The Challenge of Adapting and Strengthening the Role of Parliaments an Analysis from an Open Parliament Perspective
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The 1996 Institutional Crisis in Paraguay
Democratic Forum The 1996 Institutional Crisis in Paraguay September 1996 Washington, D.C. Secretary General César Gaviria Assistant Secretary General Christopher R. Thomas Executive Coordinator, Unit for the Promotion of Democracy Elizabeth M. Spehar This publication is part of a series of publications of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). Opinions and statements expressed are not necessarily those of the OAS or its member states, and are entirely the responsibility of the parties expressing them. Democratic Forum The institutional crisis of April 22 to 24, 1996, in Paraguay, from the perspective of the Government, civil society, and the international community Unit for the Promotion of Democracy This report is an edited version of the original transcripts, produced under the technical supervision of Mr. Diego Paz, Senior Specialist of the UPD, and Coordinator of this Forum. Professor Riordan Roett contributed with the summary and comments included in this issue. Design and composition of this publication was done by the Information and Dialogue Section headed by Mr. John Murray of the UPD. Mrs. Betty Robinson and Mrs. Judith Horvath- Rouco helped with the final editing of this report, and JNA Design was responsible for the graphic design. Copyright @ 1997. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material is authorized; please credit it as Aa publication of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States@. Table of contents Preface.......................................................................................................................................... -
Paraguay: in Brief
Paraguay: In Brief June S. Beittel Analyst in Latin American Affairs August 31, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R44936 Paraguay: In Brief Summary Paraguay is a South American country wedged between Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. It is about the size of California but has a population of less than 7 million. The country is known for its rather homogenous culture—a mix of Latin and Guarani influences, with 90% of the population speaking Guarani, a pre-Columbian language, in addition to Spanish. The Paraguayan economy is one of the most agriculturally dependent in the hemisphere and is largely shaped by the country’s production of cattle, soybeans, and other crops. In 2016, Paraguay grew by 4.1%; it is projected to sustain about 4.3% growth in 2017. Since his election in 2013, President Horacio Cartes of the long-dominant Colorado Party (also known as the Asociación Nacional Republicana [ANC]), has moved the country toward a more open economy, deepening private investment and increasing public-private partnerships to promote growth. Despite steady growth, Paraguay has a high degree of inequality and, although poverty levels have declined, rural poverty is severe and widespread. Following Paraguay’s 35-year military dictatorship in the 20th century (1954-1989), many citizens remain cautious about the nation’s democracy and fearful of a return of patronage and corruption. In March 2016, a legislative initiative to allow a referendum to reelect President Cartes (reelection is forbidden by the 1992 constitution) sparked large protests. Paraguayans rioted, and the parliament building in the capital city of Asunción was partially burned. -
Legislative Transparency Toolkit Concepts, Tools, and Good Practices
Legislative Transparency Toolkit Concepts, Tools, and Good Practices An Initiative of EUROsociAL+, the Transparency and Access to Information Network, and ParlAmericas This publication has been developed with the technical and financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. Additionally, this publication was made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. Published in October 2020. TABLE OF CONTENTS Prologue ................................................................................................................................................................7 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................8 2. How to use this toolkit ........................................................................................................................................11 3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................12 4. Background on transparency and the right of access to public information .............................................................14 4.1 International sources: Freedom of expression and the right of access to public information ......................................................14 4.2 Basic principles -
Sixth IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians
Sixth IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians 9 and 10 September 2019, Asunción (Paraguay) Information note BACKGROUND The IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians has been taking place annually since 2014. It brings together hundreds of young men and women parliamentarians to empower them, help them build solidarity and networks, and promote a youth-coordinated approach to issues of common interest. The conferences have addressed political participation and democracy (Geneva, 2014), peace and prosperity (Tokyo, 2015), the Sustainable Development Goals (Lusaka, 2016), political, social and economic inclusion (Ottawa, 2017), and the rights of future generations (Baku, 2018). The conferences are youth-led in their conceptualization, implementation and outcomes. VENUE AND DATE The Sixth IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians will take place on 9 and 10 September 2019 at the Congress of Paraguay, Asunción, Paraguay. PARTICIPATION The Conference is open to young members of national parliaments under 45 years of age. Parliaments are invited to send a gender-balanced delegation of a maximum of four members, and are encouraged to include their youngest members in their delegation. Parliamentary staff members may also attend. IPU Associate Members and Observers that work on youth-related matters are also invited to take part in the Conference, as are international and regional youth associations, organizations and parliaments. The IPU and the Congress of Paraguay will also invite a selected group of senior politicians and experts to contribute to the discussions and take part in the debates. ORGANIZATION OF PROCEEDINGS In keeping with standard IPU practice, all delegates will have equal speaking rights. In order to ensure that the discussions are as vibrant and dynamic as possible, the following rules will apply: There will be no list of speakers on any agenda item. -
Cuba's Limited Independence Under the Platt Amendment
‘ (,,hi Limited I1,deJNndcnce I fuder the Platt Anundmt’ut 41 lization. And Taft said about the Chinese: “The more civilized they become the more active their industries, the wealthier they become, and the better market they vmll become for us.” President Wilson. who added missionary paternalism to the luest for order, said simply that he would “teach the South American Republics to lcct good men. “‘ Sonic foreign observers did not appreciate American henefi— ence. The typical “Yankee,” one German wrote in I )4, was “a boorish fellow who pursued the dollar and sensation, a barbarian in science and art, a bigoted, inctimonious hypocrite“ who chewed tobacco and whose chief amusement was )und in lynchings. Whatever Aiiiericans’ intentions or habits, their compulsion to shape the lives of other peoples while denying any desire to dominate brought tixed results. Cuba’s Limited Independence Under the Platt Amendment ii December 1 President William McKinley promised Cuba “free and inde pendent’’ status once the American iiimlitarv occupation had achieved “complete ii inquility iid i stibic iovcrnnwiit on the isl imid T months o 1 Iter the Philip pine insurrection erupted, and Secretary of War Elihu Root, charged with forniu— tong Cuban occupation policy. frarcd that in ( ;uha the United States stood “oii the crge daily of the s.uiie sort of thing that happened to us iii tm the Philippines.’’- To me cc 1c rite ( ub sn de moe r icy mel st ibmhty Root ippomnte d ( e ne ral I conard Wood the military governor of the island. A Harvard graduate with a de— ree in medicine, Wood was a friend of the adventurous Roosevelt. -
Representing Different Constituencies: Electoral Rules in Bicameral Systems in Latin America and Their Impact on Political Representation
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Nolte, Detlef; Sánchez, Francisco Working Paper Representing Different Constituencies: Electoral Rules in Bicameral Systems in Latin America and Their Impact on Political Representation GIGA Working Papers, No. 11 Provided in Cooperation with: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Suggested Citation: Nolte, Detlef; Sánchez, Francisco (2005) : Representing Different Constituencies: Electoral Rules in Bicameral Systems in Latin America and Their Impact on Political Representation, GIGA Working Papers, No. 11, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/182554 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, -
The Strange Revival of Bicameralism
The Strange Revival of Bicameralism Coakley, J. (2014). The Strange Revival of Bicameralism. Journal of Legislative Studies, 20(4), 542-572. https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2014.926168 Published in: Journal of Legislative Studies Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights © 2014 Taylor & Francis. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected]. Download date:01. Oct. 2021 Published in Journal of Legislative Studies , 20 (4) 2014, pp. 542-572; doi: 10.1080/13572334.2014.926168 THE STRANGE REVIVAL OF BICAMERALISM John Coakley School of Politics and International Relations University College Dublin School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy Queen’s University Belfast [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a surprising reversal of the long-observed trend towards the disappearance of second chambers in unitary states, with 25 countries— all but one of them unitary—adopting the bicameral system. -
Federalism, Bicameralism, and Institutional Change: General Trends and One Case-Study*
brazilianpoliticalsciencereview ARTICLE Federalism, Bicameralism, and Institutional Change: General Trends and One Case-study* Marta Arretche University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil The article distinguishes federal states from bicameralism and mechanisms of territorial representation in order to examine the association of each with institutional change in 32 countries by using constitutional amendments as a proxy. It reveals that bicameralism tends to be a better predictor of constitutional stability than federalism. All of the bicameral cases that are associated with high rates of constitutional amendment are also federal states, including Brazil, India, Austria, and Malaysia. In order to explore the mechanisms explaining this unexpected outcome, the article also examines the voting behavior of Brazilian senators constitutional amendments proposals (CAPs). It shows that the Brazilian Senate is a partisan Chamber. The article concludes that regional influence over institutional change can be substantially reduced, even under symmetrical bicameralism in which the Senate acts as a second veto arena, when party discipline prevails over the cohesion of regional representation. Keywords: Federalism; Bicameralism; Senate; Institutional change; Brazil. well-established proposition in the institutional literature argues that federal Astates tend to take a slow reform path. Among other typical federal institutions, the second legislative body (the Senate) common to federal systems (Lijphart 1999; Stepan * The Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado -
Government Corruption and Legislative Procedures: Is One Chamber Better Than Two?
Government Corruption and Legislative Procedures: is One Chamber Better than Two? by Cecilia Testa Royal Holloway College, University of London and STICERD, London School of Economics and Politcal Science The Suntory Centre Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street DEDPS 41 London WC2A 2AE November 2003 Tel: (020) 7955 6674 * I am indebted to Timothy Besley for his dedicated supervision. I also wish to thank Oriana Bandiera, Heski Bar-Isaac, Michela Cella, Anna Creti, Gilat Levy, Torsten Persson, Michele Piccione, Andrea Prat, Barbara Veronese, and all the participants to the EOPP/STICERD internal seminar, the PET (Warwick 2000), The Royal Economic Society Conference (University of St. Andrews 2000), The World Congress of the Econometric Society (Seattle 2000) the LACEA ( Rio de Janeiro 2000), and the SITE summer workshop (Stanford 2001) for helpful comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are mine. Development Economics Discussion Paper Series This series is published by the Economic Organisation and Public Policy Programme (EOPP) located within the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The programme was established in October 1998 as a successor to the Development Economics Research Programme. The work of the programme is mainly in the fields of development economics, public economics and political economy. It is directed by Tim Besley, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Andrea Prat. Further details about the programme and its work can be viewed on our web site at http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/research/eopp. -
Alejandra Bellatin VICE-DIRECTORS
3 Staff DIRECTOR: Alejandra Bellatin VICE-DIRECTORS: Naz Arin Alkumru CRISIS ANALYSTS: Maryam Rahimi Pranav Dayanand MODERATOR: Arthur Nelson 4 A Letter From Your Director... Dear delegates, I am delighted to welcome to UTMUN 2016! My name is Alejandra Bellatin and I will be your director for the Council of Ministers of Colombia 1985. Our team also consists of the vice-director Naz Arin Alkumru, the moderator Arthur Nelson and the crisis analysts Maryam Rahimi and Pranav Dayanand; we are all very excited to meet you for a weekend of debate this February. I am a second year student majoring in Economics and International Relations, and potentially minoring in Latin American Studies. My main interests are economic development, international humanitarianism, and conflict resolution. Apart from UTMUN, I am also part of the G20 Research Group and the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. In my spare time, I like to paint and my favorite book is One hundred years of solitude. I am originally from Peru and moved to Canada for university. Growing up, I always heard about the scars that cocaine trafficking and paramilitary groups similar to FARC had left in Peruvian society. I began doing MUN in the 8th grade and continued debating for the rest of my high school years. I have participated and hosted a wide array of committees, but the mixture of formality and dynamism in Specialized Agencies makes it by far my favorite. Last year, I also took part in UTMUN as a Vice-Director for another committee. MUN is a great way to learn about foreign affairs and improve public speaking skills. -
Macroeconomic Policy
Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary Antonio Prado Deputy Executive Secretary Osvaldo Kacef Chief, Economic Development Division Susana Malchik Officer-in-Charge Documents and Publications Division The Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean is an annual publication prepared by the Economic Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). This 2010 edition was prepared under the supervision of Osvaldo Kacef, Chief of the Division; Jürgen Weller and Sandra Manuelito were responsible for its overall coordination. In the preparation of this edition, the Economic Development Division was assisted by the Statistics and Economic Projections Division, the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico City and Port of Spain, and the Commission’s country offices in Bogota, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Washington, D.C. The regional analyses were prepared by the following experts (in the order in which the subjects are presented): Osvaldo Kacef and Luis Felipe Jiménez (introduction), Juan Pablo Jiménez (fiscal policy), Rodrigo Cárcamo (monetary and exchange-rate policy), Sandra Manuelito (economic activity and investment and domestic prices), Jürgen Weller (employment and wages), and Luis Felipe Jiménez, Fernando Cantú and Claudio Aravena (external sector). The text boxes were prepared by Andrea Podestá and staff from the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean, as well as the Disaster Assessment Unit and the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division -
Democracy in the Age of Pandemic – Fair Vote UK Report June 2020
Democracy in the Age of Pandemic How to Safeguard Elections & Ensure Government Continuity APPENDICES fairvote.uk Published June 2020 Appendix 1 - 86 1 Written Evidence, Responses to Online Questionnaire During the preparation of this report, Fair Vote UK conducted a call for written evidence through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was open to all members of the public. This document contains the unedited responses from that survey. The names and organisations for each entry have been included in the interest of transparency. The text of the questionnaire is found below. It indicates which question each response corresponds to. Name Organisation (if applicable) Question 1: What weaknesses in democratic processes has Covid-19 highlighted? Question 2: Are you aware of any good articles/publications/studies on this subject? Or of any countries/regions that have put in place mediating practices that insulate it from the social distancing effects of Covid-19? Question 3: Do you have any ideas on how to address democratic shortcomings exposed by the impact of Covid-19? Appendix 1 - 86 2 Appendix 1 Name S. Holledge Organisation Question 1 Techno-phobia? Question 2 Estonia's e-society Question 3 Use technology and don't be frightened by it 2 Appendix 1 - 86 3 Appendix 2 Name S. Page Organisation Yes for EU (Scotland) Question 1 The Westminster Parliament is not fit for purpose Question 2 Scottish Parliament Question 3 Use the internet and electronic voting 3 Appendix 1 - 86 4 Appendix 3 Name J. Sanders Organisation emergency legislation without scrutiny removing civil liberties railroading powers through for example changes to mental health act that impact on individual rights (A) Question 1 I live in Wales, and commend Mark Drakeford for his quick response to the crisis by enabling the Assembly to continue to meet and debate online Question 2 no, not until you asked.