Scottish Office: Involving Civil Society in the Work of Parliaments

Scottish Office


*Involving Civil Society in the Work of Parliaments*


		Publisher The Scottish Office

Contents

Executive Summary

The Project
Introduction
Civic Participation and Democracy

Part A: Civic Participation in Policy Decision-Making
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Methods of Participation and Consultation
Direct Citizen Participation:
2.1: Referendums and Initiatives
Innovative forms of democratic participation:
2.2 Consensus Conferences
2.3 Citizens' Juries
2.4 Deliberative opinion polling
2.5 Citizens' Panels
2.6 Local Case Study: Fife Council's Citizenship Commission
2.7 Summary of Civic Participation Innovations
Section 3: Evaluation of methods of civic participation

Part B: Social Partnerships
Section 1: Definitions of social partnership
Section 2: Labour / Capital models of Social Partnership in Europe
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Austria
2.3 Netherlands
2.4 Belgium
2.5 Switzerland
2.6 Germany
2.7 France
2.8 Ireland
2.9 The Nordic Model: Sweden, Denmark, Norway
Summary of Issues
Section 3: Social partnership: the wider perspective
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Political Context
3.3 The Third Sector
3.4 European Experience of wider social partnerships
3.5 Summary
Section 4: Building Social Partnerships
4.1 Mechanisms for including social partners in decision-making
4.2 Summary of Issues

Part C: Involving Non-Members in the Work of Parliament
Section 1: Overview
Section 2: Involvement of Non-Members in the Work of Parliaments Case Studies
2.1 Germany
2.2 Austria
Section 3: co-optees and the experience of local government women's committees
Section 4: Mechanisms for encouraging the direct participation of non-members
Preparing A Submission to a Parliamentary Committee Inquiry
Appearing as a Witness before a House of Commons Committee
Section 5: The Rapporteur System
The German Bundestag Rapporteur system

Conclusions

Bibliography

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Classifications of Popular Vote
Figure 2: Comparative arrangements for the use of referendums
Figure 3: Comparative arrangements for the use of initiatives
Figure 4: Use of referendums at local and regional level in Europe
Figure 5: Andeweg's advantages and disadvantages of 'corrective' popular votes
Figure 6: Typologies of Participation (Stoker 1997)
Figure 7: Compston's Index of Union Participation
Figure 8: Compston's Scores for Union Participation in Government 1970-93
Figure 9: Potential Range of Participation
Figure 10: Membership of the Austrian Parity Commission
Figure 11: Membership of the Dutch Social and Economic Council
Figure 12: Working method of the Dutch Social and Economic Council
Figure 13: Membership of the Belgian Central Economic Council
Figure 14: Social Partnership Mechanisms in Sweden, Denmark and Norway
Figure 15: Summary of Labour / Capital Social Partnership arrangements in Euro
Figure 16: 'The Scope of the Social Economy at the Local Level'
Figure 17: Charity Commission Classification System
Figure 18: non-profit sector contribution to the economy and service provision
Figure 19: Types of Social Partnership
Figure 20: Summary of the Inquiry Process
Figure 21: Rationales for Participation

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the help and support of all those who have contributed to the production of this report: the research team Dr. Fiona Mackay, Dr. Nicola Richards, Dr. Susan Stephenson, Dr Jan Webb, Charlie Boundy and Barbara Gebhardt; those organisations and individuals that gave their time and expertise, including Eberhard Bort, Gillian Bruce, Graham Smith, Stephen Young, CoSLA, SCVO, STUC, ETUC, EOC, Council of Europe, the Committee of the Regions, European Commission in Scotland and devolved parliaments, trade union organisations and women's committees throughout Europe.

We are also grateful for the support of the Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland, particularly Lindsay Adams; the International Social Sciences Institute, particularly Dilys Rennie; and the University of Edinburgh.