1 sheet ([1] p.) ; Caption title. ; Publication data suggested by Wing. ; Imperfect: faded print with some loss of text. ; Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library.
Název článku věrně vystihuje jeho podstatu – jde o bilancování práve ukončené politické kariéry jeho autora, poslance slovenského parlamentu a dvojnásobného předsedy environmentálního výboru. Dozvíme se, jak proběhl loňský rok 2015, a především, co se v něm dělo za parlamentními zdmi. Text je tak vhledem do způsobu vládnutí (nejen) na Slovensku (a nejen) v uplynulém období – ukazuje, jak rozumné přístupy a řešení vždy podléhají politickému kalkulu. Nejpoctivěji vyznívá osobní krédo Mikuláše Huby, které by se dalo shrnout jako: Pracovat a nebát se, stát si za svým. ; The title of this article precisely captures its essence – it is a review of the political career of its author, member of the Slovak Parliament and twice-chairman of the environmental committee. We learn about last year's events, and especially what was happening inside the walls of the Parliament. The text is also an insight into governance (not exclusively) in the Slovak Republic (and not only) in the recent period – it shows how reasonable approaches and solutions are always subject to political calculus. The honest-sounding personal credo of Mikuláš Huba can be summarized as: To work and not be afraid, to stand up for yourself.
IN PORTUGAL'S INTERACTIONS WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU), TWO INTERTWINED PROCESSES, WHICH SEEM TO HAVE A SPILLOVER EFFECT UPON ONE ANOTHER, HAVE BEEN AT WORK. THE FIRST PROCESS IS THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF PORTUGAL SINCE THE MID-1970'S. THE SECOND IS THAT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION, WHICH WAS CRUCIAL FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF PORTUGUESE DEMOCRACY DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY PLAYED A MONITORING ROLE. THE FIRST PERIOD WAS MARKED BY THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. ALTHOUGH PARLIAMENT PARTICIPATED IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, IT WAS NOT A DOMINANT ACTOR DUE TO THE INEXPERIENCE OF THE MP'S, THE LACK OF INFORMATION, AND GOVERNMENTAL INSTABILITY. THE SECOND PHASE, AFTER 1986 UNTIL THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SEM, GRADUALLY TRANSFORMED THE ATTITUDE OF THE MP'S. THE PREVIOUS PROBLEMS WERE OVERCOME, AND PARLIAMENTARY WORK BECOME MORE PROFESSIONALIZED AND MORE ROUTINE. BUT IT WAS ONLY IN 1992 THAT THE PARLIAMENTARY ELITE BEGAN TO BE MORE ACTIVE IN THE PROCESS OF MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN PORTUGAL. INSTITUTIONALLY, THE PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENT HAS DEVELOPED A MORE EFFICIENT PROCEDURE FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION. THE COMMITTEE OF EUROPEAN AFFAIRS IS NOW QUITE EXPERIENCED AND INCLUDES WELL-QUALIFIED EUROPEANISTS WHO UNDERSTAND THE EU'S INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK.
In this paper, we explore how sociocultural changes were reflected in the parliamentary record, a genre that combines elements of spoken, written and written-to-be-spoken discourses. Our main interests are in the processes of linguistic colloquialization and democratization, understood broadly as tendencies towards greater informality and equality in language use. Previous diachronic studies have established that written language has increasingly adopted features associated with spoken language, although genre and register differences are considerable. Our starting point is that as Parliament has become more demographically representative and as prescriptive norms have loosened in society on the whole, the relative frequency of informal features in parliamentary language may have increased. At the same time, profound changes took place in the practices of recording parliamentary proceedings, most importantly the introduction of the official report in 1909. Our data on British parliamentary debates come from the Hansard Corpus (Alexander and Davies, 2015). We investigate the 60-year-period 1870-1930, which includes reports of parliamentary debates and, after 1909, verbatim reports (in total ca. 40 million words). Adopting a pattern-driven approach, we focus on n-gram frequencies. The analysis first identifies major shifts in the language of the reports using unsupervised grouping methods, and then investigates in more detail the frequency trends of individual n-grams associated with spoken language, as well as their function in parliamentary debates. The findings indicate that the introduction of the official report resulted in clear changes in n-gram frequencies, which can be linked to democratization and colloquialization.
This Paper comments on the role of the Monetary Dialogue in the context of an evolving monetary policy. The discussion is conducted in terms of the adoption of forward guidance on interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB), the ECB's model choice and data revision policies in inflation forecasts, its membership in the Troika, its activities as a financial supervisor, as well as regards its bond purchasing activities and the implication for ECB monetary policy stemming from Fed's envisaged exit from unconventional monetary policies. This paper also assesses on a case-by-case basis the actual exchange of information between the European Parliament (EP) and the ECB. We argue that the new ECB supervisory role has made the Monetary Dialogue exercise even more important 'now' than in 'normal' times. Still, we suggest changes, both procedural as well as regarding its focus range, to make it even more effective. In our view, the transparency/accountability issue represented by a Supervisory Board 'hosted' by ECB needs to be addressed. A crucial challenge for the Monetary Dialogue is also to assess the optimal degree of ECB transparency and accountability towards the EP, the key democratic institution. ; Dieses Paper kommentiert die Bedeutung des vom Europa-Parlament seit Jahren fest institutionalisierten und viel beachteten 'Monetary Dialogue' des EZB-Präsidenten mit dem Unterausschuss Wirtschaft und Währung im Kontext einer sich gegenwärtig stark verändernden Geldpolitik. Die Diskussion wird geführt im Hinblick auf die Verwendung eines Zinsausblicks ('Forward Guidance') durch die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) im Rahmen ihrer Transparenzoffensive, die Modellwahl und Datenbereinigungsverfahren der Inflationsprognosen der EZB, die Mitgliedschaft der EZB in der Troika, die EZB-Aktivitäten als Finanzaufsicht, die angekündigten EZB-Staatsanleihekäufe und die Folgen der Abkehr der US-Fed von unkonventionellen Geldpolitiken ('Exit') für die Geldpolitik der EZB.
ELECTORAL DYNAMICS IN DENMARK SINCE 1990 WERE CHARACTERIZED BY REGIONAL REALIGNMENT AND DECLINE OF PARTY LOYALTY. IN SPITE OF THE DEFEAT, THE THREE SURVIVING GOVERNMENT PARTIES COULD CONTINUE IN A MINORITY GOVERNMENT. THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT, REFORMS AND THE EU, PREPARING FOR THE ELECTION, THE CAMPAIGN, AND, THE RESULTS. IT NOTES THE NEW GOVERNMENT PINS ITS FAITH ON THE EXPECTED DECLINE OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND ON BROAD COOPERATION BETWEEN PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT.
1 sheet ([1] p.) ; Signed at end: Per George Browne Gunner, to bee performed in Lincolns-Inne fields before the Lords and Commons of Parliament, and the Militia of London. ; With decorative border. ; Annotation on Thomason copy: "Nouemb: 4th". ; Reproduction of the original in the British Library.
The European Parliament is the only source of direct legitimacy of the European Union, as it is the only body directly elected by the citizens. Politics within the European Parliament has increasingly grown in importance, as its powers expanded progressively with each European Union treaty. The opposite happened with voter turnout. This paper builds on the idea that the European elections are perceived as less important by the voters' parties and the media, and are in general characterized by a lower electoral participation with respect to National elections. We analyze turnout from two perspectives: individual and aggregate level. Individual electoral models are estimated using data from the European Social Survey and Standard Eurobarometer Survey, referring at electoral turnout at National and Supranational level, respectively. From an individual level perspective, we test if unequal participation exists concerning socioeconomic categories across "firstorder" National elections and "second-order" European elections in order to understand if a potential representation bias might exist. Empirical evidence highlights that inequality in participation exists only for the European Parliament elections. From the aggregate level side, an original panel data is used in order to understand the turnout gap across elections and test the "second-order" theory concerning the European Parliament elections as an opportunity to contest governing parties. Evidence shows that a vote share gap across the two election types exists, and that large as well as extremist and parties from European Monetary Union Member States lose votes across elections. Being an EMU member as well as being a net-payer at the European Union budget increases the electoral gap.
Democracy remains the most sought after form of governance globally. The article assesses how the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has fostered democracy, human rights, and the inclusion of women in governance through providing support to national parliaments. The article explains the structure, objectives, and achievements that IPU has advanced to encourage global peace and democracy. IPU recognizes that parliament is a vital agency of democracy because it checks excesses of the government, formulates policies, and represents the public in government decision making. IPU pushes these individual parliaments to enact progressive policies to provide political opportunities for youth and women to ensure equitable representation. Its efforts have contributed to significant global gains and parliamentary leadership in nations across the globe.
This paper seeks to fill a gap in the scholarly literature by examining the operation of the principle of responsible government in the Commonwealth Caribbean both in relation to the prorogation of parliament and parliament's ability to hold the government to account by means of a motion of no confidence. It identifies a number of instances of the prorogation of parliament that have occurred in the post-independence era which were incompatible with the principle of responsible government because they were intended to avoid the government being held to account by parliament. It also examines they ways in which an incumbent government might seek to frustrate motions of no confidence and how the courts and other key constitutional actors should respond in such circumstances.
The possibility of exerting the influence on the functioning of one authority on another, provided by legislature, creates a danger of a disproportion between the strong position of one and the weakened of the other state authority. The purpose of the article was to analyse the legal instruments of the president's influence on the parliament in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. The research problem concerns the question to what extent the constitutional provisions in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine provide for legal instruments of influence of the head of state on the parliament? The presented research allows us to construct an index of the president's influence on the parliament and to obtain the result for individual cases studies.
AbstractRenewed interest in legislative 'power over the purse' has seen a growing demand in modern democracies for parliaments to strengthen their authority over national budgets. However, weaknesses in legislative and institutional reforms intended to bring about more assertive parliaments with powers to amend budgets raise issues on how parliament's role in influencing the budget differs from what formally conferred powers anticipate. Specifically, to what extent can formal parliamentary institutions be expected to advance the aspiration of greater legislative influence on the budget? This article critically considers the institutional arrangements of the South African parliament that inhibit effective execution of its role in budget decision-making. In particular, it explores three determinants: extent of formal powers, institutional capacity, and incentives facing individual MPs.
The European Semester is an EU procedure, designed to facilitate coordination between national and EU actors in planning and implementing economic and fiscal policies and contribute to sustained economic convergence and employment in the EU. Scholars have highlighted this procedure as a crucial area of EU politics for national parliaments since its introduction in 2011. However, national parliaments participate differently in the European Semester. This article investigates which factors (institutional, political, economic) are more likely to intensify parliamentary engagement at the national stage of the procedure, based on a comparative quantitative analysis of parliamentary scrutiny activities across 35 parliaments/chambers in the EU over the 2014–2017 period. The article offers new insights about prospects for greater parliamentary accountability in the European Semester in practice.
The European Semester is an EU procedure, designed to facilitate coordination between national and EU actors in planning and implementing economic and fiscal policies and contribute to sustained economic convergence and employment in the EU. Scholars have highlighted this procedure as a crucial area of EU politics for national parliaments since its introduction in 2011. However, national parliaments participate differently in the European Semester. This article investigates which factors (institutional, political, economic) are more likely to intensify parliamentary engagement at the national stage of the procedure, based on a comparative quantitative analysis of parliamentary scrutiny activities across 35 parliaments/chambers in the EU over the 2014–2017 period. The article offers new insights about prospects for greater parliamentary accountability in the European Semester in practice.
The Parliament of Georgia operates in a one-party mode. Opposition parties boycott its work demanding annulment of the results of the parliamentary elections due to mass fraud. The ruling "Georgian Dream" is trying to return the opposition to the parliament, offering to discuss and adopt a new election law. On the other hand, the Georgian government threatens to deprive the parties that refuse to work in the parliament of financial support. In the post-election period the top leadership of several major political parties has changed. The founder of the "Georgian Dream" B. Ivanishvili has left politics. N.Melia became the new leader of the United National Movement. After his arrest the internal political situation in Georgia has deteriorated.
