Search results for "democracy"
showing 10 items of 657 documents
Democracy and Depression: A Cross-National Study of Depressive Symptoms and Nonparticipation
2020
Depression is the most common mental health disorder. It has consequences not only on individuals but also on social and political levels. We argue that depressive symptoms impair political participation by reducing the motivation and physical energy of sufferers. We test our hypotheses by conducting regression analyses of four nationally representative cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys that collectively span many democracies. Our results are threefold. First, we find that the severest depressive symptoms lower the probability of voting by 0.05–0.25 points, an effect that is exceeded only by education and age. Second, we show that depressive symptoms negatively affect political inter…
La lógica internacional de la vía chilena al socialismo, cincuenta años después
2021
The electoral victory of the Chilean Popular Unity (UP) in 1970, in a continent under major tension since 1959, propitiated the attempt to open a new path to socialism without armed struggle, but ended with a military coup in 1973. This article aims to review the various readings of what happened under the presidency of S. Allende and to explain how the Chilean process revalued the concept of democracy internationally, giving it a content that continues to this day. La victoria electoral de la Unidad Popular (UP) chilena en 1970, en un continente hipertensionado desde 1959, propició el intento de abrir una nueva vía al socialismo sin lucha armada, pero acabó con un golpe militar en 1973. Es…
La internacionalización de la Carta Magna española de 1978: signo de madurez constitucional
2018
Resumen:La presente contribución adopta como hipótesis de partida la relativa influencia de los estándares internacionales en la redacción de la Constitución de 1978 y la absoluta necesidad de adaptación a la realidad del Estado supranacional e internacionalmente integrado. En este sentido, un primer enfoque permite comprobar que, a pesar del juego potencial de las disposiciones constitucionales de apertura internacional, y tras cuatro décadas de vigencia de la Carta Magna Española de 1978, la justicia constitucional y la doctrina constitucionalista no han mostrado una actitud clara y abierta hacia las exigencias jurídicas internacionales, con la excepción de un relativo entusiasmo hacia lo…
Algunas propuestas graduales de democratización del procedimiento de reforma constitucional
2020
AbstractIn recent years, a part of the Spanish constitutional doctrine has focused its attention on the procedure of constitutional reform of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 suggesting diverse reform proposals. Practically all of the researchers who have dedicated efforts to this issue start their analysis from a conception of the Constitution according to which the constitution-making process is considered secondary, if not irrelevant, or playing down the possibility of direct citizen participation. The goal of this article is to present a series of gradual proposals for democratizing the constitutional reform procedure from a differentiated approach of the one commonly defended by the ma…
After the Referendum
2015
During the years 2011–2014, Latvia experienced a significant increase in the adoption and use of militant democracy measures—constitutional amendments, refusals of party registration, restrictions on referendums and popular initiatives. These events, triggered by a widely attended referendum on the introduction of Russian as the second state language, highlighted the problematic relations between democracy and nation-building in Latvia. Despite earlier expectations that the original militancy of Latvian democracy would decrease with the gradual integration of the Russophone minority, recent developments show that the defence of a particular type of nation-building has become an integral pa…
Catholics in the Irish Parliament: Daniel O'Connell and his influence in Italy
2014
Daniel O'Connell (Cahersiveen 1775 - Genoa 1847), an Irish politician and patriot, fought for Catholic Emancipation, to repeal the penal laws discriminating Irish Catholics and the Act of Union. Believing firmly in non-violence, he defended the representation of Irish Catholics in Parliament as the most appropriate instrument to support their rights. His thoughts and actions were spread and known in Italy and Europe while some Catholics were arguing on a possible reconciliation between religion and freedom and on the resulting openness to the principles of democracy and to the problem of representation. The Theatine Gioacchino Ventura from Palermo, one of the leaders of the Sicilian 1848 re…
Les institutions italiennes à travers les analyses de Luigi Sturzo (1871-1959)
2013
From the 1950s Luigi Sturzo captured the dysfunctions of the democratic system instituted in Italy. He courageously denounced the evils that afflicted the newborn democracy. The strange relationship between government and opposition, the growing importance of the parties, the proliferation of legislation, the reversal of functions between parliament and government, the reform of the Senate, are just some of the problems identified by Sturzo. His criticism, however, was not pointless but proactive in the meaning that he diagnosed in weaknesses and indicated the means for a better and more efficient working of institutions in a democratic country without making it necessary to undermine the c…
Preferences for Referenda: Intrinsic or Instrumental? Evidence from a Survey Experiment
2019
The call for more direct democracy, and referenda in particular, is often heard and met with support from large numbers of citizens in many countries. This article explores the motives for supporting referenda: Do citizens support them for intrinsic reasons, because referenda allow them to exercise their democratic rights more directly? Or are preferences for referenda predominantly based on the expectation that they will produce desired policy outcomes and thus instrumentally motivated? Our survey experiment explores such instrumental preferences by assessing how substantial policy preferences affect individuals’ choice of referenda over alternative decision-making procedures. We show tha…
Reflexiones sobre una eventual reforma constitucional de los institutos de democracia directa y semidirecta
2017
Resumen:Pese a la teórica vinculación de la participación directa a la idea de democracia, la constituyente española fue extraordinariamente prudente en la regulación de los institutos de democracia semidirecta por temor de la izquierda a la repetición de las negativas experiencias históricas en el uso del referéndum; su decidida opción por la democracia representativa quedo fuera de toda duda en los debates parlamentarios. Por ello el texto de 1978 es extraordinariamente sobrio en la aceptación tanto de la iniciativa popular como del referéndum. Y no lo ha sido menos la práctica durante 40 años de estos instrumentos.Sin embargo, las más recientes formaciones políticas presentes en el Parla…
¿Se han hecho más democráticos los partidos en España? La evolución en las reglas de elección del líder (1977-2008)
2011
En este trabajo, los autores verifican si, entre 1977 y 2008, ha habido un aumento de la democracia interna en los principales partidos políticos españoles. Para ello, analizan el proceso de selección del líder, al tiempo que cuestionan si ha habido un incremento de la igualdad en la participación para elegirlo, favoreciendo sistemas representativos o de elección directa. El artículo plantea también la hipótesis de si el grado de igualdad en las reglas de la elección influye en el grado de competencia en la lucha por el liderazgo del partido. Para comprobar tal supuesto, los autores examinan las condiciones de elegibilidad así como la representatividad del cuerpo electoral que escoge al líd…