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Author: Brecht Deseure
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100037503X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214
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Book Description
This book brings recent insights about sovereignty and citizen participation in the Belgian Constitution to scholars in the fields of law, philosophy, history, and politics. Throughout the Western world, there are increasing calls for greater citizen participation. Referendums, citizen councils, and other forms of direct democracy are considered necessary antidotes to a growing hostility towards traditional party politics. This book focuses on the Belgian debate, where the introduction of participatory politics has stalled because of an ambiguity in the Constitution. Scholars and judges generally claim that the Belgian Constitution gives ultimate power to the nation, which can only speak through representation in parliament. In light of this, direct democracy would be an unconstitutional power grab by the current generation of citizens. This book critically investigates this received interpretation of the Constitution and, by reaching back to the debates among Belgium’s 1831 founding fathers, concludes that it is untenable. The spirit, if not the text, of the Belgian Constitution allows for more popular participation than present-day jurisprudence admits. This book is the first to make recent debates in this field accessible to international scholars. It provides a rare source of information on Belgium’s 1831 Constitution, which was in its time seen as modern constitutionalism’s greatest triumph and which became a model for countless other constitutions. Yet the questions it asks reverberate far beyond Belgium. Combining new insights from law, philosophy, history, and politics, this book is a showcase for continental constitutional theory. It will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in constitutional law, political and legal philosophy, and legal history.
Author: Brecht Deseure
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100037503X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book brings recent insights about sovereignty and citizen participation in the Belgian Constitution to scholars in the fields of law, philosophy, history, and politics. Throughout the Western world, there are increasing calls for greater citizen participation. Referendums, citizen councils, and other forms of direct democracy are considered necessary antidotes to a growing hostility towards traditional party politics. This book focuses on the Belgian debate, where the introduction of participatory politics has stalled because of an ambiguity in the Constitution. Scholars and judges generally claim that the Belgian Constitution gives ultimate power to the nation, which can only speak through representation in parliament. In light of this, direct democracy would be an unconstitutional power grab by the current generation of citizens. This book critically investigates this received interpretation of the Constitution and, by reaching back to the debates among Belgium’s 1831 founding fathers, concludes that it is untenable. The spirit, if not the text, of the Belgian Constitution allows for more popular participation than present-day jurisprudence admits. This book is the first to make recent debates in this field accessible to international scholars. It provides a rare source of information on Belgium’s 1831 Constitution, which was in its time seen as modern constitutionalism’s greatest triumph and which became a model for countless other constitutions. Yet the questions it asks reverberate far beyond Belgium. Combining new insights from law, philosophy, history, and politics, this book is a showcase for continental constitutional theory. It will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in constitutional law, political and legal philosophy, and legal history.
Author: Kris Deschouwer
Publisher: Studies in European Political
ISBN: 9781786613059
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
This book draws a picture of a parliamentary and representative democracy that faces multiple tensions and multiple gaps.
Author: Bernard Manin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521458917
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
The thesis of this original and provocative book is that representative government should be understood as a combination of democratic and undemocratic, aristocratic elements. Professor Manin challenges the conventional view that representative democracy is no more than an indirect form of government by the people, in which citizens elect representatives only because they cannot assemble and govern in person. The argument is developed by examining the historical moments when the present institutional arrangements were chosen from among the then available alternatives. Professor Manin reminds us that while today representative institutions and democracy appear as virtually indistinguishable, when representative government was first established in Europe and America, it was designed in opposition to democracy proper. Drawing on the procedures used in earlier republican systems, from classical Athens to Renaissance Florence, in order to highlight the alternatives that were forsaken, Manin brings to the fore the generally overlooked results of representative mechanisms. These include the elitist aspect of elections and the non-binding character of campaign promises.
Author: Michael Gallagher
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482
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Book Description
Uniting theory and application, the third edition of Representative Government in Modern Europe continues the tradition of previous editions by first examining the themes, debates, developments and structures driving European politics, and then investigating the way in which the theories behind them are manifested, comparing the historical development, distinct interpretations and present condition of several major European governments. A thematically arranged text which introduces readers to current debates among those who analyze European politics, the 3rd edition of Representation Government in Modern Europe delves into the evolution of European politics as we embark on the 21st century. Since the last edition, astonishing changes have occurred on the political scene in Europe. Democratic transformations have taken place throughout the East, along with the emergence of a strong European Union. These two topics, as well as the state of economics in the region, have dominated the previous decade in Europe and are discussed throughout the 3rd edition.
Author: Audrey Vandeleene
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319964607
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398
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Book Description
This book focuses on the triadic relationship between electoral candidates and the two other poles of the delegation and accountability triangle—political parties and voters. The chapters rely mostly on the Belgian Candidate Survey (CCS project), gathering about 2000 candidates belonging to 15 parties represented in Parliament and running for the 2014 federal and regional elections, and the authors’ conclusions serve at answering broad political science questions linked with elite recruitment, party and candidate electoral strategies, personalisation, party cohesion, and descriptive and substantive representation. Its multilevel semi-open electoral system, atypical federal structure, extreme party system fragmentation and volatility make Belgium an exceptionally rich but complex case that offers findings highly relevant to research on candidates in other democracies.
Author: Kris Deschouwer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1137030259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Belgium set a new world record in 2011 for the time needed to form a government, taking no less than 541 days to bring together a new federal coalition. Governing a divided society like Belgium is never easy, demanding appropriate institutions and advanced political skills. In this fully revised and updated text, Kris Deschouwer gives an even-handed and analytically sophisticated account of contemporary Belgium politics. He explains the background to the territorial divide between a Dutch-speaking north and a French-speaking south that has shaped the political system and has led Belgium's polarized communities to contemplate divorce after decades of search for institutional responses to internal conflict. Deschouwer sets out the institutional arrangements of what has been called the most thorough example of a consociational democracy, and shows how this form of democratic government, along with Belgium's particular federal system has provided a basis – most of the time – to govern a deeply divided country. Fully updated to cover the latest developments, including the 2011 agreement on new constitutional reform, this leading text provides a comprehensive picture of Belgian politics which helps answer the question of whether Belgium – and indeed other divided societies – can be governed in a legitimate democratic manner.
Author: Joseph Lacey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198796889
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
This volume offers a model of democratic legitimacy for the European Union.
Author: Thomas Harrison Reed
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Belgium
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Author: Jan A. Schagen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Election law
Languages : en
Pages : 72
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Book Description
Author: Brans, Marleen
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447347374
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
This unique book presents the first systematic overview of policy analysis activities in Belgium. Contributors from both sides of the Dutch-French language border (from research institutes in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) use original empirical data, through surveys and interviews with key players both within and outside government, to provide a comprehensive study of policy analysis in a multi-level polity. By the very nature of the Belgian experience, the volume is comparative, drawing conclusions on divergence and convergence of policy analysis, making it an important resource for both national and international scholars.
