This PhD. thesis is dedicated to the legal regulation of instruments presenting guarantees of the independence of the member of parliament during the performance of his/her functions. The aim of this thesis is in particular to present a comprehensive picture of the topic concerning protection of independent performance of the parliamentary mandate, evaluate the Czech legal regulation in force and, last but not the least, to find an answer to the question to what extent is the Czech legal regulation in force complete and effective as well as present possible alternatives de lege ferenda. Member of parliament must be independent with regard to all aspects of the exercise of his/her mandate. Independency of the member of parliament is necessary precondition for his/her ability to exercise the mandate in such a way, which will enable him/her to face external pressures, not only from the state bodies, but also from other subjects or phenomenons. Instruments protecting independent performance of the mandate also support the possibility of members of parliament to fulfil their role freely and as a result to constitute working parliament. Presented PhD. thesis deals with the topic of parliamentary immunity, particular focus is put on the part presenting protection of freedom of voting and freedom of...

Wesentliche Funktion der sich aus Art. 42 Abs. 1 und 3 GG ergebenen Öffentlichkeitsfunktion des Deutschen Bundestages ist die Gewährleistung einer umfassenden und effektiven Teilhabe, Kontrolle und Repräsentation des Volkes. Abzuleiten ist dies insbesondere aus dem Demokratieprinzip und dem Prinzip der Volkssouveränität. Ausgehend vom Wortlaut von Art 42 Abs. 1 GG sowie § 19 GOBT („Bundestag“) und unter Berücksichtigung des Wechselspiels zwischen öffentlichen Lesungen im Plenum und nichtöffentlichen Ausschussberatungen erstreckt sich die verfassungsrechtlich zu gewährleistende Parlamentsöffentlichkeit grundsätzlich nur auf das Plenum und nicht auch auf die (grundsätzlich nichtöffentlich tagenden) Ausschüsse des Deutschen Bundestages. Der Bundestag verhandelt im Sinne von Art. 42 Abs. 1 GG nur dann im Sinne einer allgemeinen Zugänglichkeit öffentlich, wenn der Bundestag dem deutschen Staatsvolk sowie der Presse als relevantes Publikum einen allgemeinen, freien und auch tatsächlichen Zugang zu seinen Verhandlungen ermöglicht. Die Parlamentsöffentlichkeit gemäß Art. 42 Abs. 1 und 3 GG umfasst neben einer formellen, auch eine materielle Komponente im Sinne einer hinreichenden Vorlaufzeit, Verständlichkeit und Nachvollziehbarkeit. Schließlich verlangt eine materielle Parlamentsöffentlichkeit eine hinreichende Beratung und Erörterung der Verhandlungsgegenstände sowie Einbeziehung der verschiedenen Interessen und Bedürfnisse des Volkes. Die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit des Bundestages ist ebenfalls Teil der Öffentlichkeitsfunktion des Bundestages gemäß Art. 42 Abs. 1 und 3 GG. Dem Bundestag ist es insofern grundsätzlich gestattet, alle Arten von Kommunikationsmitteln (Printmedien, Rundfunk, Telemedien bis zu modernen Kommunikationstechniken wie Chats, Twitter oder Facebook) für seine Öffentlichkeitsarbeit zu verwenden. / The essential function of the public function of the German Bundestag arising from Art. 42 (1) and (3) GG is the guarantee of effective participation, checks and representation of the people. Based on the wording of Art. 42 (1) GG and § 19 GOBT ("Bundestag"), parliamentary committees are in principle not obliged to meet in public. Only the meetings and negotiations of the plenary have to be public. Within the meaning of Art. 42 (1) GG, the Bundestag is obliged to give the German people and the press free access to his negotiations and meetings. Art. 42 (1) and (3) GG Basic Law includes not only a formal but also a material component of public in the sense that meetings and negotiation of parliament have to be comprehensible, transparent and include timewise a reasonable lead time. Next to this, there is a material parliamentarian public which requires parliament to reasonably negotiate the topics placed on the agenda. In this sense parliament is obliged to consider the various interests and needs of the people. Also, public relations of the Bundestag is part of the public function of Art. 42 (1) and (3) GG. The Bundestag may use all kinds of communication for its public relations.

C’est à tort qu’on a considéré que l’ordre juridique anglais ne connaît ou ne pourrait connaître un contrôle de la «loi». Si l’on y a vu une irréductible doctrine de la souveraineté du parlement, qui met en place un «règne de la légalité» froid et implacable, l’on a, en cela, méconnu le véritable sens de la common law, comme porteur d'une unique idée de «jurisdictio» à travers les temps, déployant un programme de droit tant herméneutique que fondamentalement constitutionnaliste, tout en étant en perpétuel devenir. La doctrine de la souveraineté du parlement tire sa reconnaissance d’une doctrine common law. Or, la «légalité», par ses postulats même, est prise au piège par un deuxième principe qui en émane, celui que nous nommons «principe de supra-légalité», du fait du contenu même de certains Actes du Parlement et de la considération que leur réserve la common law. Par ailleurs, la common law est celle qui a permis en sa «jurisdictio», la «Rule of Law», et par là, de s’assurer d'une «constitution common law». De son fait jurisprudentiel, comme dialectique et discours, elle vise une mise en œuvre perpétuelle en problématique permanente de toute norme supérieure. C'est ce qui caractérise le «principe de jurisprudentialité» qui s’ajoute ainsi à la «supra-légalité». Principes de légalité, de supra-légalité et de jurisprudentialité sont ceux qui façonnent alors le principe de constitutionnalité en cette constitution common law. La common law, seul gardien des principes intangibles du droit, autonome et auto-validée par sa Raison fut le premier modèle constitutionnaliste existant dans les droits modernes. / It has been one of the main legal misunderstandings of the modern world that the English legal system cannot admit of anyconstitutional review of laws. The prevailing idea colouring any vision ofits constituent parts has been marked by a cold anrlirreducible doctrine of the Sovereignty of Parliament which in turn has brought about a <Rule of Legality> narrowly definerl - far from being akin to any Diceyean <<Rule of Lawr (or Rule of (the' Law)- , thereby preventing any constitutionalist territory within its domain to be carved orrt. This half-truth has masked the real meaning of the common law, as spelling out over centuries, a unique idea of <jurisdictio>, underlying which is a programme polarized by a hermeneutic vision of itself as law-realisation, as well as being a constitutionalist backdrop to any legal system. The doctrine of the Sovereignty of Parliament derives its recognition from what can be termed as the <Principle of Jurisprudentiality>, the keystone of the <Common Law Constitution>>. Legality, in turn, hy its fundamentals, is caught in its own game, by an emerging superior principle, that of what is here termed <Supra-Legality>, if only owing to the content of Acts of Parliament themselves. The Common Law, the only guardian of intangible or immutable principles of law, autonomous and self-validating due to its Reason, did bring about a first constitutionalist model in the modern world. At all times, a constitutional review of laws has been carried out in the English legal system, albeit under different guises, now enhanced following the incorporation of the ECHR and community laws.

This diploma thesis is a sociolinguistic analysis of speeches rendered in English by members of the European Parliament. The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze the stylistic patterns in speeches of members of the European Parliament based on gender, as a sociolinguistic factor. This thesis is based on three main linguistic disciplines: grammar, stylistics and sociolinguistics. The practical part is based on a research of 100 randomly chosen members of the European Parliament, 50 men and 50 women, whose speeches rendered in English, were transcribed and analyzed by the quantitative method used for a comparison of linguistic features. This thesis predominantly focuses on grammatical analysis of parts of speech and syntax. It also deals with hyper- sentential links: cohesion and coherence. This thesis also includes profiles of MEP which, together with other sociolinguistic researches, help to interpret the results of a grammatical analysis. The practical part is concluded by profiles of hypothetic MEPs who are likely to render their speech in English.

Given that the basic functions of parliamentary Question Time are to provide information and to hold the Government accountable for its actions, the possibility of evasion occurring in such a context is of crucial importance. Evasion (equivocation) has been identified as a matter of concern in political interviews, but no systematic study has been undertaken in the context of parliamentary discourse, notably Question Time, anywhere in the world. This study applies and adapts Harris's (1991) coding framework on various types of responses, Bull and Mayer's (1993) typology of non-replies and Clayman's (2001) work on how politicians 'resist' answering questions, all of which are based on political news interviews, to the study of evasion in Australia's House of Representatives' Question Time. A comprehensive, unified framework for the analysis of evasion is described, a decision flow-chart for the framework is provided, and an illustrative example of the applied framework is given based on Australia's Federal House of Representatives' Question Time. Put simply, the study was undertaken to determine if evasion occurred, how frequently it occurred and how it occurred. It involved the classification of responses as 'answers' (direct or indirect), 'intermediate responses' (such as pointing out incorrect information in the question), and 'evasions' based on specific criteria. Responses which were considered evasions were further analysed to determine the levels of evasion, whether they were covert or overt in nature and the types of 'agenda shifts' that occurred, if any. The thesis also involved a discourse-analytical study of other factors that appear to facilitate Ministerial evasion in Australia's House of Representatives, including the Speaker's performance and the use of 'Dorothy Dixers'. The research data was sourced from Question Time transcripts from the House of Representatives Hansard for the months of February and March 2003, dealing only with questions and responses on the topic of Iraq. In those months there were 87 questions on the topic of Iraq, representing more than two thirds of all questions on Iraq for the whole of 2003. Of these 87 questions, the majority (48) came from the Opposition party, through its leader. The balance (39) was asked by Government MPs. Analysis of the question/answer discourse for all 87 questions revealed that every question asked by Government members was answered compared to only 8 of the 48 Opposition questions. Of the 40 remaining Opposition questions, 21 were given intermediate responses and 19 were evaded outright. The fact that the overwhelming majority (83%) of Opposition questions were not answered together with other findings such as instances of partiality on the part of the Speaker; the use of 'friendly', prearranged questions by Government MPs; and the 'hostile' nature of questions asked by Opposition MPs casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of Question Time as a means of ensuring the Government is held accountable for its actions. The study provides empirical evidence that evasion does occur in Australia's House of Representatives' Question Time.

This dissertation explores political representation and its manifestation within the European Union (EU). The main purpose is to examine the representative roles of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in the context of cross–pressure between the national level and the EU level. This involves an analysis of how the MEPs under-stand their roles, how they organize their work, and how they have voted in the European Parliament (EP) in 1999-2002. It also includes a study of how national party organizations adapt to the EU environment and how this influences the MEPs link to the national arena. The study is based on various sources, such as interviews, formal documents and voting data. The most under-researched part of the cross-pressure has been the national link and the empirical focus of the thesis is on that link. It is a comparative study of parties in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. In each country, three parties were selected (social democratic, right-wing and green parties). By using a focused comparative method, and by controlling for certain independent variables, the ambition is to go beyond description and identify explanations for why MEPs adopt certain roles. The overall picture that emerges is of a relatively weak link between MEPs and the national level. To a certain extent, MEPs express frustration over their limited role in the national arena and over the lack of input from the national arena in their work at the European level. Most of the parties struggle to include MEPs in their organizational set-up, and the MEPs experience a growing hostility within the parties toward them. In general, the lack of interest and knowledge in the national arena, concerning the EU in general and specifically the work of the MEPs, obscures the role of the MEPs. They become EU ambassadors at the national level, rather than elected representatives at the EU level. The dissertation also tests variables that are thought to influence MEPs’ roles: the type of electoral system, popular opinion on EU issues, whether their party is in government, the party’s ideological heritage, and if the party organizes more advanced coordination mechanisms. The main result is that the working assumption that MEPs are influenced by characteristics in the national arena is shown to be largely correct. That is, some of the identified aspects of the national political context do influence how the MEPs understand their roles. For example, the character of the electoral system influences attitudes among the MEPs. However, that relationship is not as simple and straightforward as much of the literature suggests. Rather, the results in this study suggest that the most important aspect of the relationship between the national level and the MEPs is whether parties or others (such as national parliamentarians) actively engage in the work of the MEPs. It matters how parties design the relationship between the levels, especially for how and where MEPs direct their main attention, but also in terms of how MEPs vote in the EP. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of further research into how parties facilitate the link between the national and the EU level.

Following the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) integrated catchment management plans must be prepared for all river basins, in order to achieve 'good ecological status' (GES) in all EU waters. This concept is a broader measure of water quality than the chemical and biological measures, which were previously dominant in EU water policy. The Directive also calls for a consideration of the economic costs and benefits of improvements to ecological status in catchment management plans, along with the introduction of full social cost pricing for water use. In this thesis, the primary focus is on the use of the Choice Experiment (CE) method. The CE method is reviewed and then used to estimate the value of improvements in a number of components of ecological status on two Irish waterways (the Boyne and the Suir). Apart from CE method another stated preference approach to environmental valuation is also considered; the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). This thesis determines what value the targeted population of the two catchments place on the nonmarket economic benefits of moves towards GES by employing both approaches and various model specifications, while the applicability of Benefit Transfer (BT) method is also assessed under different tests. In addition, the design of the questionnaire used in the survey stage of the research, offered the possibility of investigating issues related to the effect of cognitive ability and psychometric factors on choice. Respondents with discontinuous preferences are identified and analysis is conducted to investigate the implications of not accounting for these preferences. Finally, due to experiencing protesting behaviour by a proportion of the sampling population an attempt is made to investigate the parameters that contributed to this inclination.

This study explores the range and variance of interest group activity in constituency campaigns in the 1988 federal election as reported in the Constituency Party Association dataset created in 1991 for the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing. SPSSPC+ was used to analyze the relationships between variables in four main areas: political party affiliation, geographic variables, constituency association characteristics, and the specific issues the interest groups were promoting or opposing. The most significant finding was that interest groups were actively involved in half of the riding association election campaigns, either supporting or opposing local candidates. The cursory treatment of electoral involvement in the interest group literature provides an inadequate explanation for this widespread phenomena. This study provides an initial profile of interest group involvement in constituency campaigns. The exploration of the data revealed that interest groups were more likely to be involved in the local campaigns of candidates associated with the governing party. They were less likely to be involved in Quebec constituency campaigns, and more likely in wealthy competitive riding campaigns. The most frequently mentioned issues that motivated interest groups locally were abortion, followed by free trade.

Le Parlement européen (PE) n’a occupé en 1957 qu’une place secondaire, ce qui entraînait une grande déception auprès des parlementaires, mettant en cause ses pouvoirs consultatifs qui ne portait qu’un sens symbolique. En valorisant la démocratie et la séparation des pouvoirs, le PE pourrait sortir de l’impasse à travers l’exploitation maximale de la procédure consultative. Jusqu’à l’Acte unique européen, le champ d’application de la consultation ne cesse de s’élargir. Idem pour l’augmentation des revendications du respect de son droit d’information et de consultation envers le Conseil. Le manque de moyens juridiques de contraindre le Conseil à accepter les avis du PE, qui se voient systématiquement refusés, nécessite le changement de position parlementaire dans les années 70 dans les relations entre les deux institutions. Les nouvelles procédures à effets juridiques, telles que la reconsultation, le droit d’approbation sur les accords internationaux et la codécision, ont été revendiquées, pourtant de manière irrégulière. Les mesures pour le renforcement des pouvoirs budgétaires se voient s’adopter, de sorte qu’elles favorisent non seulement le contrôle parlementaire en la matière, mais aussi le renforcement des pouvoirs dans les questions non-budgétaires : les pouvoirs législatifs. Le droit d’information et le pouvoir de consultation sur les activités budgétaires, ainsi que le contrôle effectif sur les budgets et leurs dépenses, font eux aussi l’objet de revendications parlementaires. Le Conseil européen et la Cour des comptes étaient également invoquées comme destinataires de ces revendications afin de persuader le Conseil et la Commission. Cette présente analyse démontre que le PE, tel qu’il est aujourd’hui, est un résultat de la collaboration dans les premières décennies avec les autres institutions et les grandes figures des États membres, lesquels jouent un rôle important pour orienter la discussion dans les Communautés. / The nature of the secondary place reserved for the European Parliament (EP) in 1957 brought about a big disappointment of the European representatives and critics of its consultative powers only of, then, symbolic significance. Putting emphasis on the principles of democracy and separation of powers, the EP attempted to come out of impasse by using at maximum the consultative procedures. Until the Single European Act, the demands of the EP on respect for information and consultation obligation by the Council continue to increase. Also was asserted an extended application of consultative procedure to the issues, for which the EP had not been obligatorily consulted by the Council. Lack of legal means to make the Council accept the opinions and demands of the EP, which had scarcely been adopted by the Council, can explain the position change of the EP during the 70s vis-à-vis the Council and the Commission. The new procedures with legal effects, such as re-consultation, the power of approbation regarding of international agreements and co-decision, have been insisted, but not consistently.Reinforcement of the EP’s budgetary powers aimed not only at enhancement of parliamentary control in the budgetary activities of the European Communities, but also at reinforcement of non-budgetary powers: legislative powers. The parliamentary demands for the respect by the Council of information and consultation obligations and for effective control over budgets and expenditures were part of the EP’s struggles to be justly recognized in the map of European political institutions. When the European Council and the Court of Auditors were also addressed the sort of demands, the EP aimed to persuade thereby the Council and the Commission.This present analysis shows that the EP, as is today, is a result of the collaboration with other institutions and important figures of the Member States, which played an important role to guide the discussion in the Communities.

La rationalisation du parlementarisme se définit comme la constitutionnalisation du principe parlementaire, c’est-à-dire le fait de soumettre complètement la vie politique au droit constitutionnel. C'est le fait de normaliser la vie parlementaire par des règles constitutionnelles pour lutter contre le despotisme du parlement. Cette idée a été prise en compte, dès 1918, par les nouvelles Constitutions Européennes. Plusieurs États arabes s’en sont ensuite inspirés dans leur constitution. Compte tenu de l'importante de cette rationalisation, les constituants se sont préoccupés de renforcer l’exécutif face au parlement et ont tenté de préserver la stabilité du gouvernement face aux embuscades parlementaires. Ce sujet est important, surtout dans un pays arabe comme le Koweït, où l'expérience de la démocratie parlementaire est encore jeune, pour montrer les tentatives constitutionnelles concernant la rationalisation du parlementarisme et la question du contrôle politique. Les constituants koweïtiens se sont efforcés d’établir une rationalisation du parlementarisme concernant la question de contrôle politique du gouvernement afin d’en assurer la stabilité. Cette étude, au regard de l’expérience française permet de préciser les mécanismes de la rationalisation du parlementarisme adoptée dans les deux États. Ces deux états ont opté pour un régime parlementaire, cependant ils diffèrent concernant l’organisation politique dans leurs pays respectifs, ainsi que la mise en œuvre des mécanismes de la rationalisation du parlementarisme. / The rationalized parliamentarism defines itself as the constitutionalisation of the parliamentary principle that is the act of completely submitting the political life to the constitutional law. This idea was introduced in the new European Constitutions as early as 1918. Several Arab States were inspired by it in their constitutions. It meant normalizing the parliamentary life by constitutional rules to fight the tyranny of the parliament. The constitutional competence granted to the parliament, to watch the activities of the government counts among the major principles of the parliamentary system and is a typical element of the relationships between the powers in a parliamentary system. The constituents’ concern resulted in a double effort: to ensure, through constitutional procedures, both the right of the Assemblies to control the government and the political stability of the government. This subject is important, especially in an Arab Country such as Kuwait where the experience of the parliamentary democracy is still young, in order to show the constitutional attempts concerning the rationalization of the parliamentary government and the question of the political control. This study, with regard to the French experience, allows to put some light on the mechanisms of rationalised parliamentarism adopted in both States. These states have both opted for a parliamentary system, however they differ concerning the political organization in their respective countries, as well as the implementation of the mechanisms of rationalised parliamentarism.