Constitutional reform of national legislatures : bicameralism under pressure /
edited by Richard Albert, Antonia Baraggia, Cristina Fasone.
- xix, 296 pages : black and white illustrations
Foreword : bicameralism in an age of populism / The challenge of reforming bicameralism / I. Theories and challenges to bicameralism : multi-tiered government systems and the EU -- Bicameralism, multiple theoretical roots in diverging practices / 'Visible' and 'invisible' second chambers in unitary states : 'territorialising' national legislatures in Italy and the United Kingdom / How does the European Union challenge bicameralism? : lessons from the Italian case / The scrutiny of EU documents in bicameral systems : opportunity or weakness? / The House of Lords faces up to Brexit / Bicameralism in multi-tiered systems / II. Challenging unicameralism -- The shadow of bicameralism in a unicameral state : dispersed functional bicameralism in Bulgaria? / Defending bicameralism and equalising powers : the case of Peru / The failed referendum to abolish the Ireland's senate : rejecting unicameralism in a small and relatively homogenous country / Unicameralism and "masked" bicameralism / III. Reforming or abolishing the upper house? -- The Sénat Français of the Fifth Republic : the permanent paradox / The future of Poland's second chamber : is the senate still needed? / Reshaping the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia / Bicameralism(s) in the age of ethnicity : prospects for reform of legislatures in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bicameralism as a normative choice in the tension between its reform and its passing / Conclusion : what are we to make of bicameralism in the twentieth-first century? : the reform trap / Meg Russell -- Richard Albert, Antonia Baraggia and Cristina Fasone -- Maria Romaniello -- Barbara Guastaferro -- Pietro Faraguna -- Wouter Wolfs and Caterina Cigala -- Peter Leyland -- Patricia Popelier -- Mihail Vatsov and Polina Vakleva -- Diego Serra -- David Kenny -- Cristina Fasone -- Priscilla Jensel Monge -- Katarzyna Granat -- Dušan Štrus -- Nedim Kulenović -- Giovanni Piccirilli -- Cristina Fasone.
"Despite the importance of second chambers to the success of constitutional democracies around the world, today many fundamental questions about bicameralism remain understudied and undertheorized. What makes bicameral reform so difficult? Why choose bicameralism over unicameralism? What are the constitutional values of bicameralism? This innovative book addresses these questions and many more from comparative, doctrinal, empirical, historical and theoretical perspectives. The book provides a timely account of the tensions between bicameralism and its reform, demonstrating for the first time how this relates to the protection of liberal democracy and the rule of law. Contributors analyse the pressures that contemporary constitutional politics exert on bicameralism in an array of countries and legal systems, including the complex relationships between the EU and national second chambers. Scholars and students of comparative and constitutional law, legislative studies and political science will find this book an invaluable resource. Policymakers at national and EU levels, parliamentarians and others working closely with parliamentary institutions will also find it insightful." --