Parliment, "changing the rules of the game as they go along"...
Quotes chosen are highlighted by ➡️ and spaced out as a paragraph...
Page Title: The real reason behind the Czech upper house.
➡️ Wiktor Osiacynski has compared the predicament of post-Communist parliaments to that of football players changing the rules of the game as they go along.
This metaphor is not only colourful, it also pinpoints the key problem of constitutional transition; lawmakers need to pass a massive volume of reform legislation while at the same time creating the fundamental institutions of democracy, one purpose of which is to assure that legislative changes occur only gradually.
➡️ To put it in its most paradoxical form, the transition from totalitarianism to democracy cannot be achieved through the institutions of democracy.
http://cepl.eu/senate-anyone.html #Quote
- Matěj Cepl 🇪🇺 🇨🇿 🇺🇦
@mcepl
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Other parts of the page interesting:
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➡️ " Most political scientists, though, take a more realistic approach, defining a constitution in procedural terms, as a set of rules that are difficult to adopt and amend. The function of this rigidity is to make the constitutional order secure, predictable, stable. "
"Some of the more philosophically inclined pundits pointed out that an effective Senate acts as a futer. As far back as the Greek tradition, the upper house of the legislature was conceived of as a body of wise elders charged with winnowing out poorly crafted or opportunistic bills passed by the impetuous democratic majority. As described above, the second chamber also has a braking function, insuring against the over-hasty adoption of laws and increasing the likelihood that they will be the result of mature deliberation. Though such a system takes a way from the speed and volume of legislative production, it should add to the quality of legislation. Moreover, it is. well-known that parliaments oscillate spasmod"
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Shortened versions might be
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A constitution in procedural terms, is a set of rules that are difficult to adopt and amend.
The function of this rigidity is not to change but make the constitutional order secure, predictable, stable. So less change or change that benefits those inside more adapted rather than serving the outside and accept ever changing reform after reform.
Democracy cannot be achieved through only institutions of democracy.
