A New Form of Direct Democracy: Constitutional Conventions in the Digital Era

Şuteu, Silvia

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2511285

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In a number of European countries, the crisis has recently triggered constitutional reform processes (for example, in Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Romania and the UK: cf. Blokker, 2016;Suteu, 2015). In many of these processes, the involvement of the public has been placed at the forefront as a means of reinvigorating citizens' trust in political institutions.…”

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TheGrande Riformaof the Italian constitution: majoritarian versus participatory democracy?

Blokker

2017

Contemporary Italian Politics

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The economic crisis has triggered various constitutional reform processes in Europe, indicating a trend towards innovative forms of civic participation. In Italy, major constitutional reform attempts have been made since 2013. The article critically discusses the Italian case from the perspective of the meaningful participation of civil society and the citizenry in constitutional reform. First, it discusses civic participation in constitutional politics in theoretical terms, and places Italian constitutional reform in a comparative, European perspective. Second, the current reform is placed in the historical context of an Italian 'season of constitutional reform'. Third, the recent constitutional reform attempts are examined closely, with an emphasis on the main 'constitutional entrepreneurs', the reform process, and types of civic engagement with the reform. Fourth, 'constitutional resistance' to the Grande Riforma is discussed. The article concludes that the recent, unsuccessful, reform attempt neatly fits a repertoire of constitutional instrumentalism and majoritarianism that has emerged in the last 25 years, driven by mainstream parties, and displaying relatively little attention to civic participation in reform, while facing robust resistance from civil society and opposition parties.

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TheGrande Riformaof the Italian constitution: majoritarian versus participatory democracy?

Blokker

2017

Contemporary Italian Politics

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“…They had the task of discussing on relevant constitutional issues and to bring their recommendations to the parliament. For more information on this experience see : Suteu S. (2015), "Constitutional Conventions in the Digital Era: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland". Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, 3/2, 251-276.…”

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La política de la democracia deliberativa. Un estudio comparado del "Derecho en acción" de la participación ciudadana

Trettel

2015

Derecho Político

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ResumenEl artículo analiza diferentes formas de innovación democrática. Por un lado, pone de relieve cómo la deliberación se incrusta en las instituciones que tienen poderes de decisión concretos; por otro lado, explora posibilidades para la aplicación concreta de un " sistema deliberativo integrado", en el que los “mini-publics” no son sólo experimentos aislados de las autoridades gubernamentales para algunos objetivos específicos. Luego se centra en dos funciones diferentes, aunque complementarias, de la democracia deliberativa. La primera considera como acomodar los procesos legislativos a los standards deliberativos; la segunda característica se refiere a cómo las disposiciones legales pueden regular de modo permanente los procesos deliberativos, como “mini-publics”. El trabajo pretende determinar si es posible desarrollar experimentos deliberativos permanentes en los procesos de toma de decisiones regulados constitucionalmente. Sobre todo, el ensayo arroja luz sobre la cuestión mencionada, analizando experiencias ad hoc de procesos de elaboración de la ley y la Constitución, que se llevaron a cabo a través de "mini-publics” deliberativos. El artículo investiga entonces regulaciones legales permanentes para procesos deliberativos, con referencia a algunos ejemplos institucionales y procedimentales, en general y mediante el análisis de la experiencia de dos regiones italianas (Tuscany y Emilia-Romaña) y una española (Aragón), en particular, que aprobó el Reglamento general sobre “mini-publics” deliberativos.El artículo compara a los experimentos deliberativos de una sola vez y los acuerdos deliberativos a largo plazo, con el fin de evaluar quó opción se adapta mejor a los procesos de toma de decisiones en los sistemas constitucionales contemporáneos.El objetivo del análisis comparado de distintos ejemplos teóricos y prácticos de estas innovaciones democráticas es doble: por un lado, demuestra que la democracia - como una herramienta de gobierno - podría ser reestructurada en aspectos concretos, para adaptarse mejor a las necesidades modernas; por otra parte, ayuda a explorar la realidad con el propósito de imaginar lo que la democracia constitucional puede significar y podría ser en el futuro. Abstract The article analyzes different forms of democratic innovation. On the one side, it highlights how deliberation is embedded in institutions that hold concrete decision-making powers; on the other side, it explores possibilities for the concrete implementation of an “integrated deliberative system”, in which mini-publics are not only isolated experimentations of the governmental authorities conducted for some specific targets.It then focuses on two different albeit complementary features of deliberative democracy. The first regards how to accommodate law-making processes to deliberative standards; the second feature develops how legal arrangements can permanently regulate deliberative processes, such as mini-publics. The paper aims to ascertain whether it is possible to fit permanent deliberative experiments into constitutionally regulated decision-making processes.Primarily, the essay shed light on the above mentioned question by analyzing ad hoc experiences of law- and constitution-making processes, which took place through “deliberative mini-publics”. The article then investigates permanent legal regulations for deliberative processes by referring to some institutional and procedural examples, in general, and by analyzing the experience of two Italian regions (Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna) and a Spanish one (Aragon), in particular, which adopted general regulations on deliberative mini-publics. The article opposes one-time deliberative experiments and long-term deliberative arrangements in order to assess which option better fits the decision-making processes in contemporary constitutional systems.The objective of the comparative analysis of different theoretical and practical examples of democratic innovations is twofold: on one hand, it demonstrates that democracy - as a government tool - might be concretely restructured in order to better match the modern needs; on the other hand, it helps exploring the reality with the purpose to imagine what constitutional democracy might mean and might become in the future.

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Multilayered Linked Democracy

Poblet

Casanovas

Rodrı́guez-Doncel

2019

SpringerBriefs in Law

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Although confidence in democracy to tackle societal problems is falling, new civic participation tools are appearing supported by modern ICT technologies. These tools implicitly assume different views on democracy and citizenship which have not been fully analysed, but their main fault is their isolated operation in non-communicated silos. We can conceive public knowledge, like in Karl Popper's World 3, as distributed and connected in different layers and by different connectors, much as it happens with the information in the web or the data in the linked data cloud. The interaction between people, technology and data is still to be defined before alternative institutions are founded, but the so called linked democracy should rest on different layers of interaction: linked data, linked platforms and linked ecosystems; a robust connectivity between democratic institutions is fundamental in order to enhance the way knowledge circulates and collective decisions are made. Keywords Linked democracy Á Multilayered linked democracy Á Linked data Á Linked platforms Á Linked ecosystems Á World 3 Á Institutions 3.1 Introduction Contemporary democracies face growing scepticism about their capacity to manage complex societal problems. Financial crises, inequality and poverty, climate change and armed conflicts routinely test the resilience of our democratic systems. Researchers are predominantly expressing concern about the developments of the last decade. Larry Diamond draws from Freedom House data to argue that we are in a 'mild but protracted democratic recession' since 2006 (Diamond 2015, 144). Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk analyse World Values Surveys to conclude that citizens in Western democracies have 'become more cynical about the value of

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A New Form of Direct Democracy: Constitutional Conventions in the Digital Era

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

TheGrande Riformaof the Italian constitution: majoritarian versus participatory democracy?

TheGrande Riformaof the Italian constitution: majoritarian versus participatory democracy?

La política de la democracia deliberativa. Un estudio comparado del "Derecho en acción" de la participación ciudadana

Multilayered Linked Democracy

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