I. The Japanese Diet under The New Constitution

1948 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 927-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Williams
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
The People ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Will ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
National Legislature ◽  
Japanese Diet

From the standpoint of the national legislature, the constitution of Japan which became effective on May 3, 1947, contains the following significant reforms: (1) popular sovereignty replaces the sovereignty of the emperor; (2) the Diet is the chief branch of government; (3) an elected House of Councillors supersedes the House of Peers; (4) the cabinet is responsible to the Diet; (5) the “invisible government” of crown agencies is abolished.The preamble to the new constitution begins: “We, the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet…, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people.” As for the once sacred and inviolable emperor, he does “not have powers related to government,” but functions merely as “the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power,” performing, “with the advice and approval of the cabinet,” only such acts as promulgating laws, convoking the Diet and dissolving the House of Representatives, proclaiming general elections, attesting the appointment of officials, and awarding honors.

Participatory constitution-making: Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-178
Author(s):  
Sujit Choudhry ◽  
Mark Tushnet
Keyword(s):  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
Hypothetical Consent ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Constitution Making

Abstract At least since the late eighteenth century, constitutions have been understood as emanations of the will of “the People,” as the ultimate expression of an inherent popular sovereignty. In the form of theories of constituent power, accounts of constitutional foundations blended notional or conceptual “descriptions” of the People, which anchored the political legitimacy of constitutional orders in the idea of hypothetical consent, with empirical claims that the nation’s actual people were represented in constitution-making processes through elected delegates and thereby were the authors of and gave consent to its fundamental law. As part of the third wave of democratization, there was an important shift in what popular participation consisted of—from indirect participation by elected representatives to direct, popular participation in the constitution-making process. As a matter of constitutional process, this led to the growing practice, and expectation, that major constitutional changes should be ratified through referenda.

Democracy, or Taming an Unruly Friend

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Sajó ◽  
Renáta Uitz
Keyword(s):  
Majority Rule ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
General Will ◽  
The People ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the relationship between constitutionalism and democracy, with particular emphasis on the creative, disruptive, and destructive force behind constitutions and government: the people. Democracy is inherent in modern constitutionalism. The authority of the constitution derives from people’s sovereignty. If constitutionalism was designed to contain the abuse resulting from absolute sovereign power by setting up arrangements inside government, the democratic exercise of sovereignty emerged as an external constraint on government. This chapter traces the evolution of universal suffrage and considers its consequences, including the perils (and tyranny) of majority rule for a diverse society. It discusses the idea that a sovereign people has a single general will and looks at representative government as a means of balancing popular sovereignty with constitutionalism. It analyses the binding mandate and how it was replaced by the free mandate, along with the referendum as a genuine expression of the will of the people.

Laws, Liberties, and the Will of the People

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-177
Author(s):  
Sarah Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
Development Of Resistance ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
Role Of Religion

From the 1560s, tensions between Protestant and Catholics escalated and this was accompanied by a wave of writing on political and religious ideas, especially in France and the Netherlands. There was a renewed interest in the nature and origins of authority within the political sphere, particularly the importance of the ‘people’ and the ways in which their will could be both represented and controlled. This chapter considers some of the key texts of resistance theory written in the 1560s and 1570s, including Francogallia and the Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos in France, and George Buchanan’s De Jure Regni apud Scotos in Scotland. Discussions of liberty and privileges in the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt are also considered; here historically based arguments began to be supplemented by appeals to wider principles of morality and natural law. The election of Henry of Valois to the Polish throne provides one example of elective monarchy in practice. This chapter discusses the role of religion and of legal arguments in the development of resistance theories. It also highlights some of the practical and conceptual difficulties in appealing to popular sovereignty, especially in a period of deep confessional divisions, and shows how the authority of magistrates could be understood in different ways.

From the mouth of God

Focaal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (67) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Forbess ◽  
Lucia Michelutti
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
North India ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The People ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Elected Representatives

This article proposes “divine kinship” as an analytical tool with which to explore the relation between the divine, “the people”, and their political leaders and advance an ethnographically led comparative anthropology of democracy. More specifically, using the political ethnographies of five localities—North India, Venezuela, Montenegro, Russia, and Nepal—we discuss lived understandings of popular sovereignty, electoral representation, and political hope. We argue that charismatic kinship is crucial to understanding the processes by which political leaders and elected representatives become the embodiment of “the people”, and highlight the processes through which “ordinary people” are transformed into “extraordinary people” with royal/divine/democratic qualities.

Three arenas of struggle: A contextual approach to the constituent power of ‘the people’

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZORAN OKLOPCIC
Keyword(s):  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
Moral Hazards ◽  
The People ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Will

AbstractAgainst recent contributions to the debate about the constituent power of the people, the article proposes to reorient the debate by analytically distinguishing three dominant arenas of political struggle – democratic, social and national – in which the vocabulary of ‘the people’ and its constituent power is invoked. The invocation of the ‘will of the people’ and its constituent power in these arenas is associated with different assumptions, risks and implicit ideational trade-offs that must be laid bare. A contextual approach to constituent power counsels caution in dignifying pro-democratic constitutional transformations with the name of ‘the people’. It invites those who theorize constituent power with social struggles in mind to rebalance their attention to constituent power – and devote more attention to imaginaries and strategies that minimize moral hazards implicit in the vocabulary of peoplehood and to maximize the likelihood of the new order’s survival. Finally, a contextual approach rejects the role for constituent power in national struggles, arguing that constitutional theory is incapable of arbitrating between competing assertions of popular sovereignty. In the final part of the paper, I defend the contextual approach against the theoretical interventions currently on offer, and gesture towards its potential in crafting aprovincializedconstitutional theory.

scholarly journals The Power of Presidential Legislation After The Amendment of UUD 1945

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moh. Sulfikar Suling
Keyword(s):  
Power System ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Limiting State ◽  
Legislative Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
Deductive Method ◽  
The Will ◽  
Materials Used

This research is to analyze and understand the accordance of the presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 to the presidential system principles. This legal research used statute approach, conceptual, comparative, and historical. Primary and secondary legal materials used in this study were collected through literature which investigates and inventory the legal materials with documents, literature books, law journals, and legislation related to the object of research. Legal materials that have been obtained are described and presented descriptively and analytically deduced by using the deductive method. The results showed that the presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 is not in accordance with the principle of the presidential system of government explicitly separating the executive and legislative branches of power in the power system as an implementation of the idea of limiting state power and the principle of popular sovereignty. The presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 tends to weaken the legislative function, creates an imbalance between the executive and the legislature, and inhibit the realization of the legislation in accordance with the will of the people.

scholarly journals The Power Of Presidential Legislation After The Amendment of UUD 1945

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
vrijspraak ◽  
Hardianto Djanggih ◽  
Aan Aswari ◽  
Muh. Barid Nizarudin Wajdi
Keyword(s):  
Power System ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Limiting State ◽  
Legislative Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
Deductive Method ◽  
The Will ◽  
Materials Used

This research is to analyze and understand the accordance of the presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 to the presidential system principles. This legal research used statute approach, conceptual, comparative, and historical. Primary and secondary legal materials used in this study were collected through literature which investigates and inventory the legal materials with documents, literature books, law journals, and legislation related to the object of research. Legal materials that have been obtained are described and presented descriptively and analytically deduced by using the deductive method. The results showed that the presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 is not in accordance with the principle of the presidential system of government explicitly separating the executive and legislative branches of power in the power system as an implementation of the idea of limiting state power and the principle of popular sovereignty. The presidential legislative power after the amendment of the UUD 1945 tends to weaken the legislative function, creates an imbalance between the executive and the legislature, and inhibit the realization of the legislation in accordance with the will of the people.

scholarly journals MEMBACA DEMOKRASI DELIBERATIF JURGEN HABERMAS DALAM DINAMIKA POLITIK INDONESIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Asy'ari Muthhar
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
General Election ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Government

Democracy is a government based on popular sovereignty. This definition implies all matters relating to the welfare of the majority must be based on the will of the people in general and not based on the desire of a handful of people. The problems that occurred during precisely the parameters of democracy only stop the implementation of the general election. Almost never been discussed whether the policies made by the government already represents the wishes of the people or not. It seems that occurred during this time, in Indonesia, the policy made only prioritize the interests of a few people, or to order certain parties. This view departs from the reality of what happened, when the government issued a policy is often criticized on the people. This condition as a result of the lack of space for people to participate in policy formulation, there is no interaction or communication between people and state. In fact, the interaction in a democracy such as Indonesia is very important that the founding purpose of government reached. These interactions are by Jurgen Habermas termed deliberative democracy.

Politicization Bureaucracy in the Implementation of Regional Chief Election

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-58
Author(s):  
Ahmad Yamin
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Regional Autonomy ◽  
The People ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Function ◽  
The City ◽  
Role And Function

Bureaucracy is an important instrument in the country as a bridge between people and government. However, the strength of the role and function of bureaucracy often makes the rulers abusing bureaucracy for political ends, especially the perpetuation of power. The era of regional autonomy with direct regional head elections made the head of the region have the right to determine its bureaucratic officials in the region. Later, officials of the bureaucracy are also likely to be used for award of the tool in the context of general elections that followed for the next period. It is expressed as the politicization of the bureaucracy for winning the local elections. The local elections in Medan city became one example of the phenomenon of the politicization of the bureaucracy. Harahap Rahudman victory at the General Election of Medan in 2010 to form the politicization of the bureaucracy that causes power can be continued in the next period. This happens because the positions of the existing bureaucracy have intervened before to follow the will of the political authorities in the city of Medan. Own bureaucratic officials follow the will of the Mayor of Medan and keep the position or position in government institutions. The phenomenon of the politicization of the bureaucracy will give rise to a negative meaning of the bureaucracy which initially should be the government’s tool to serve the people and also lead to disruption of the bureaucratic model that should be professional (merit).

Fear and Loathing in Paris

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-104
Author(s):  
Jon Cowans
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Winter Sports ◽  
Finance Minister ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Sheer Number

In 1978, some 40 years after the practice of opinion polling first arrived in France, the country’s newspapers and magazines informed their readers that 76% of the French approved of Charles de Gaulle’s role in World War II, that 77% did not consider the pope’s moral instructions binding, that 83% never participated in winter sports, and that 36% thought Michel Rocard would be a good finance minister. Anyone who could not remember those findings for long might be forgiven, for they were but drops in an ocean of polling data, a tidal wave of information that swept over France each year. For many, this onslaught of polling data is deeply disturbing, given their belief that opinion polls have undermined elected representatives’ ability to use their judgment in making political decisions and have silenced other, more authentic expressions of popular opinion (for example, see Champagne 1990). Even those who welcomed les sondages d’opinion as a new means of bringing the people’s voice into arenas of power might still have felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of them published in France by that time–well over 500 in a typical year, according to one 1984 estimate–and many began to characterize the country’s apparently insatiable appetite for polls as sondomanie, or “poll mania” ( Jaffré 1985). Perhaps it was only to be expected that France, one of the pioneers in the creation of modern democracy, would be among the countriesmost interested in using polls to proclaim the will of the people to the humble and the powerful alike.

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