scholarly journals De la Constitución "irreformable" a la reforma constitucional "exprés"

2012 ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Juan Fernando López Aguilar
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Title X ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
Dual Expression ◽  
The Eu

Desde la perspectiva del Derecho constitucional comparado, la Constitución española de 1978 (CE) pasa por ser una de las más rígidas. Su Título X prevé dos procedimientos de reforma caracterizados ambos por la exigencia de amplias mayorías parlamentarias (3/5, reforma simplificada; 2/3, revisión agravada). La revisión agravada se cualifica por la exigencia de una doble expresión de mayoría de 2/3, mediando disolución de las Cortes y nuevas elecciones, además de un referendum preceptivo de ratificación. Significativamente, la CE excluye expresamente la iniciativa popular en el procedimiento de reforma. Todo ello explica, en términos jurídicos, las enormes dificultades con que se ha abierto paso en España el debate sobre la modificación de la CE. De este modo, en 35 años sólo ha tenido lugar dos veces (1992 y 2011), en contextos muy distintos, pero coincidentes en su conexión con las coordenadas impuestas por los compromisos de España con la UE.From the viewpoint of comparative constitutional law, the 1978 Spanish Constitution happens to be one of the most rigid. Its Title X provides with two constitutional reform procedures, both characterized by the need of wide parliamentary majorities (3/5, simplified reform; 2/3, aggravated review). The latter qualifies by the requirement of a dual expression of a majority of 2/3, with dissolution of Parliament followed by new elections, as well as with a mandatory referendum for ratification. Significantly, the Spanish Constitution expressly excludes the popular initiative in the process of reform. This explains, in legal terms, the enormous difficulties with which the debate on amending the Constitution has been raised in Spain, so that it has only occurred twice in 35 years (1992 and 2011), in very different contexts, but coinciding in its connection with the coordinates imposed by Spain’s commitments with the EU.

Taming the Incumbency Advantage: Innovative Constitutional Designs from the "South"

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adem Abebe
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Incumbency Advantage ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
Design Options

This Discussion Paper was drafted for an International IDEA webinar on Taming the Incumbency Advantage (25 May 2021), the first of a series on innovative constitutional design options. It has been revised and updated to reflect contributions from webinar participants: Professor Juvence F. Ramasy (Madagascar), Professor Ridwanul Hoque (Bangladesh) and Professor Gabriel Negretto (Latin America), among others. The webinar series seeks to identify, discuss, profile and showcase the ‘hidden treasures’ of innovative constitutional/institutional design options—including from the Global ‘South’—with potential to help tackle emerging and recurrent challenges facing societies around the world. The goal is not to promote any specific institutional design, but rather to enrich conversations about constitutional reform processes and share comparative constitutional law and practice insights among academic and practitioners’ communities.

scholarly journals Democracia, representación y participación ciudadana, a la búsqueda de un equilibrio que la Constitución no logró // Democracy, Representation and Citizen Participation, in search of a balance that 1978 Constitution did not achieve

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (101) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Díaz Revorio
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Popular Initiative

Resumen:A la hora de regular el modelo de democracia y los mecanismos de participaciónciudadana, la Constitución de 1978 fue conformista y prudente. Estableció un modelo de democracia representativa basado en la posibilidad de elegir representantes cada cuatro años, pero sin especiales fórmulas de control y exigencias de responsabilidad política hacia ellos. Por lo demás, estableció una regulación restrictiva de los instrumentos de democracia directa y semidirecta, en especial del referéndum y de la iniciativa legislativa popular.Cuatro décadas después, las exigencias ciudadanas se han intensificado, generándose un cierto déficit de confianza entre electores y representantes. El trabajo analiza los principales déficits de la Constitución de 1978 en la materia, realizando varias propuestas para mejorar la calidad democrática, que en buena parte implican una amplia reforma constitucional: eliminar las restricciones constitucionales del referéndum y la iniciativa popular, incorporar vías de exigencia de responsabilidad y rendición de cuentas, limitar los mandatos del presidente, asegurar la democracia interna de los partidos políticos, eliminar algunas prerrogativas de los parlamentarios, entre otros.Abstract:When regulating the model of democracy and the mechanisms of citizen participation, the Constitution of 1978 was conformist and prudent. It established a model of representative democracy based on the possibility of electing representatives every four years, but without special formulas of control and demands of political responsibility towards them. Moreover, it established a restrictive regulation of the instruments of direct and semi-direct democracy, especially the referendum and popular legislative initiative. Four decades later, citizen demands have intensified, generating a certain lack of trust between voters and representatives. The paper analyzes the main deficits of the 1978 Constitution in the matter, making several proposals to improve the democratic quality, which in large part imply a broad constitutional reform: eliminate the constitutional restrictions of the referendum and popular initiative, incorporate channels of exigency of responsibility and accountability, limiting the president’s mandates, ensuring the internal democracy of political parties, eliminating some prerogatives of parliamentarians, among others. Summary:1. Representative democracy, direct democracy institutions, and citizen participation in Spanish Constitution: context and conditioning factors. 2. Some citizen participation institutions. 2.1. Referendum. 2.2. Popular initiative of Law. 2.3. The open council. 2.4. Participation in Administration. 2.5. The jury and others. 3. Four decades later, a crisis of confidence? 4. The task of democratic regeneration: good governance, participation, trust. 5. Development and legal reforms. 6. A task always pending: constitutional reform. 7. Conclusions

Constituting Scotland

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Elliot Bulmer
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Constitutional Thought ◽  
Scottish Government ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Constitutional Tradition

The rise of the Scottish national movement has been accompanied by the emergence of distinct constitutional ideas, claims and arguments, which may affect constitutional design in any future independent Scotland. Drawing on the fields of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, and Scottish studies, this book examines the historical trajectory of the constitutional question in Scotland and analyses the influences and constraints on the constitutional imagination of the Scottish national movement, in terms of both the national and international contexts. It identifies an emerging Scottish nationalist constitutional tradition that is distinct from British constitutional orthodoxies but nevertheless corresponds to broad global trends in constitutional thought and design. Much of the book is devoted to the detailed exposition and comparative analysis of the draft constitution for an independent Scotland published by the SNP in 2002. The 2014 draft interim Constitution presented by the Scottish Government is also examined, and the two texts are contrasted to show the changing nature of the SNP’s constitutional policy: from liberal-procedural constitutionalism in pursuit of a more inclusive polity, to a more populist and majoritarian constitutionalism.

The judicial review of legality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie R. Davidson ◽  
Leora Bilsky
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
New Model ◽  
Substantive Content ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Relationship Of

In comparative constitutional law, the various models of judicial review require courts to examine either the substantive content of legislation or the procedure through which legislation was passed. This article offers a new model of judicial review – ‘the judicial review of legality’ – in which courts review instead the forms of law. The forms of law are the ways in which law communicates its norms to the persons who are meant to comply with them, and they include generality, clarity, avoidance of contradiction, and non-retroactivity. Drawing on recent writing on the jurisprudence of Lon Fuller, this article argues that Fuller’s linking of the forms of law to a relationship of reciprocity between government and governed can ground judicial review and that such review provides a missing language to address important legislative pathologies. Moreover, through an analysis of recent developments in Israel, the article demonstrates that the judicial review of legality targets some of the key legal techniques of contemporary processes of democratic erosion which other models of judicial review struggle to address, all the while re-centring judicial review on the lawyer’s craftsmanship and thus reducing problems of court legitimacy. This article therefore offers a distinctive and normatively appealing way for courts to act in troubling times.

scholarly journals Aniversarios con luces y sombras: Constitución española, integración europea y ‘defectos estructurales’ de la UE // Anniversaries with Mixed Feelings: the Spanish Constitution, European Integration, and the «Genetic Defects» of the EU (1957-2017 and 1978-2018).

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 1139
Author(s):  
Antonio Carlos Pereira Menaut
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Constitutional Rule ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Mixed Feelings ◽  
Structural Failures ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Resumen:En conjunto puede decirse que tanto la UE como la Constitución española de 1978 han sido grandes éxitos que ahora celebran sus aniversarios, pero ambas tienen problemas que deben ser resueltos. En el caso de la UE, parece haber un puñado de defectos estructurales difíciles de eliminar y que dificultan mucho solucionar el déficit democrático y la plena constitucionalización de la Unión. Los mismos defectos estructurales plantean la cuestión de hasta dónde puede llegar la integración europea, manteniendo, al mismo tiempo, la integridad constitucional española, o al menos no amenazándola. Nos inclinamos por abandonar el método funcionalista, pasar a un tipo de gobierno plenamente político y constitucional, y encaminarnos hacia un federalismo pluralista, más bien dual y del tipo del americano.Summary:I. By way of an introduction. II. Some points to start with. III. On federalism, once again. IV. Has european constitutionalism some structural failures? A. Constitutionalism and the functionalist method. B. The impact of the insufficient EU democracy on Spanish constitutionalism. C. Is the EU a pluralistic, multilevel political community composed of smaller, yet real, political communities? D. Globalisation, European constitutionalism, and Spanish constitutionalism. V. How much European integration is the Spanish constitution apt to admit of?Abstract:On the whole, one may safely say that both the EU and the 1978 Spanish Constitution have been runaway successes that are now about celebrating their anniversaries, yet both have problems that should be addressed to. In the case of the EU, there seems to exist a handful of structural failures that are not easy to remove and make very difficult to cope with the democratic deficit and the full constitutionalising of the Union. The same inbuilt failures pose the question of how far may European integration go while at the same time maintaining, or not menacing, the integrity of the Spanish Constitution. Our leanings go towards abandoning the functionalist method, embracing a fully political, constitutional rule, and making for a pluralistic, rather dual, American-like, kind of federalism.

Facing Democratic Crisis in the EU: the New European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147
Author(s):  
Diego González Cadenas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Eu

For some scholars, the possibilities for diminishing the European democratic deficit and the Union’s legitimacy crisis are intertwined with the creation of a European demos and a European public sphere, that, in turn, can create a European civil solidarity. The European citizens’ initiative, which has recently been re-regulated, was precisely designed to help to solve these problems. As we shall see, the new Regulation includes a whole series of positive technical issues that will improve the usage of the mechanism. However, the European citizens’ initiative is still far from being a popular initiative and, therefore, to contribute to diminish the perception of distance between institutions and citizens of the EU or promoting the creation of a European demos. In this vein, after an overview of the European citizens’ initiative new Regulation main innovations and weaknesses, I will present a set of measures in order to achieve a more effective development of the mechanism.

scholarly journals Encuesta sobre nación y supranacionalidad

2021 ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Benito Aláez Corral ◽  
Paloma Biglino Campos ◽  
Roberto Blanco Valdés ◽  
Josep M.ª Castella Andreu ◽  
Alberto López Basaguren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Law Professors

En esta encuesta un grupo de profesores de Derecho Constitucional contestan un conjunto de preguntas sobre el concepto de nación, el papel que ha desempeñado tal concepto en el desarrollo histórico del constitucionalismo y en el desarrollo de los movimientos nacionalistas, y la relación actual que mantiene con la idea de constitución; sobre el significado del término «nación» en la constitución española, y el del término «nacionalidades»; y, finalmente, sobre la idea de supranacionalidad que define el proceso de integración europea y su relación con el concepto de nación.In this academic survey a group of Constitutional Law Professors answer some questions about the concept of nation, its role in the historical evolution of constitutionalism and of nationalist movements, and its relation nowadays with the idea of constitution; about the meaning of the term «nation» in the Spanish constitution and of the term «nationalities»; and finally about the idea of supranationality that defines the European integration process and its relationship with the concept of nation.

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