Referendums

The UK Supreme Court's judgment in the Reference by the Lord Advocate of Devolution Issues under Paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 [2022] UKSC 31 not only confirms that holding a second referendum on Scottish independence is outside the Scottish Parliament's legislative competence but raises a series of important constitutional issues. These include the constitutional status of referendums, the importance of sub-state democracy and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament. Whilst the Court gives referendums more significance than they were previously thought to have, its reasoning invoking democracy and on parliamentary sovereignty suggests it has adopted a vision of the UK constitution in which UK-level authority is privileged over sub-state authority, to the detriment of subsidiarity and devolved autonomy.

Sažetak Polarizirano izvještavanje dominantnih medija u Crnoj Gori posljedica je povijesne potrebe za veličanjem vladara, odnosno njegovih oponenata, ali i bipolarnosti zasnovane na podjeli na prozapadno orijentirane Crnogorce i, na drugoj strani, tradicionalno proistočne Srbe. Nakon nezavisnosti Crne Gore ranije uspostavljena dihotomija na suvereniste i unioniste, zamijenjena je podjelom na dio javnosti koji je uz vlast i na one koji su njezini kritičari. Tako su opredijeljeni i mediji -TV stanice, novine i on-line portali. Istraživačko pitanje je ono može li se od takvih medija očekivati da služe javnosti te da ispravno brinu o kulturnom i povijesnom identitetu, posebno javni servis TVCG, čija je to zakonska obaveza. Na primjerima diskursa tiskanih medija i novinarskog "uklona" TV stanica, bit će ispitivano izvještavanje koje generira ideološka matrica.

In recent decades the use of referendums to settle major constitutional questions has increased dramatically. Addressing this phenomenon as a case study in the relationship between democracy and constitutional sovereignty, this article has two aims. The first is to argue that these constitutional referendums are categorically different from ordinary, legislative referendums, and that this has important implications for theories of constitutional sovereignty. Secondly, the article suggests that the power of these constitutional referendums to re-order sovereign relations raises significant normative questions surrounding the appropriateness of their use. The article engages with these normative questions, enquiring whether the recent turn in republican political theory towards deliberative democracy may offer a model through which sufficiently democratic referendum processes can be constructed.

This study analyzes the voting behavior of the interviewees who voted for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the May 14 and 28, 2023 presidential elections on the basis of data obtained through in-depth interviews. Findings from in-depth interviews reveal that negative partisanship and affective polarization are evident in opposition voters' preference for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The findings show that voters do not have a strong emotional bond with Kılıçdaroğlu, but voted for him out of a desire to change the current government. The study sheds light on the emotional and identity aspects of political leadership and voter behavior during the presidential election process.

How, and to what extent (if any), does voter disengagement among voters in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged parliamentary constituencies in Anglophonic liberal democracies contribute to the rise in the contemporary political right and far-right as an electoral force? Does a positive correlation between decreasing voter turnout in constituencies with the highest levels of socioeconomic deprivation and an increase of the first-preference vote share of right-wing and far-right candidates indicate that there is a higher propensity for working-class voter disengagement to lead to a consequential rise in far-right political parties and independents? This paper seeks to examine this presupposition and test its robustness by comparatively analysing the level of correlation (if any) between the change in voter turnout between the two most recent parliamentary elections in the fifteen most socioeconomically disadvantaged, and most socioeconomically advantaged, constituencies of five Anglophonic democracies (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom) and the change in first-preference votes cast in support of right-wing and far-right party-political and independent candidates. This comparative analysis is counterbalanced by an examination of these changes relative to changes in first-preference votes cast in support of non-right-wing and far-right party-political and independent candidates to further test the robustness and parsimony of the research findings.

Resumen Este artículo ayuda a contextualizar el Plebiscito de Paz de 2016. Mejora el entendimiento sobre el voto en el exterior en mecanismos de democracia directa. Con datos observacionales, se realizan varios ejercicios estadísticos. A nivel descriptivo, se agrupan los motivos para (no) votar en el Plebiscito de la Paz en percepciones positivas y negativas. En el análisis inferencial, se reporta que las percepciones positivas se asocian significativamente a la participación electoral en el exterior. Esta participación se correlaciona positivamente a la experiencia en elecciones anteriores en Colombia, al seguimiento del Acuerdo de Paz y a la preocupación por las elecciones de 2018. Adicionalmente, la evidencia empírica subraya que los jóvenes son quienen tienes mayores probabilidades de participar en elecciones desde el exterior, de alta relevancia histórica como las elecciones de octubre de 2016.

The central question of this article is why the minority problem has remained under control in Israel but has led to an internal war in Northern Ireland. This question is explored within the analytic frame of the notion of a plural society. Highly pluralized societies -namely, societies with significant racial, ethnic, religious, lingual, and other communal divisions -face the grave problem of little societal cohesion and political stability. The civil wars in Nigeria, Cyprus, and Lebanon are only a few examples from the majority of countries today split by internal strife. Disruption is the most likely eventuality unless cohesive measures are undertaken. Three major theoretical perspectives attempt to specify such measures. One scholarly tradition is associated with the works of Shils, Deutsch, Eisenstadt, Kornhauser, and Glazer, among others (Deutsch and Foltz 1966, Eisenstadt and Stein 1973. It centers on the notions of modernization, nation-building, consensus-building, crosscutting affiliations, and the like. It regards change as a process of social evolution in which segmentary ties and traditions of the past are gradually replaced by inclusive identities. Conceiving the solution to the problem of stable social order in the new states in terms of the experience of the old Western nations, this approach has a consensus model of national integration . Lijphart, McRae, Nordlinger, and Steiner, among others advance a different view (Lijphart 1977. They demonstrate the validity of the consociational model in accounting for political stability in segmented Western democracies such as Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Consociationalism implies a basic agreement among communal divisions on parliamentary procedures, wide-

When should groups within a state be owed a process, such as a referendum, that can enable their secession or greater internal autonomy? Much of the prior normative literature has overlooked the constitutional theory context of this question. Autonomy movements raise a “constitutional legitimacy crisis” in which the core question is what a constitution’s normative foundations are or should be. Firm answers remain elusive. The parties tend to make selective and circular (“normative bootstrapping”) claims, which are neither sound nor practically persuasive to the other parties to a dispute. Thus this article, firstly, relies on the constitutional legitimacy crisis lens to explain why disputes over autonomy movements are largely intractable under existing approaches; and, secondly, identifies a promising species of solution to the problem. Departing from both “primary right” and “remedial right only” theories, the article endorses a duty to deliberate. This duty relies on deliberative democratic procedures (e.g., “mini-publics,” “deliberative referendums,” and “deliberative negotiation”), applied to autonomy movements’ various phases, to decide how and whether autonomy movements should progress. Such an approach may offer a sounder and more practically effective approach to resolving autonomy-related constitutional legitimacy crises.

We approach critically the assertion that a referendum ultimately defends the “traditional family,” by examining the articulation of anti-gender politics in Romanian parliamentary debates. We contribute theoretically by employing the concept of retrogressive mobilization in plebiscitary circumstances. We show that in Romania the contours of retrogressive mobilization transgress both the ideological left–right cleavage, and even party loyalty. We demonstrate how the ideological work done for the fantasmatic logics of retrogressive mobilization articulates two antithetical narrative scenarios, both centering on the Orthodox “nature” of the Romanian nation, whose existence and survival are said to hinge on the protection of the “traditional family” from “LGBT ideology.” (Less)

faßte die Ursachen der Krise so zusammen: "Die Zollunion konnte in der EG trotz der ungleichen nationalen Entwicklungsniveaus durchgesetzt werden, weil sie prinzipiell bei einer Verschiebung der Konkurrenzposition der Mitgliedsländer untereinander die Möglichkeit zu Wechselkurs korrekturen offenhält. In der Wirtschafts-und Währungsunion wird den einzelnen Nationen dieser Schutz in Gestalt der Wechselkurse genommen, die WWU setzt deshalb eine gleiche ökonomische Entwicklung voraus, soll sie nicht auf Kosten der sich schwächer entwickelnden nationalen Kapitale realisiert werden. Da eine gleichmäßige Kapitalakkumulation ... in der EG nicht herstellbar ist, kann eine Wirtschafts-und Währungsunion nur noch durch außerökonomischen Zwang, durch den politisch-militärischen Druck einer imperialistischen Führungsmacht durchgesetzt werden. Beim momentanen und absehbaren Kräfteverhältnis in der EG verfUgt aber kein Mitgliedsland, auch nicht die BRD, über das Machtpotential, das für eine zwangsweise Integration Europas notwendig wäre".

È un bel libro, che approfondisce sotto ogni aspetto un tema controverso, scottante, divisivo come quello dell'aborto soprattutto, ma che esamina anche la fecondazione assistita. È un'opera accurata e ben scritta da una giornalista e saggista di alto rango. La preparazione culturale e politica dell'Armeni la conosciamo tutti e in queste pagine ne dà un'ulteriore conferma. Dimostra anche di saper scrivere bene oltre che a saper parlare in quest'epoca dove conta soprattutto l'oratoria martellante, incalzante da talk show rispetto alla qualità della scrittura. Alla fine del libro c'è anche la legge del 22 maggio 1978 numero 194, per cui ognuno si può fare un'idea. Questo libro è l'esempio di un femminismo molto ben ponderato, che vaglia tutti i punti di vista, mettendone in risalto limiti, contraddizioni, punti di forza. L'autrice si rivela equilibrata e non mostra alcuna faziosità, scegliendo la strada dell'obiettività. Vengono riportate sia le conquiste del femminismo che le testimonianze di donne che hanno abortito e di medici. L'autrice ci riporta a quegli anni, che ormai sono storia, alla presa di posizioni politiche, al dibattito incessante, a quel clima, a quel contesto e quella temperie culturale. La condizione di una donna che abortiva in quegli anni era quella descritta da Guccini nella canzone "Piccola storia ignobile". L'Armeni ci ricorda che il sì al divorzio nel 1974 e il sì all'aborto nel 1978, grazie a due referendum abrogativi, segnarono una svolta epocale per i diritti delle donne e quindi per la civiltà...

Why do governments put some of their proposals to the popular vote despite the uncertainties about the referendum results? Furthermore, under which conditions do they have a better chance of winning in referendums. This study argues that some variables related to the issues put to referendum and the campaigns conducted are more influential in determining the referendum outcome than structural conditions such as the economic situation and the quality of democracy. It has three hypotheses. First, the higher the intensity of campaigning by the parties in the referendum, the lower the probability that the government proposal will be approved. Second, the higher the level of complexity of the package put to a referendum, the lower the probability of approval. Third, if voters already have strong predispositions on the issue being voted on, the results of the referendum resemble the results of general elections, i.e. it is easier to predict the outcome of the referendum. These hypotheses will be evaluated by making a qualitative comparison of the campaigns in Türkiye'

Tanulmányom célja, hogy bemutassam a rémhírterjesztés különleges jogrend idején alkalmazható tényállását, az ezzel összefüggésben született 15/2020. (VII. 8.) AB határozatot, valamint a határozatot ért kritikákat. Véleményt formáltam a kritikák helytállósága tekintetében, továbbá ismertettem a bűncselekményre nézve 2022. év végéig született jogerős döntéseket, értékelve többek között azt, hogy a bíróságok hogyan értelmezték a ’védekezés eredményessége’ kifejezést. Körüljártam azt, hogy vajon megvalósultak-e azok az aggodalmak, hogy a kiszámíthatatlan törvényszöveg okán önkényes jogalkalmazásnak lehetnek-e az állampolgárok az áldozatai. Továbbá, a megsokszorozódott büntetőeljárásokból vajon mennyiben lehet a norma pontatlanságára következtetni, és hogy az új tényállás mennyiben alkalmas arra, hogy a jövőben esetlegesen bekövetkező különleges jogrend idején is a köznyugalom fenntartásában eszközül szolgáljon.

S acamos a la luz el nuevo número de la Revista dedicado a la delicada e inquietante cuestión ambiental. Sumidos en una gravísima crisis económica global, nacional y local la atención a la insostenibilidad del modelo de desarrollo vigente tendría que ser un imperativo, sin embargo, nos encontramos ante una situación de franco retroceso en nuestro país respecto a toma de conciencia ecológica. Y lo notable es que este retroceso lo representa el actual ministro canario José Manuel Soria. Los magros logros conseguidos, por ejemplo, al cuestionar un modelo energético basado en el petróleo y en la energía nuclear están amenazados. El ministro del ramo, Soria, procedente de estas ínsulas representa al sector más recalcitrante del negacionismo del cambio climático, promociona el inicio de las prospecciones petroleras en el este de Lanzarote y Fuerteventura, pudiendo abrir otro frente de conflicto con Marruecos, y, finalmente, apoya la energía nuclear al desestimar el cierre de la central de Garoña que pese a su obsolescencia va a seguir funcionando. Soria, en un tiempo record, también ha dinamitado el apoyo público a las energías renovables, estableciendo una tímida "excepción" para Canarias. La idea de que el Archipiélago debiera ser un laboratorio europeo de energías limpias no entra en sus planes ya que claramente se alinea con los intereses del lobby multinacional petro-nuclear. No podemos, sin embargo, olvidar las inconsecuencias y ambivalencias respecto a la cuestión energética ambiental de las otras fuerzas políticas parlamentarias en Canarias. La obsesión con introducir en el pool energético al gas ha sido la falaz justificación de infraestructuras tan polémicas como la del Puerto de Granadilla. La lucha en contra de la construcción de este puerto ha concitado el acuerdo de los movimientos ciudadanos y de la comunidad científica, a este respecto quiero resaltar el papel jugado por Wolfredo Wildpret, ahora Profesor

If you were unlucky enough to come accross this paper, please keep in mind that this is a very preliminary version. At this point, we decline any responsability on the consequences of using the implications of our analysis in the real world.

El coloquio que se resume a continuacion tuvo como finalidad dialogar sobre aspectos que hacen a la calidad de las instituciones politicas uruguayas. Cual es el lugar para las discrepancias en nuestra sociedad y como las dirimimos; en donde radica la legitimidad de los mandatos democraticos; de que manera materializamos la representacion politica y formamos gobierno, y como nos situamos en relacion a America Latina son algunos de los asuntos mas relevantes de este encuentro realizado en setiembre de 2014. En conversacion con dos politologos, Carlos Pareja y Romeo Perez Anton, se recupera buena parte de la tradicion analitica del CLAEH en referencia a la politica uruguaya. Asi, a partir de un analisis de la campana electoral 2014, abordamos estas preocupaciones y propiciamos el intercambio de opiniones acerca de las debilidades y fortalezas de nuestra democracia, desde perspectivas que no pierden de vista el contexto regional.

INTRODUCTION Some public choice economists and political scientists would argue that the distinction between classical elections, thought as free and competitive, and their unfree and noncompetitive variants is of little importance, as both are said to rely on the manipulation of the people's will. At best, elections are relatively free and competitive. Even in the most democratic countries of Western Europe and North America, there are regularly uncontested elections and elections with more or less predictable results where certain candidates have for years had no chance whatsoever of being elected (Tullock, 1987). Although it is not easy to define an electoral system as democratic simply by looking at the formal requirements of freedom and plurality of parties, the fact remains that there is a wide range of electoral practices in the Western Democracies. Three points constitute the most generally accepted criteria for distinguishing between classical and non-classical election...

The presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova along with the referendum on the European integration  revealed the fractures of the society across the Prut, the dissonances between historical regions as well as the ability of the two great "political temptations:" the European Union and, respectively, Russia, to mobilize the electorate. The extremely close result of the referendum and the results of the presidential candidates did not solve almost anything. In the first case, a cancellation or ignoring of the referendum by the pro-Russian forces has been announced, as the pro-Europeans will not be able to push the pedal of reforms too much. As for the second round of the presidential elections, it gives more chills than offering Moldova a guarantee of a political course. The failure of political civilization has had its say.

Alegerile prezidențiale din Republica Moldova împreună cu referendumul privind integrarea europeană a țării au scos la iveală fracturile societății de peste Prut, disonanțele dintre regiunile istorice precum și capacitatea celor două mari "ispite politice:" Uniunea Europeană și, respectiv, Rusia, de a mobiliza electoratul. Scorul extrem de strâns cu care s-a finalizat referendumul precum și rezultatele candidaților prezidențiali aproape că nu au rezolvat nimic. In primul caz, o anulare sau ignorare a referendumului de către forțele proruse a și fost anunțată, după cum pro-europenii nu vor putea apăsa prea mult pedala reformelor. În ceea ce priveste turul doi al prezidențialelor, acesta mai mult dă frisoane decât să ofere Moldovei o garanție de parcurs politic. Falia civilizației politice și-a spus, cuvântul.

This article revisits the scholarly debates on the AKP's constitutional amendment package that was put to vote in the 2010 Turkish Constitutional Referendum. It takes the democratic theorist Andrew Arato and law professor Aslı Bali as major representatives of the two opposing views on the political implications of the reform proposal. It compares and contrasts their arguments particularly in light of their different assessments of the amendments which concern the restructuring of the judiciary, especially the Turkish Constitutional Court. It argues that their fundamental controversy with regard to the democratic or authoritarian nature of these amendments is rooted in the contrast between Bali's predominantly context-bound and Arato's predominantly global approach. While Bali affirms the reform proposal as a democratic step forward in transcending the persistent legacy of the Kemalist authoritarian "tutelary" regime represented by the Constitutional Court, Arato interprets it as a manifestation of the global populist-authoritarian retreat that expresses itself most visibly through assaults on the independent judiciary. After a critical reading of these two approaches, this paper finalizes by way of introducing a new framework that would counterbalance the context-bound approach with the global one and vice versa that would arguably provide a new perspective through which one could unveil the particular characteristics of the AKP's populist constitutional politics at the time of the Referendum.

Los populismos y las derivas iliberales de algunos gobiernos ponen en riesgo el funcionamiento constitucionalmente adecuado de las instituciones y organismos encargados de controlar a la mayoría. Ello acaba por debilitar la democracia, entendida como democracia representativa y constitucional, así como la idea de Constitución como límite al poder. En los últimos años asistimos a una erosión gradual de principios e instituciones del Estado constitucional y democrático de Derecho que afecta a los checks and balances entre poderes y también al pluralismo político. Las corrientes populistas e iliberales abogan por dar primacía a los poderes con legitimidad popular, sobre los órganos de control político y judicial, los cuales son considerados como obstaculizadores de la voluntad popular. Pero en realidad instrumentalizan igualmente las instituciones parlamentarias y colonizan los órganos de control, socavando su independencia.
Los autores de esta obra reflexionan acerca de estas amenazas. Analizan los déficits del diseño normativo y del funcionamiento de los contrapoderes e instrumentos contramayoritarios. También pasan revista a la eficacia de los límites provenientes de las instituciones europeas e internacionales, así como de la ciudadanía en el ejercicio de sus derechos. El libro plantea propuestas de mejora de la composición y funcionamiento de los contrapoderes y de las relaciones entre instituciones y de estas con la ciudadanía. Todo ello con la pretensión de hacer frente a esas tendencias populistas e iliberales antes de que deriven en regímenes autoritarios.

Uno de los rasgos que ha distinguido a los gobiernos progresistas en la región es el uso de herramientas de democracia directa, empleadas para promulgar nuevas constituciones, para consultar en la toma decisiones públicas importantes y como herramientas de revocación de mandato. El uso de estas herramientas y sus implicaciones forman parte de las discusiones actuales sobre la representación democrática en la región y sobre la propia calidad democrática de los regímenes y gobiernos que las emplean. Particularmente, la revocación de mandato se ha empleado en Venezuela (2004-2016), en Bolivia (2008) y en México (2022); sin embargo, su ejercicio ha despertado preguntas acerca de las características de su implementación y su uso político, considerando que la demanda de participación política proviene del origen de los progresismos, esto es, de su relación con los movimientos sociales y políticos que los impulsaron. En este artículo, se analizan estos tres casos de referéndums revocatorios, teniendo en cuenta el contexto político en el que se originaron y su correspondencia con las demandas de mayor participación política popular.

Uno de los rasgos que ha distinguido a los gobiernos progresistas en la región es el uso de herramientas de democracia directa, empleadas para promulgar nuevas constituciones, para consultar en la toma decisiones públicas importantes y como herramientas de revocación de mandato. El uso de estas herramientas y sus implicaciones forman parte de las discusiones actuales sobre la representación democrática en la región y sobre la propia calidad democrática de los regímenes y gobiernos que las emplean. Particularmente, la revocación de mandato se ha empleado en Venezuela (2004-2016), en Bolivia (2008) y en México (2022); sin embargo, su ejercicio ha despertado preguntas acerca de las características de su implementación y su uso político, considerando que la demanda de participación política proviene del origen de los progresismos, esto es, de su relación con los movimientos sociales y políticos que los impulsaron. En este artículo, se analizan estos tres casos de referéndums revocatorios, teniendo en cuenta el contexto político en el que se originaron y su correspondencia con las demandas de mayor participación política popular.

revista de ciencia pOLítica / vOLumen 29/ nº 1 / 2009 / 57 -83 * the authors are indebted to andreas auer, michael peart, and Jonathan Wheatley for their comments. We also thank two anonymous referees for their extensive and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. responsibility for any remaining errors and omissions rests entirely with the authors.

Resumen En este artículo se hace un breve análisis de los aportes antropológicos, sociológicos y lingüísticos a la lengua y cultura guaraní del chaco boliviano; pero, ante todo, se valora el aporte a la literatura escrita realizada por el escritor guaraní Elio Ortiz García. Para ello, se inicia por un recorrido general sobre la nación guaraní; luego, se hace un breve análisis de los aportes escritos a la lengua y la cultura guaraní a partir de tres 'categorías': el ñande reko (nuestro modo de ser), el arakuaa (la sabiduría) y el ñee (la palabra) como elementos imprescindibles para entender la cosmovisión guaraní; posteriormente, se hace una reseña de la novela Irande: Ara Tenondegua Jaikue Kuñatai Oiko Vae, escrita por Elio Ortiz. Finalmente, el artículo cierra con reflexiones en torno al devenir del ñande reko.

Uno de los rasgos que ha distinguido a los gobiernos progresistas en la región es el uso de herramientas de democracia directa, empleadas para promulgar nuevas constituciones, para consultar en la toma decisiones públicas importantes y como herramientas de revocación de mandato. El uso de estas herramientas y sus implicaciones forman parte de las discusiones actuales sobre la representación democrática en la región y sobre la propia calidad democrática de los regímenes y gobiernos que las emplean. Particularmente, la revocación de mandato se ha empleado en Venezuela (2004-2016), en Bolivia (2008) y en México (2022); sin embargo, su ejercicio ha despertado preguntas acerca de las características de su implementación y su uso político, considerando que la demanda de participación política proviene del origen de los progresismos, esto es, de su relación con los movimientos sociales y políticos que los impulsaron. En este artículo, se analizan estos tres casos de referéndums revocatorios, teniendo en cuenta el contexto político en el que se originaron y su correspondencia con las demandas de mayor participación política popular. Palabras clave: referéndums revocatorios, democracia directa, progresismos, democracia.

Demokratisch begründete Herrschaft ist stets bloss Herrschaft auf Zeit. Nichtwiederwahl, Abberufung oder ein parlamentarisches Misstrauensvotum können der Ausübung eines politischen Amtes ein jähes Ende bereiten. Die periodische Rückbindung der Amtsausübung von Repräsentanten an die Willensäusserung Repräsentierter ist Ausdruck der Volkssouveränität als einem von mehreren Attributen der Demokratie.! Allgemeine und freie Wahlen stellen in einem metaphorischen Sinn sicher, dass die Bürgerinnen und Bürger in den Handlungen von Regierung und Parlament «präsent» sind, indem sie durch ihre Abgeordneten repräsentiert werden. 2 Überdies steigert die blosse Möglichkeit, ein Parlaments-oder Regierungsmandat durch Nichtwiederwahl wieder verlieren zu können, die Chance, dass sich Repräsentanten hinsichtlich der Präferenzen der Repräsentierten responsiv zeigen. 3 Umgekehrt schaffen echte, wiederkehrende, allgemeine und gleiche

Political parties have always played an important role in the organization of national referenda in Hungary since the first referendum act came into effect following the political system change in 1989. The role of parties in referenda has arisen due to uncertainties over the content of the constitutional right to referendum. Does this right only mean there is a constitutionally guaranteed right for a citizen to participate in national referenda (i.e. the right to participate in national referenda), or does it mean there is a constitutional guarantee encompassing the entire process (including e.g. collecting signatures, i.e. the right to initiate a referendum). The answer to this question also defines the role of the parties in a referendum procedure. If the right to referendum is restricted to only participation in national referenda, then in case the Supreme Court refuses a referendum proposal, parties would obviously not be entitled to submit a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court against this decision stating the violation of their fundamental rights. However, if the right to referendum is extended to every stage of the referendum process (including e.g. collecting signatures), then parties should also be entitled to submit a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court because of the violation of their constitutional right to referendum. In this case parties are eventually entitled to enforce a national referendum in a country. This paper is intended to discuss these questions according to the jurisprudence of the Hungarian Constitutional Court. Az Alaptörvény hatálybalépését követően a népszavazási eljárással kapcsolatban igénybe vehető jogorvoslati fórumrendszer megváltozása a népszavazáshoz való jog mint alapjog vonatkozásában több elméleti és gyakorlati kérdést is felvetett .

The 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign saw a surge of campaigning activity from groups on both sides of the debate. The mainstream elements of the campaign were criticised for not bringing enough attention to women's issues, and so Women For Independence (WFI) and Women Together (WT) were created in order to try and alleviate these concerns. This paper aims to compare the two organisations to ascertain whether or not they can be classified as part of wider social movements. Utilising data from the Scottish Political Archive at the University of Stirling, as well as face-to-face interviews and email conversations with activists from both groups, this paper explores the organisational structures and framing strategies of the two groups, as well as the opportunities and constraints they faced when it came to achieving their goals. Whilst WFI can be classified as a Social Movement Organisation operating within both the pro-independence and women's movements, WT canno...

On Monday the House of Lords voted against changes to tax credits. In doing so, Osborne and Cameron have argued they have broken a constitutional convention, raising “issues that need to be dealt with”. But Sean Swan questions these claims by highlighting that neither the Parliament Act nor the Salisbury Doctrine has been breached as the changes were secondary legislation and did not appear in the Conservative Manifesto.

Since 1989, there have been organized seven national referenda related to thirteen questions in Hungary. Based on the content of the questions raised, one can draw a line of evolution in the history of the institution: the symbolic political issues of the transition and democracy-building were followed by the country's main strategic aims. Later, national referenda functioned as instruments of outsourced daily political debate between government and opposition, while at present-based on practice-national referendum can be considered as a typical instrument of plebiscitarian direct democracy. Moreover, during this period, sixteen questions were set on the National Assembly's agenda based on successful popular initiatives. Since 2010, the legislative and the executive power's approach to direct democracy has radically transformed. The Government started to use frequently the so-called national consultation in important legislative issues-a misleading communication tool which has no legal background. Besides, based on the new Fundamental Law of Hungary (2011) and the new Act on Electoral Procedure (2013), the possibility of a successful national referendum has been greatly restricted: there is prescribed as a necessary condition for a valid result that the majority of the voters should cast a valid vote. This condition was barely reached twice in the preceding period. Furthermore, the institution of popular initiative is not part of the legal system anymore. These trends are demonstrating that the classic tools of direct democracy are losing their relevance, while populist instruments are used more frequently in practice. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the contemporary debate related to this challenge .

The Spanish nation-state is gradually being rescaled by Catalonia's "secession crisis." Recently and dramatically, in the aftermath of the "illegal" and "constitutive referendum" that took place on 1 October 2017, 2,286,217 Catalan citizens attempted to exercise the "right to decide" to ultimately become "stateless citizens." This paper examines this rescaling process that has been forming in Barcelona since 10 July 2010 when 1 million Catalan citizens marched to claim their "right to decide" on secession. This paper concludes that, at present, it is not feasible for the Spanish nation-state to accommodate Catalonia's "stateless citizenship."

Tema: La Cumbre de Bruselas ha aprobado el 18 de Junio un borrador de Constitución que ahora afronta su fase decisiva. El texto tendrá que ser ratificado, unánimemente, por todos los Estados miembros, a través de una variedad de procedimientos que permiten vislumbrar una posibilidad real de un fracaso del proceso. Este trabajo presenta sumariamente los mecanismos de ratificación utilizados e indica los posibles obstáculos que pueden surgir en su aplicación, así como los efectos sobre la legitimidad de la Unión.

Im vorliegenden Kapitel tritt eine vergleichende Betrachtungsweise an die Seite der bisher auf Unionsrecht ausgerichteten Untersuchung. Unterschiedliche Modelle lassen sich entdecken, mittels derer die potenzielle Spannung zwischen unterschiedlichen Ebenen in Föderalstaaten als Föderalsystemen, die alle mit dem Schutz von Grundrechten betraut sind, aufgelöst wird. 1 Dabei soll der Untersuchungszweck nicht darin bestehen, insgesamt in Richtung einer föderalstaatlichen Entwicklung der Europäischen Union zu argumentieren. Vielmehr geht es um beobachtbare Parallelen, aber auch das Herausarbeiten von Unterschieden, die in der Folge zu einem besseren Verständnis der unionsrechtlichen Problematik führen. Daher soll abschliessend bereits eine grobe Gegenüberstellung mit dem Unionsrecht folgen, dessen Aspekte in den Folgekapiteln konkreter ausgeführt werden. Unterschiedliche Strategien können in Föderalstaaten beobachtet werden. So bestehen je nachdem ausdrückliche Klauseln über die Grundrechtsbindung verschiedener Ebenen, Klauseln über den Vorrang einer Rechtsebene über die andere oder aber auch ein eher gerichts-oder aber verfassungsgesetzgeberisches Vorgehen. Im vorliegenden Kapitel kann realistischerweise nur eine gesamthafte Darstellung des jeweiligen nationalen Verfassungssystems erreicht werden; dennoch sollen Details soweit als nützlich und möglich erfasst werden. Zugleich ist als unumgängliche Einschränkung voranzustellen, dass auch bei einem-wie hier vorgenommenen-grundsätzlichen funktionalen Ansatz bei der Rechtsvergleichung fingiert wird, dass Recht-in diesem Fall das jeweilige nationale Verfassungsrecht-eine Funktion hat, die in dieser klar identifizierbaren Form wohl nicht existiert. 2 Hingegen soll dieses Problem in seiner Auswirkung hier abgeschwächt werden, indem es bei der folgenden vergleichenden Untersuchung ohnedies eher um Erkenntnisgewinn durch eine Gegenüberstellung als um eine Bewertung einzelner nationaler Rechtsordnungen geht. Bei rechtsvergleichenden Untersuchungen besteht zudem stets das Risiko, ohne Bewusstsein auf den jeweiligen Kontext vorzugehen und dadurch unbeabsich-A. 1 Vgl. zum hier nicht behandelten Thema des Verhältnisses von Grund-bzw. Menschenrechten und Föderalismus als solchem instruktiv Besson, Le droit international et européen des droits de l'homme, in: La Convention européenne des droits de l'homme et les cantons-Die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention und die Kantone, 229 ff. 2 Siehe zur funktionalen Rechtsvergleichung und deren Kritik Kischel, Rechtsvergleichung, 95 ff.

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.