While the constitutional reform process in Iceland received a considerable amount of attention in the foreign media the failure of the reform process has received hardly any mention. Adopting the new constitution required two votes in parliament with an election held in the interim. However, the session came to an end without a vote on the constitution. Instead the parliamentary party leaders negotiated an agreement about a procedure for amending the constitution in a new session of parliament following the upcoming parliamentary election to be held on April 27.
Archive for the ‘Constitution’ Category
Lawyers & Constitutions
In Constitution on February 14, 2013 at 5:16 amBrowsing the last 40 years of the European Journal of Political Research (don’t ask why!) I noticed this bit about political scientists, jurists, and constitution. I’ve tried to make the same point here before but Maurice Duverger (1980) does it far more elegantly than I have:
It is not usual for political scientists to construct analytical models defined initially by constitutions. However, no-one would dream of watching a game of football or of bridge without taking into account the rules of the game. They constitute a fundamental aspect of the players’ strategy and tactics, the framework of which they define. Jurists have obscured this deep nature of constitutions by considering them as sacred texts, capable of only one interpretation, which would be “true”, while the others were “false”. What I mean of course is that each commentator believes his interpretation – which differs from that of his colleagues ~ to be the only true one. In actual fact, the interpretation of a constitution cannot be separated from the interrelationship of political forces to which it is applied. If the interrelationship varies, the structure and functioning of the form of government established by the constitution vary at the same time.
What was the Report about?
In Constitution on January 8, 2013 at 8:57 amIn previous posts I have criticized the lack of consultation with political scientists in the constitutional reform process. I have further documented my concerns in comments to the legislative committee (in Icelandic) in charge of dealing with the proposal. Others, including the President of Iceland in his New Year’s address, have echoed these concerns. Naturally, the president’s address drew far more attention to the issue than my comments. As before several proponents of the proposed constitutions, including my former colleagues Thorvaldur Gylfason and Svanur Kristjansson, whose response has essentially been that the proposed constitution has been endorsed by the foremost experts on constitutions in a report on the proposal which can be found here. That struck me as strange and I re-read the report.
Where things stand and how we got there
In Constitution on November 18, 2012 at 1:37 amFor those that haven’t been paying very close attention to the constitutional reform process here is a brief summary of the process so far and where things stand now. Read the rest of this entry »
The Crowd-Sourced Constitution
In Constitution on November 16, 2012 at 8:25 amA lot of the foreign press seemed obsessed with the proposal for a new constitution being crowd-sourced – and the council seemed more than happy to play along. While it is probably true that the council paid more attention to comments submitted via facebook than, say, scholars of electoral systems, this video kinda says everything that needs to be said (around min. 11.40).
The Constitutional Council & Political Science
In Constitution on November 15, 2012 at 8:03 amLast Friday I gave a talk in a seminar series about the constitutional reform at the University of Iceland along with three faculty members at the university. The four talks addressed the question whether the members of Althingi were bound by the results of the consultative referendum held on the proposal of the constitutional assembly. Amendments to the constitution must be approved by Althingi twice with an election being held in between the two votes. In short, I think it is fair to say that none of the speakers thought that Althingi should simply adopt the proposal without further scrutiny. Read the rest of this entry »
The Human Rights Chapter
In Constitution on July 28, 2011 at 9:40 pmOne aspect of the constitution that has been expanded substantially in the council’s proposal has to do with the rights of citizens. While noble in their aims, these proposals strike me as unnecessary at best and troublesome at worst. Why?
Counselling the Council
In Constitution on July 23, 2011 at 5:53 pmThe constitutional council claims to have consulted a number of experts in coming up with its proposals. I was curious to find out who these experts were since I had offered the council to help them find experts that might be able to provide useful advice – having spent years studying political institutions I have gotten to know a number of the leading scholars in the field, some of which have been involved in similar efforts at institutional reform and many of which would have been happy to give their advice if approached. Needlessly to say, the constitutional council didn’t take me up on my offer. The council’s website lists the experts who have been consulted. I can’t say that I was surprised. Read the rest of this entry »
Size of parliament
In Constitution, Institutions, Legislatures on July 9, 2011 at 11:29 pmIn an article on visir.is, Þorvaldur Gylfason, a member of the constitutional council, argues that the size of parliament should be reduce from 63 to 53 seats. Þorvaldur, a former colleague at the University of Iceland, had actually asked me to put together a short summary about research on the size of legislature before the Supreme Court invalidated the outcome of the election to the Constitutional Assembly – at which point I put the matter aside and then, apparently, forgot about it. Þorvaldur’s article was a timely reminder so here are my two cents.
From an Assembly to a Council
In Constitution, Election, Institutions on May 18, 2011 at 5:37 pmDespite lack of activity on this blog, constitutional reform in Iceland moves forward. After the Supreme Court invalidated the outcome of the election, the government moved ahead to simply appoint the candidates that would have won a seat – in effect showing the courts the middle finger. And as a result the title of the blog is now outdated updated as the assembly is now the Constitutional Council. Read the rest of this entry »
Those damn political parties!
In Constitution, Election on December 31, 2010 at 4:58 amThe power of political parties has become, perhaps increasingly, a common complaint of observers and participants in Icelandic politics and many of the proposed reforms of the political system have focused on reducing the power of political parties. For example, by introducing an element of a `personal vote’ into the electoral system (usually by adopting an open list proportional representation system) and measures to strengthen parliament vis-à-vis the executive. Read the rest of this entry »
Electing an outcome
In Constitution, Election on December 31, 2010 at 3:05 amI have to admit that I didn’t follow the debate about the bill on the Constitutional Assembly to closely but I have to say that I’m a bit surprised that the method of electing the assembly didn’t generate a more heated debate. The members of the Constitutional Assembly were elected using a single national district. One of the bigger issues, e.g., singled out by the previous government, was a reform of the electoral system. Given that the current electoral system is characterized by a high degree of malapportionment (unequal representation per capita in geographic terms), is it surprising that the elected members tend to favor a single national district for the election of Althingi and the equal weight of votes regardless of geographic location? Read the rest of this entry »
Turnout in the Constitutional Assembly Election
In Constitution, Election, STV on December 5, 2010 at 9:28 amTurnout in the elections to the Constitutional Assembly was 36.77%. In contrast, the average turnout in parliamentary elections is about 87% and 81% in local elections. In this context, turnout in the election may seem almost shockingly low. However, comparing regular parliamentary and local elections with the elections to the constitutional assembly is also a bit absurd. Frankly, all things considered, I think 36.77% turnout is pretty good.
Read the rest of this entry »
Required reading I
In Constitution, Readings on December 1, 2010 at 4:56 amI guess it is time for the first reading assignment for the newly elected Constitutional Assembly. A couple of interesting (potentially) reads I stumbled upon today.
First, Roger Congleton just published Perfecting Parliament: Constitutional Reform, Liberalism, and the Rise of Western Democracy
Why two (or four) months are not enough
In Constitution on November 18, 2010 at 7:41 amIn my previous post I listed aspects of the constitution that the Constitutional Assembly is charged with reviewing. In short, it touches on every major political institutions and, as a consequence, the Icelandic political system could end up looking significantly different from what it looks like today. That is very exciting. What is less exciting is that the Constitutional Assembly gets mere two months two come up with proposals for amendment – although it can be extended for another two months. Read the rest of this entry »
Constitutions and Policy
In Constitution on November 15, 2010 at 8:16 pmThe constitutional assembly is charged with the addressing eight aspects of the constitution (from the law on the Constitutional Assembly found here: http://stjornlagathing.is/other_files/2010/doc/Act-on-a-Constitutional-Assembly.pdf):
- The foundations of the Icelandic constitution and its fundamental concepts;
- The organisation of the legislative and executive branches and the limits of their powers
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The role and position of the President of the Republic; Read the rest of this entry »
Why I won’t endorse my friends’ candidacies
In Constitution on November 15, 2010 at 1:02 amFirst, why am I writing in English about the Icelandic Constitutional Assembly. It is simple, I don’t have an Icelandic keyboard and it is too much of a hassle to use shortcut keys, etc. I anticipate being lazy enough about blogging for it to be counterproductive to add another hurdle. If you don’t like it… well, no one is forcing you to read this.
At any rate, I figured the upcoming constitutional assembly was an occasion to start blogging – if only to give save my colleagues here from having to listen to my rants. And since I study political institutions for a living, Read the rest of this entry »