scholarly journals Constitution-Building Bodies and the Sequencing of Public Participation A Comparison of Seven Empirical Cases

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abrak Saati
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Rules Of Procedure ◽  
Constitution Building

Constitution-building is one of the most salient aspects of transitional processes, from war to peace or from authoritarian rule, in terms of establishing and strengthening democracy. This paper is part of a research project that aims to identify the circumstances under which constitution-building can strengthen democracy after violent conflict and during transitions from authoritarian rule. Previous research has indicated that the actions and relations of political elites from opposing political parties when making the constitution has bearing on the state of democracy post promulgation, but that the careful sequencing of public participation in the process can be of relevance as well. This paper conducts a systematic analysis of seven empirical cases and focuses the investigation to the type of constitution-building body that has been employed and to during what stage of the process the general public have been invited to participate. It concludes that popularly elected constitution-building bodies tend to include a broad range of political parties and that they, additionally, tend to have rules of procedure that encourage compromise and negotiation, whereas appointed bodies are dominated by one single party or one single person and do not have rules of procedure that necessitate compromise. The paper also discusses the potential need for political elites to have negotiated a number of baseline constitutional principles prior to inviting the general public to get involved in the constitution-building process, and concludes that this is an area of research in need of further in-depth empirical case-studies. 

scholarly journals Participatory constitution-building in Fiji: A comparison of the 1993–1997 and the 2012–2013 processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 260-276
Author(s):  
Abrak Saati
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Participatory Processes ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
Constitution Building ◽  
Established Norm

Abstract Participatory constitution-building during times of transition from war to peace or from authoritarian to democratic rule is quickly becoming an established norm. This article analyzes and compares two Fijian participatory processes; the 1993–1997 process and the 2012–2013 process. The purpose of doing so is to understand the extent to which these processes were genuinely participatory in terms of extending the Fijians’ possibility of influencing the content of the constitution. The article concludes that these processes were merely symbolic in terms of public participation; that there is not much that public participation can achieve in and by itself; and that the sequencing of public participation and secluded political elite negotiations in the context of constitution-building during times of transition is a field of research that is in dire need of further systematic analysis, particularly as an increasing amount of post-conflict and post-authoritarian states endeavor participatory constitution-building.

Practical Considerations for Public Participation in Constitution-Building: What, When, How and Why?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin C. Houlihan ◽  
Sumit Bisarya
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Policy Paper ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Constitution Building ◽  
Definition Of

Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a range of benefits—from improving individual behaviours and attitudes to democracy to shaping elite bargaining dynamics, improving constitutional content, and strengthening outcomes for democracy and peace. Yet it is not well understood whether and how public participation can achieve these ends. Much of what we think we know about participatory constitution-building remains theoretical. No two processes are alike, and there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a ‘participatory process’. Yet national decision-makers must contend with the key question: What does a robust participation process look like for a particular country, at a particular time, in a particular context? What considerations and principles can be derived from comparative experience to guide decisions? This Policy Paper unpacks the forms and functions of public participation across different stages of the constitution-building process and considers the ways in which public engagement can influence the dynamics of the process, including political negotiations.

A Call for Public Participation in the Treaty-making Process in South Africa: What can South Africa Learn from the Kingdom of Thailand?

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Retselisitsoe Phooko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Future Situation ◽  
Rules Of Procedure ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Personal Jurisdiction

On 2 August 2002 South Africa signed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof, thus effectively recognising and accepting the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal. Among the cases received by the SADC Tribunal was a complaint involving allegations of human rights violations by the government of Zimbabwe. It ruled that the government of Zimbabwe had violated human rights. Consequently, Zimbabwe mounted a politico-legal challenge against the existence of the Tribunal. This resulted in the review of the role and functions of the Tribunal in 2011 which resulted in the Tribunal being barred from receiving new cases or proceeding with the cases that were already before it. Furthermore, on 18 August 2014, the SADC Summit adopted and signed the 2014 Protocol on the Tribunal in the SADC which disturbingly limits personal jurisdiction by denying individual access to the envisaged Tribunal, thus reducing it to an inter-state judicial forum. This article critically looks at the decision of 18 August 2014, specifically the legal implications of the Republic of South Africa’s signing of the 2014 Protocol outside the permissible procedure contained in article 37 of the SADC Protocol on the Tribunal. It proposes that South Africa should correct this democratic deficit by introducing public participation in treaty-making processes in order to prevent a future situation where the executive unilaterally withdraws from an international treaty that is meant to protect human rights at a regional level. To achieve this, this article makes a comparative study between South Africa and the Kingdom of Thailand to learn of any best practices from the latter.

Remedying Diploma Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bovens ◽  
Anchrit Wille
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Political Skills ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
European Unification ◽  
Nationalist Parties

How can we remedy some of the negative effects of diploma democracy? First, we discuss the rise of nationalist parties. They have forced the mainstream political parties to pay more attention to the negative effects of immigration, globalization, and European unification. Next we discuss strategies to mitigate the dominance of the well-educated in politics. We start with remedies that address differences in political skills and knowledge. Then we discuss the deliberative arenas. Many democratic reforms contain an implicit bias towards the well-educated. A more realistic citizenship model is required. This can be achieved by bringing the ballot back in, for example, by merging deliberative and more direct forms of democracy through deliberative polling, corrective referendums, and more compulsory voting. The chapter ends with a discussion of ways to make the political elites more inclusive and responsive, such as descriptive representation, sortition, and plebiscitary elements.

scholarly journals Fungsi Partai Politik dalam Pendidikan Politik Masyarakat

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-169
Author(s):  
I Gede Wijaya Kusuma ◽  
Ida Ayu Putu Widiati ◽  
Luh Putu Suryani
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Political Education ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Low Levels

One of the functions of political parties in legislation is as a means of political education and socialization. Political parties are obliged to disseminate their political discourse to the public. However, in its implementation in the field, there are still political parties that have not maximized their function in providing political education to the public. This study discusses (1) What is the function of political parties in providing public political education and its influence on public participation in general elections? (2) What are the implications of political parties that do not implement public political education? This research was conducted by using normative legal research methods, primary and secondary sources of legal materials, methods of collecting legal materials using statute records and others, and analyzing legal materials using descriptive analysis methods. The results of this study indicate that according to Law No.2 of 2011, one of the functions of political parties is to provide political education as a means of education for the wider community to become Indonesian citizens who are aware of their rights and obligations in public. The importance of political education carried out by political parties to the maximum and in its actual essence will be able to have a very good impact on society, which means that people are able to become people who are aware of their obligations in giving choices to political parties or candidates who are true and sincere in terms of welfare. people. The implication of political parties that do not carry out public political education is to cause a decrease in public participation in general elections and this will also lead to apparently unhealthy political conditions and allow high abstention due to low levels of public participation.

scholarly journals Das Verwaltungsrecht der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eberhard Schmidt-Aßmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Democratic Ideals

US administrative law forms a body of law that is considered to be particularly ‘political’. From an early stage on, US administrative law has endeavoured to provide instruments and procedures that foster and implement democratic ideals and concepts; consequently, US ‘freedom of information’ and the standards of public participation in the rulemaking process have often served as a model for foreign administrative law systems. Nevertheless, the agency actions have constantly been questioned and disputed. This book offers a systematic analysis of the constitutional foundations as well as the procedures, of liability and judicial review in administrative matters, and it examines the legitimacy of the American ‘administrative state’.

scholarly journals Fra eneveldets scene mot representative forsamlinger: visitasen som offentlig arena i Norge, ca. 1750–1850

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 183-211
Author(s):  
Trond Bjerkås
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Common People ◽  
Lay Members ◽  
The Common ◽  
Control Apparatus ◽  
The Church

From the Stage of State Power to Representative Assembly?: The Visitation as a Public Arena, 1750–1850In the eighteenth century, the bishops’ visitations to dioceses constituted an important part of the control apparatus of the Church and the absolutist state. The article examines visitations in Norway in terms of public arenas, where the common people interacted with Church officials. During the period 1750 to 1850, the visitations were gradually transformed from arenas in which the state manifested its power towards a largely undifferentiated populace, to meeting places that resembled representative assemblies with both clerical and common lay members. Thus, it adapted to new forms of public participation established by the reforms of national and local government in the first half of the nineteenth century. At the same time, the process amounted to an elitization, because a few representatives replaced of the congregation as a whole. It is also argued that parish churches in the eighteenth century functioned as general public forums with a number of other functions in addition to worship, such as being places of trade and festivities. This seems to change in the nineteenth century, when churches became more exclusively religious arenas. The transition can be seen in the context of new forms of participation in Church matters. Many clerics wanted greater participation by sections of the commoners, in order to strengthen control in moral and religious matters.

Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation in Parliamentary Democracies

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
SONA NADENICHEK GOLDER
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Electoral Coalitions ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Coalition Size ◽  
Government Coalition

Political parties that wish to exercise executive power in parliamentary democracies are typically forced to enter some form of coalition. Parties can either form a pre-electoral coalition prior to election or they can compete independently and form a government coalition afterwards. While there is a vast literature on government coalitions, little is known about pre-electoral coalitions. A systematic analysis of these coalitions using a new dataset constructed by the author and presented here contains information on all potential pre-electoral coalition dyads in twenty industrialized parliamentary democracies from 1946 to 1998. Pre-electoral coalitions are more likely to form between ideologically compatible parties. They are also more likely to form when the expected coalition size is large (but not too large) and the potential coalition partners are similar in size. Finally, they are more likely to form if the party system is ideologically polarized and the electoral rules are disproportional.

Articulating the Pueblo Cubano: Women’s Politicization and Productivity in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959 to 1969

2021 ◽  
pp. 000312242110608
Author(s):  
Jen Triplett
Keyword(s):  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Social Difference ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Household Tasks ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Downstream Effects ◽  
Cultural Constraints

How do political actors forge social solidarity across preexisting axes of social difference? This article investigates how political elites undertaking projects of political articulation—understood as linking together diverse constituencies to create integrated political blocs—contend with preexisting cultural constraints embedded in the social fabric. I do so by tracing how the post-1959 Cuban regime attempted to build a population-wide revolutionary identity despite persisting cultural understandings of women primarily as apolitical housewives. Through systematic analysis of a large corpus of state discourse in the form of speeches and women’s magazines, I show how regime leaders negotiated, with varying degrees of success over time, the cultural constraints that gender posed to their unifying project. Ultimately, the regime’s initiatives to politicize women through including them in mass campaigns and radicalizing their traditional household tasks were relatively successful, but cultural backlash against women’s increasing presence in the labor force prompted the institutionalization of a gendered division of labor in the economy that traditionalized their initially radical entry into the workplace. Analyzing how political elites confront and manage social differences within political blocs promises to contribute to a better understanding of the political production of social solidarity and its downstream effects on categorical inequalities.

Empirical Research on Constitutional Drafting Processes Following War or Internal Disturbances in Iraq, Tunisia, Kosovo and Sudan

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-339
Author(s):  
Habiba Abubaker
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Procedure ◽  
State Of Affairs

Constitutional drafting is a complex procedure. Every year, nonetheless, the world witnesses the birth of several constitutions. The drafting of constitutions, however, differs greatly from one to the other; this depends mainly on the state of affairs in each State and the causes behind the need for a new constitution. In post-conflict States, the success of the constitutional drafting process depends on various factors including, inter alia, the inclusiveness of the process; transparency; equal representation in the bodies involved in the drafting; public participation; as well as the role the international community plays. All of these factors have great implications on the success, or failure, of not only the constitutional drafting process, but also on the whole peace-building process in post-conflict societies. In other words, a successful constitutional drafting process must be nationally-led and owned while targeting the root causes of the conflict. While it may be aided by international components, the process must reflect the geo-ideological differences within a State, whether cultural, tribal, ethnic or religious. This article gives an empirical account of the constitutional drafting processes adopted as a consequence of internal conflict in Iraq, Tunisia, Kosovo, and Sudan. The paper discusses the general drafting process; the bodies involved; procedural shortcomings; and any international influence.

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