scholarly journals Local Legislative Process in Russia: Perspectives and Barriers

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-110
Author(s):  
Victoria Mamontova ◽  
Elena Gladun
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Initiative Process ◽  
Barriers And Challenges ◽  
Law Making

The legislative process is an important tool of direct democracy for creating checks and balances on public authority. Making local laws is an essential function of the local government that is linked to direct communication between public officials and citizens. This paper sets out to evaluate the opportunities, constraints and challenges in the practices of local direct democracy in Russian municipalities, and to describe the frameworks and capacities that municipal authorities provide for citizens. The paper analyzes the political and legal circumstances for law-making initiatives at the local level and examines citizens’ activities in the local legislative process. The research question is whether citizens have the capacity and opportunity to participate in the local legislative process and to what extent barriers and challenges prevent them from doing so. To answer the research question the authors use methods of context analysis to study Russian legislation and municipal legal documents, a case study of several Russian municipalities and a survey with representatives of local communities in Tyumen, a Russian mid-sized city located in Western Siberia. The results of the study show a reluctance on the part of local residents to engage in the various aspects of direct democracy and a lack of the necessary skills, knowledge and willingness to participate in the initiative process. The results further show that the initiative process is frequently not well planned and lacks clear objectives, requirements and guidelines. The study concludes that seminars and professional training as well as roundtable workshops are effective ways to support local law-making initiatives. One promising step towards modernizing initiatives would be to organize them in e-forms. Many citizens demonstrate their ability to use electronic options that can expand the possibilities for their participation in the local legislative process.

Does Process Matter? Direct Democracy and Citizens’ Perceptions of Laws

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-237
Author(s):  
Christina Ladam
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Negligible Effect ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Ballot Initiative ◽  
Initiative Process ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Outcome Evaluations ◽  
The Way

AbstractDoes the process used to pass a law affect the way citizens evaluate the outcome? In a series of experiments, I manipulate the way in which a law is passed – ballot initiative or the legislative process – to test the effect of process on citizens’ evaluations of policy outcomes. The results show that people view the ballot initiative process as fairer than the legislative process, but that process has a negligible effect on outcome evaluations.

The Lawmaking Process as a Combination of Conditional and Unconditional

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-76
Author(s):  
G. N. Utkin
Keyword(s):  
Legislative Process ◽  
Complex Combination ◽  
Law Making

The article substantiates that lawmaking is a process characterized by a complex combination of conditional and unconditional. In spite of the predominance of the conditional in its characterization, there must always be something in it that is self-conditioned, immutable and irresistible, and is therefore capable of being the source of the unconditionality of the prescriptions that result from law-making. In modern States, the importance of conditional lawmaking is compensated by the unconditionality of procedural and procedural requirements underlying the organization of the legislative process.

Impact of Elected Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj in Physical and Financial and Business Assets Development of Rural Women: A Study among the Rural Women’s of Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu[1]

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalaichelvi Sivaraman ◽  
Rengasamy Stalin
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Panchayati Raj

This research paper is the part of Research Project entitled “Impact of Elected Women Representatives in the Life and Livelihood of the Women in Rural Areas: With Special Reference to Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu” funded by University of Madras under UGC-UPE Scheme.The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India were made by the government to strengthen the position of women and to create a local-level legal foundation for direct democracy for women in both rural and urban areas. The representation for women in local bodies through reservation policies amendment in Constitution of India has stimulated the political participation of women in rural areas. However, when it’s comes to the argument of whether the women reservation in Panchayati Raj helps or benefits to the life and livelihood development of women as a group? The answer is hypothetical because the studies related to the impact of women representatives of Panchayati Raj in the life and livelihood development of women was very less. Therefore, to fill the gap in existing literature, the present study was conducted among the rural women of Tiruvannamalai district to assess the impact of elected women representatives in the physical and financial and business development of the women in rural areas. The findings revealed that during the last five years because of the women representation in their village Panjayati Raj, the Physical Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (55.8%) and Highly (23.4%) and the Financial and Business Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (60.4%) and Highly (18.7%).

Direct Democracy and Public Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 362-379
Author(s):  
John Matsusaka
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
American States ◽  
Conservative Policy ◽  
Initiative Process ◽  
Swiss Cantons

An extensive literature seeks to measure the effect of the initiative and referendum on public policies. Several conclusions emerge: The initiative and referendum have different effects on policy. Requiring popular approval of fiscal policies (mandatory referendums) results in lower expenditure, taxes, and debt. The initiative process gives voters more power and results in policies closer to the median voter preference; this often has reduced spending (American states, Swiss cantons), but sometimes has increased spending (cities). The initiative is associated with more socially conservative policy choices. Spurious correlation is a concern in many studies, and more research on causality is needed.

8. Referendums

UK Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 171-191
Author(s):  
Andrew Blick
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Political Decisions

This chapter starts with a definition of the term ‘referendum’. A referendum is a means of involving the public in political decisions via voting on specific issues such as leaving the European Union. The chapter focuses on the use of referendums at the local level. It sets out the key features of a referendum. Who is allowed to vote in referendums? What sort of questions are put to voters? Under want circumstances should a referendum take place on specific issues? What are the risks associated with holding a referendum? The chapter also looks at regulations surrounding referendums in the UK. The theoretical considerations that the chapter examines are the fact that a referendum subject tends to be controversial, the relationship between referendums and direct democracy and the implications of the results.

11. The key functions of Parliament

2019 ◽  
pp. 229-254
Author(s):  
Anne Dennett
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Government Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Record ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Control ◽  
Law Making

This chapter identifies Parliament's primary functions of making law and scrutinising government action. Parliament's scrutiny of government has been defined as ‘the process of examining expenditure, administration, and policy in detail, on the public record, requiring the government of the day to explain itself to parliamentarians as representatives of the citizen and the taxpayer, and to justify its actions’. In the absence of a codified constitution and entrenched limits on executive power, the requirement for the government to answer to Parliament for its actions acts as a check and control. The chapter also considers the legislative process, particularly legislative scrutiny. Secondary legislation made by the government can often be subject to much less scrutiny and debate than primary legislation, and sometimes none at all. These scrutiny gaps increase the risk of arbitrary law-making and ‘governing from the shadows’, again raising rule of law concerns.

5. Parliamentary sovereignty

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-123
Author(s):  
Anne Dennett
Keyword(s):  
Legislative Process ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Legislative Power ◽  
Legal Limits ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Uk ◽  
A Current ◽  
Law Making

This chapter focuses on parliamentary sovereignty. The term ‘Parliamentary sovereignty’ is normally defined as the ‘legislative supremacy of Parliament’. Since the constitutional settlement brought about by the Bill of Rights 1689, the UK Parliament has had unchallenged authority to create primary law. Parliament's legislative supremacy means, therefore, that there is no competing body with equal or greater law-making power and there are no legal limits on Parliament's legislative competence. Parliament has broad legislative power but cannot make unchangeable statutes, and a current parliament can reverse laws made by a previous parliament. Nobody but Parliament can override Acts of Parliament. The Enrolled Bill rule requires that, if a Bill has passed through the House of Commons and House of Lords and received royal assent, the courts will not enquire into what happened before or during the legislative process.

Law-Making by and for the People: A Case for Pre-legislative Processes in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-206
Author(s):  
Dipika Jain
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Deliberation Process ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
The People ◽  
Transgender Persons ◽  
Law Making

Abstract Recent legislative trends in India reflect the need for a mandatory pre-legislative process. Pre-legislative consultation affords the benefit of legitimacy to laws arrived at through citizen participation. Furthermore, it informs decision-makers of the lived experiences of those most likely impacted by the legislation. Laws that receive pre-legislative consultation are attuned to realities, which increases the likelihood of their effectiveness. This article explores how several of India’s recent laws that received pre-legislative consultation have been rendered more robust and effective than others. As exemplified by current protests by transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming people in India, the Government’s most recent Transgender Bill, which neglected pre-legislative deliberation process, fails the people it purports to protect. As explored in this article, the Bill fails to uphold constitutionally protected principles, as recognized in the recent Supreme Court case that upheld transgender persons’ fundamental rights. As such, the Transgender Bill reflects a need to engage with the intrinsic and instrumental value of pre-legislative consultation and deliberation in India. In locating transnational trends towards employing such a process, this article argues that India would greatly benefit from mandatory pre-legislative consultation and deliberation. By creating a process that allows for citizen participation in law-making, particularly when such laws impact marginalized communities, legislation would reflect societal needs and eschew a top-down, majoritarian approach.

scholarly journals Establishing a Sustainable Waste Management System in a Transitional Economic Context: Analysis of the Socio-Economic Dynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3887
Author(s):  
Andreas Fehr ◽  
Teo Urushadze ◽  
Nikolas Zöller ◽  
Béatrice Knerr ◽  
Angelika Ploeger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Management System ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Sustainable Waste Management ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Waste Management System ◽  
The Social

Establishing a sustainable waste management system concerns multiple aspects of the prospected geo-locations. Among them, the dynamics of the socio-economy play a crucial role. Based on the idea of circular economy (CE), the amount of waste, in general, should be reduced and the process of social involvement is embedded. This study aims to examine the social willingness towards a sustainable waste management system at a local level in Georgia. The research study was conducted with waste management analyses in Marneuli city in the South-Eastern Georgian district of Kvemo Kartli, as well as a survey in 510 households in Marneuli. A descriptive statistical analysis and a narrative analysis were used to evaluate the results of the survey. In Georgia, as a transitional country, local participation is still not well developed. However, this research study shows that the potentiality and the social request for the environmental actions at a local level exist. The key results of this study are that the robust connection with the locals is a fundamental factor in implementing a sustainable waste management plan at a local level.

Swedish Local and Regional Government in a European Context

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Lidström
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Welfare Model

Although Swedish local government shares a set of traits that are common to all other European local government systems, it stands out, in many respects, as unique. The particular combination of local responsibility for costly tax-financed national welfare policies, strong and mainly nationally organized political parties at local level, consistent decision-making collectivism, and a type of representative democracy that leaves little room for means of direct democracy make Sweden different. These features are intertwined, reflecting core values of the Scandinavian welfare model. Although many of them have been challenged during recent decades, popular support for the welfare system remains strong.

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