REFERENDUM

2008

Law & Justice Review , 2018

In the US, almost half of the states have established direct democracy mechanisms, but there is a paucity of such mechanisms at the federal level. By contrast, the Swiss system knows extensive direct democracy at both the cantonal and the federal level, including rights of referendum on laws enacted by the parliament and popular initiatives for constitutional revision. This paper focuses on how direct democracy mechanisms, such as referendums and citizens' initiatives serving an overarching ideal of public sovereignty, may inform and affect judicial review. The paper also examines certain differences in treatment between federal and state laws when it comes to judicial review, as the courts will not necessarily apply the same standards despite the existence of similar democratic mechanisms at both levels. In this contribution, I first argue that none of the existing systems is fully satisfactory. The status quo in the Swiss model might be a source of instability and threaten legal certainty, coherence and transparency and could ultimately be more harmful to public sovereignty in that federal acts may in practice be set aside without constitutional basis. As to the US model, the combination of an absence of citizen involvement at the federal level with extensive judicial review might ultimately be deemed as unsatisfactory from the perspective of democratic rights. This does not mean however that direct democracy is somehow superior to representative, or that either of judicial or legislative power should prevail over the other. To the contrary, in this paper I argue that in a federal system all are complementary. Furthermore, I claim that one should recognise the limits of direct democracy and of judicial review in order to improve both by striking a balance between them.

This e-book is a college textbook for the course, Philippine History with Politics, Government, and the Philippines Constitution. It provides a brief discussion on the nature of history in general and Philippine history during the Spanish period. Applying the sociological and juridical perspectives, it also explains the nature and structure of Philippine politics, government system and the Philippine constitution. Finally, it provides an overview of the three branches of the Philippine government under the 1987 Constitution. This textbook is ideal for students who study history, politics, and political law of the Philippines.

Willamette L. Rev., 2007

... 753, 767 (1968); see generally Bell, supra note 2; see generally Gamble, supra note 2. 6. See, eg, Matthew Yi, Jobs, Buffett to Advise Kerry on the Economy Big Names May Bring Democrat a Political Lift, SF CHRON., May 4, 2004, at A4 ... 8. See Linde, supra note 1, at 1737-38. ...

Latin American Politics and Society, 2012

ABSTRACT The process of ratifying CAFTA in Costa Rica required traversing a contentious political landscape involving intense legislative battles, massive public demonstrations, and finally a national referendum in October 2007. By employing the mechanism of direct democracy to ratify a free trade agreement, Costa Rica made history. But how did this experiment with direct participation affect Costa Rica's democracy? This article evaluates what the referendum achieved in terms of promoting citizen engagement, equipping voters to make informed choices, resolving the CAFTA conflict in a way viewed as legitimate, and shaping citizens' relationships to representative institutions. While the referendum had positive effects, it had several negative consequences for representative democracy, which raises questions about the limits of democratic control over economic policy in the era of globalization.

2018

More than half of Europeans and almost 40% of people living in Spain have recently signed some sort of petition (Quaranta, 2015). In other words, they have attempted to change a certain aspect of reality, using their signature. This kind of participation is one of the most common and widespread after voting. Despite most of these initiatives corresponding to non-regulated actuations, otherwise referred to as bottom-up participations, many public institutions have tried to enable regulated mechanisms which allow an organised process of collecting signatures, as a way of influencing public decision-making.The subject of this report is to study the participatory tools which enable citizens to initiate a process of collecting signatures in order to influence local institutions. These initiatives have several aims: to promote a debate in the Chamber of local representatives, for example, or to to call a referendum regarding a political proposal, or perhaps the removal of a public officer. In order to analyse their use and potential difficulties, we are going to examine how these tools of initiative operate in a multitude of geographical and administrative contexts. We pay particular attention to issues such as thematic scope, regulation, validity requirements and their relationship with the decision-making process. Our most important source is the analysis of 21 cases which illustrate different models, and their strengths and weaknesses. Experiences at local level have been prioritised, but two supralocal cases have also been included.

Of the three organs of the government, the place of primacy belongs to the Legislature. The function of government begins by law-making and is followed up by law-enforcement and adjudication functions. As such, the legislature is the first organ of the government.

The Journal of Legislative Studies, 1995