The Logic of Self-Regulating Consensual Democracy: No Confidence Motions in Post-communist Romania

This article argues that no confidence motions passed in the last few years in the Romanian Parliament can be interpreted as the transformation of a dysfunctional majoritarian dimension of a consensus democracy into a consensual dimension. For years, the Cabinet had been in a dominant position over...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studia Politica (Bucuresti) 2022, Vol.22 (2), p.287-309
Main Author: Pavel, Dan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cabinet
Censure
Communism
Confidence
Democracy
Electoral systems
Governance
Government/Political systems
History
Legislatures
Local History / Microhistory
No confidence motions & votes
Opposition parties
Parliaments
Political history
Political systems
Politics
Post-Communist Transformation
Postcommunist societies
Prime ministers
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article argues that no confidence motions passed in the last few years in the Romanian Parliament can be interpreted as the transformation of a dysfunctional majoritarian dimension of a consensus democracy into a consensual dimension. For years, the Cabinet had been in a dominant position over the Parliament, and no confidence votes had no chance to be passed. But in time the quality of the parliamentary parties in power and in opposition improved, and the legislature started to be more and more relevant. The history of no confidence motions in post-communist Romania is relevant. The correction of the dysfunctional dimensions of democracy resulted in dramatic changes of cabinets and executive coalitions. This article will analyze and explain how a succession of no confidence motions (in Romanian – moțiuni de cenzură, in English – “motions of censure”) transformed the nature of the political system and of democracy.
ISSN:1582-4551