the regional power on local government. Moreover, the Constitution does not predetermine the model of semi-direct democracy at regional and local level. But this model has proved to be very similar to the state level because the legislator so decided.

Different Levels of Government, Different Levels of Political Competence?

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-260
Author(s):  
Mark Chou
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Different Levels

ABSTRACTIn federal political systems such as the United States, there has long existed a view that citizens should be more politically competent at the local level than at the federal level of government. Recent studies have challenged this view. This article argues that these findings may reflect only one part of the broader picture. Through a review of two recent studies, I contend that research in this realm must consider more than only the level of government. Odd as this sounds, assumptions about varying levels of political competence at different levels of government have always been premised on the notion that local-level politics is smaller and less complex than federal-level politics. However, when local politics takes place today against the backdrop of small villages and towns as well as in large cities, these are assumptions that must be reevaluated.

scholarly journals Images of Nature as Designs for Czech Post-Socialist Society

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Müller
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
Environmental Conflict ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
Citizen Initiatives

The environmental conflict about the construction of a large cement factory in Tmaň, a small town South of Prague, bordering the nature protected area of the Česky Kras, embodies some of the central features of post-socialist society: the privatisation of state-owned firms by foreign capital, the emergence of citizen initiatives, the formation of new democratic structures on the local level, and the creation of a public sphere through independent media. Nature conservation and limited resource use entered as new elements into the debates of opposing political fractions that had previously turned around concepts of planned and market economy. Differences of worldviews and projects for society that went beyond the divide into capitalist or socialist ideas took shape and became visible. The article analyses the arguments of the proponents and opponents of the project and examine what ideas about society the images of nature recreated and nature preserved evoke. It then shows in what larger historical and political context these ideas inscribe themselves and how they are negotiated and transformed in the current local political context. Key words: post-socialist society, privatization, conservation of nature, images of nature, local politics, Czech Republic. 

Spatial and Institutional Analysis of the Voivodships Expenditure on Culture in the Years 2003 – 2015

e-Finanse ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Adam Mateusz Suchecki
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Location Quotient ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
National Heritage

AbstractFollowing the completion of the process of decentralisation of public administration in Poland in 2003, a number of tasks implemented previously by the state authorities were transferred to the local level. One of the most significant changes to the financing and management methods of the local authorities was the transfer of tasks related to culture and national heritage to the set of tasks implemented by local governments. As a result of the decentralisation process, the local government units in Poland were given significant autonomy in determining the purposes of their budgetary expenditures on culture. At the same time, they were obliged to cover these expenses from their own revenues.This paper focuses on the analysis of expenditures on culture covered by the voivodship budgets, taking into consideration the structure of cultural institutions by their types, between 2003-2015. The location quotient (LQ) was applied to two selected years (2006 and 2015) to illustrate the diversity of expenditures on culture in individual voivodships.

Парламент или Советы: российский выбор 1918 года

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Игорь А. Исаев
Keyword(s):  
Legal History ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
The State ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Political Form ◽  
The Revolution

The article deals with one of the most important issues in the Soviet political and legal history. The choice of the political form that was established almost immediately after the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Revolution of 1917, meant a change in the direction of development of the state. Councils became an alternative to the parliamentary republic. The article analyzes the basic principles of both political systems and the reasons for such a choice. The author emphasizes transnational political direction of the so-called “direct action” which took place not only in Russia, but also in several European countries.

PANCASILA DAN IDENTITAS KE-INDONESIA-AN: Sebuah Catatan Krisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Muchid Albintani
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
The State ◽  
The Future ◽  
Electoral Regime ◽  
National Consensus

The term there is no legislation under development of Pancasila as the basis of the state, but theposition of Pancasila is unshakeable. The anti-Pancasila attitude must also be anti-diversity that can live as a nation and a state [national crises]. Without affirmation or not in the legislation, Pancasila is the ‘foundation and ideology of the state’. Based on the fact that there is irrelevant when the question arises, whether Pancasila is still needed as the basis of state and nation, or is Pancasila still needed as a source of national law that explicitly needs to be affirmed into the1945 Constitution and the sanctions of Pancasila tabulatively? This paper is an assertion of [reinforcement] of the Pencasila as an ideology into the 1945 Constitution or not, highly dependent on the winning electoral regime and the ‘election-winning political party’. Pancasila as ‘the foundation and ideology of the state’ becomes the determinant of ‘as close as the regime of the results of the practice of direct democracy’. Therefore, the affirmation of the essentials in building a lasting and harmonious life of fellow children of the nation in the future. Recognizing the reintroduction of the Indonesia’s identity of essence of Pancasila as the ideology of nation and state is based on ‘national consensus’. This awareness is resilient, so that a country that has been established for more than 73 years does not experience an identity crisis. 

Impact of Elected Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj in Physical and Financial and Business Assets Development of Rural Women: A Study among the Rural Women’s of Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu[1]

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalaichelvi Sivaraman ◽  
Rengasamy Stalin
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Panchayati Raj

This research paper is the part of Research Project entitled “Impact of Elected Women Representatives in the Life and Livelihood of the Women in Rural Areas: With Special Reference to Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu” funded by University of Madras under UGC-UPE Scheme.The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India were made by the government to strengthen the position of women and to create a local-level legal foundation for direct democracy for women in both rural and urban areas. The representation for women in local bodies through reservation policies amendment in Constitution of India has stimulated the political participation of women in rural areas. However, when it’s comes to the argument of whether the women reservation in Panchayati Raj helps or benefits to the life and livelihood development of women as a group? The answer is hypothetical because the studies related to the impact of women representatives of Panchayati Raj in the life and livelihood development of women was very less. Therefore, to fill the gap in existing literature, the present study was conducted among the rural women of Tiruvannamalai district to assess the impact of elected women representatives in the physical and financial and business development of the women in rural areas. The findings revealed that during the last five years because of the women representation in their village Panjayati Raj, the Physical Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (55.8%) and Highly (23.4%) and the Financial and Business Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (60.4%) and Highly (18.7%).

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