Tag: referendum
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The Constitutional Referendum in Comparative Perspective: Same-Sex Marriage in Ireland and Australia
—Scott Stephenson, Melbourne Law School The significance of Ireland’s recent referendum on same-sex marriage extends well beyond its borders. The result, in which a majority of voters approved an amendment to the Irish Constitution allowing two persons to marry without distinction as to their sex, has sparked a flurry of debate and legislative activity in…
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Should Foreigners Vote in National Legislative Elections?
—Michèle Finck, University of Oxford Next month, voters in Luxembourg will have to participate in a referendum (voting is mandatory in Luxembourg) that raises three different questions, among which is the following: do you agree that those residents that are not Luxembourg nationals should be entitled to participate in national legislative elections under the condition…
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Editor’s Choice: Adam Tomkins
—Adam Tomkins, University of Glasgow [ICON Editors’ Choices for New Year Readings and Gifts: ICON’s Book Review Editor, Isabel Feichtner, invited our Board members to reflect on the books that have had a significant impact on them over the past year.
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Scottish independence and the European Union (I·CON 12, Issue 3: Editorial)
—J. H. H. Weiler, Editorial Director, I·CON; President and Secretary General, European University Institute The following Editorial was written before the voting in Scotland took place. It expresses a negative view regarding the prospects of Scottish independence written from both a Euro-prudential perspective and a more general normative one.
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Video Interview: Developments in Spanish Constitutional Law Featuring Benito Alaez Corral
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Benito Aláez Corral on developments in Spanish constitutional law. In the interview, we explore the constitutional implications of secession, the tension between realizing the promise of socio-economic rights and the increasing financial pressures on the state, the role of Parliament in…
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‘And the Winner is… the Referendum’: Scottish Independence and the Deliberative Participation of Citizens
—Stephen Tierney, University of Edinburgh* Only 45% of Scots said yes to independent statehood, but a massive majority said yes to direct democracy. The turnout of 84.65% was the highest for any UK electoral event since the introduction of universal suffrage, significantly trumping the 65.1% who voted in the 2010 UK general election and the…
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If Scotland Had Voted Yes…
—Nick Barber, Trinity College, Oxford [Cross-posted from UK Con Law Blog] This is a copy of a blog post that was, in the event, not needed. My colleagues have told me that my writing has a calming, if not soporific, quality, and I thought that I should use this skill to good effect by preparing…
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Leaving Westminster: Constitutional Supremacy in an Independent Scotland
–Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory, University of Edinburgh and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law; ESRC Senior Research Fellow, Future of the UK and Scotland programme On 16 June the Scottish Government unveiled its Scottish Independence Bill in an address by Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, to the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional…
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What Constitutional Future for Syria?
—Zoran Oklopcic (Carleton University) & Mohamad Ghossein (University of Ottawa) As the discourse of military intervention in Syria gradually subsides, and a political solution to the conflict seems marginally more likely, a full-blown debate about the constitutional future of Syria may appear premature.
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Ireland’s Senate Survives
—Eoin Carolan, University College Dublin In a result that defied all pre-referendum opinion polls, a narrow majority of voters last week rejected a proposal to abolish Ireland’s Seanad (Senate). The proposal, which was closely associated with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, was defeated by 51.7% to 48.3%, a margin of almost 42,500 votes.