Search results for "democracy"
showing 10 items of 657 documents
Improving Civic and Citizenship Education in Latvia
2021
The chapter characterizes citizenship education in Latvia within the national education system and on the level of public interest and involvement. The article particularly focuses on a large school education reform carried out in Latvia since 1991. The chapter concludes with recommendations for further research in the field of citizenship education in Latvia, as well as for policymakers. As regards possible policy changes, the author suggests raising civic competence, and replacing the sometime exaggerated manifestations of patriotism with awareness about security issues, individual and democratic values, and the sense of belonging at different levels. In addition, an aim should be to enha…
Elected and Unelected Institutions
2015
Having broken away from the Soviet Union, the Baltic states rapidly moved towards new constitutional orders more in line with the demands of the new democratic and market-economy framework that they were committed to building. The aim was to construct the major elected and unelected political institutions that would allow them to join the principal European organisations and usher in an era of boring normality. From what was a similar starting point, the Baltic states chose very different constitutional frameworks (although the demands of integration with the Western world has led to some institutional convergence). Nevertheless all three have largely achieved their ambition of making polit…
The Digitalisation of Political Parties in Comparative Perspective
2021
This chapter outlines the main findings of the edited book. Through the study of a wide range of political parties from Europe and beyond, this book has explored the different degrees of digitalisation that political parties present, and, at the same time, discussed the main technological, democratic issues and trade-offs that political parties have faced in their digital transition. The most relevant finding is that all political parties operating in the democracies analysed have digitalised their organisations to some extent. Our main finding across several cases shows that the digitalisation of parties does not entail a homogenous process of convergence towards a new mode of managing par…
Electoral Rules and Proportionality in Spain: Estimating the Impact of some Swedish Rules Through the 2011 Electoral Data
2016
In democratic countries policy making is always framed by many procedures and rules. Some of these rules are particularly critical for allowing more or less proportionality in legislative chambers, though the behavior of political actors also matter. The rules used for technically converting votes into political representatives often exercise such an important role in western countries. In this chapter we provide an estimation of the impact upon proportionality between seats and votes that might have resulted in the 2011 Spanish general elections if some Swedish electoral rules had been applied, ceteris paribus. As we are aware that electoral reforms favouring proportionality may hinder the…
Institutional Change in Spanish Chambers of Commerce
2021
This chapter explains the evolution of the chambers of commerce in Spain. The chambers have always faced political and associative tensions, generating tremendous internal instability, and multiple attempts to make them disappear. They adopted a public model with a mandatory fee in the early days. The Dictatorship decided to convert them into public agencies and cancel their representative aspirations. In the democratic era, several legal reforms have decreed that chambers of commerce are corporations under public law with voluntary affiliation. Pressure from voluntary business associations has been crucial in this regard. Both compulsory membership and the mandatory fee disappeared as a co…
The Secondary Reality of the Media
2018
In this chapter, the author explores the relationship between Bourdieu’s idea on communication and his political philosophy. Bourdieu’s approach to communications was dominated by a paradox: on the one hand, he held communication to be a key social activity; on the other hand, he reach as a scientist for a level of existence where reality is not so much communicated as it is imposed on us. The author focuses on two central questions: Bourdieu’s analysis of the social activities as sign activity and his analysis of political representation and its links to civil society on the one hand and the critique of representative democracy on the other hand.
1977: Hopes Fulfilled—Building Democracy in Turbulent Economic Times
2020
This chapter offers an analysis of the main economic and institutional transformations in Spain from 1977 onwards. The severe economic and financial crisis that hit Spain in the mid-1970s coincided with the arrival of democracy after Franco’s death and shaped the nature and scope of the implemented reforms (Pactos de la Moncloa). While the crisis and political instability limited the possibility of making a more radical adjustment, the consensus among different social actors, unions and political parties was fundamental to the reforms. This time hopes were fulfilled and although some reforms were left pending, those that were adopted played a seminal role in putting the Spanish economy and …
Directly Elected Mayors vs. Council Appointed Mayors – Which Effects on Local Government Systems?
2016
This chapter compares the Italian and the Spanish case discussing the influence of having elected or appointed mayors on local government systems. Five elements of the local government systems are compared: the electoral system and its influences on the political composition of the local government; the local government structure and the distribution of functions and powers between Mayor and council; the role of political parties; scrutiny of executive and accountability; citizen participation. Our comparative analysis highlights that overall directly elected mayors have ensured better efficiency in terms of quicker and faster decision making processes, even if mostly at the expenses of dem…
Libertad de expresión y procedimiento parlamentario: ¿pueden una camiseta, un adhesivo, o una pancarta constituir un discurso parlamentario?
2014
Resumen:¿Asistir a una sesión parlamentaria luciendo sobre la ropa un mensaje político claramente legible, es una manifestación de la libertad de expresión, o una interferencia inaceptable en el desarrollo de los debates parlamentarios, susceptible de alterar el orden en la cámara? ¿Debe permitirse que un miembro del Parlamento exprese su opinión en el hemiciclo luciendo pegatinas o adhesivos, mostrando octavillas, o desplegando pancartas?La reiteración de estos comportamientos, cada vez más habituales en nuestra vida parlamentaria, viene desde hace tiempo exigiendo del Derecho Parlamentario una respuesta que sea al mismo tiempo acorde con los principios de un Estado democrático, compatible…