Johannes Bethge

<intR>²Dok

Bicameralism and its DiscontentsJohannes Bethge 2014-10-12T12:45:28Parliamentary second chambers are a common, yet peculiar feature of constitutionsworldwide. Their diversity of design and the assorted roles they play in majoritariandemocracies are reason enough for a comparative analysis, but there is more:Bicameralism – and its discontents – is in the air. Countries within and outside ofEurope have recently made attempts to reform or abolish their respective upperhouses.The lower house is the majoritarian chamber. That is not to say that we can simplydeduce the electoral law from the principle of majoritarian rule and that there cannotbe very significant differences in the composition of the first chamber. You may ofcourse argue whether a first-past-the-post or a proportional representation system ispreferable for neither one follows strictly from the principle of democracy. This maybe an obvious example, but the bottom line is clear: There are countless ways toorganize a democratic process. Nevertheless, we know the principle the design of alower house must be measured against. And we can ascertain the manner in whicha first chamber ought not to be designed.This is not the case when it comes to the evaluation of the upper house. The termbicameralism describes very dissimilar institutional arrangements. Some upperhouses are conceived as the representation of federal sub-units, some as a chamberof sober second thought, others serve both purposes. In most cases – to furthercomplicate things: the Italian senate may be an exception here – the existence of anupper house counteracts the majoritarian rule as carried out by the lower chamberthrough its composition and procedure. The very idea of sober second thought runscounter to the politicizing effects clear channels of political accountability mighthave. And the representation of federal sub-units at the federal level usually comeswith an over-representation of the electorates of some sub-units over those ofothers. As the different composition of the upper house is both the main problemand the reason for its existence, bicameralism is an institutionalised compromise.And this compromising nature provides space for manifold designs – as well as forcontestation.This is what makes bicameralism so interesting for comparative constitutional law,especially these days, where contestation of given institutional arrangements iswidespread. Second chamber reform is or has recently been on the table in variouscountries.Italy, with a fundamental reform of the powers and the composition of the Senate,is striving to depart from the parity of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies (theso-called bicameralismo perfetto). The Government’s reform bill has made it throughboth parliamentary chambers in the first of two required votes (and an additionalreferendum will likely be required).- 1 -At the end of April, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on several legal questions ofa Senate reform referred to it by the Harper Government. It rejected the authority ofthe federal government to make significant reforms to the Senate without provincialconsent.In the United Kingdom, all parties had promised a reform of the House of Lordsbefore the general elections in 2010. However, the large-scale reform attempted withthe House of Lords Reform Bill 2012 failed to make it through parliament. Thanks toa small reform in 2014, members of the House of Lords may now resign and can beremoved in certain cases.The people of Ireland refused government plans to abolish the Senate in areferendum last year.As a result of the sixth state reform, since May this year directly elected senatorsno longer sit in the Belgian Senate. Almost all senators are now delegated from theparliaments of the so-called “communities” and regions.We have asked distinguished scholars from all of these nations to provide us withaccounts of the debates in their countries.- 2 -

Bicameralism and its Discontents

https://intr2dok.vifa-recht.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/mir_derivate_00003977/Bicameralism_and_its_Discontents.pdf

Bicameralism and its Discontents

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

<intR>²Dok