Pregledni rad

Second chamber - state, mission, perspectives

Petar Bačić

Sažetak

According to the statistics of the Inter-parliamentary Union, an international organisation which assembles parliaments (representative bodies, legislature) of sovereign states, currently in the world there are 187 parliaments of which 112 have a single chamber and 75 have dual chambers. In this paper, the author focuses on dual chambers, that is, on the analysis of the second chamber. Among second chambers there are certain similarities and yet large differences also. They have common roots. It is certain that the bicameralism system began from the ancient intellectual inheritance because it was precisely then that the fundamental ideas were shaped and it is on these ideas that the whole concept of bicameralism is based even today. However, on the other hand, among second chambers today there are large differences in regard to function, size, composition, constitutional powers etc. Dual parliamentary chambers exist in federal but also in unitary states; they exist in the richest states in the world and also in the poorest, and they are as equally favoured by authoritarian regimes as they are in developed democracies. In this paper, the basic characteristics of second chambers are identified as are the differences between them. In the final section, the author also analyses the Croatian bicameralism experience and puts it into a wider context.

Ključne riječi

parliament; bicameralism; second chamber

Hrčak ID:

37656

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/37656

Datum izdavanja:

15.1.2007.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 1.861 *