Multicameralism: Difference between revisions

In contrast to [[unicameralism]], and [[bicameralism]], '''multicameralism''' is the condition in which a [[legislature]] is divided into more than two deliberative assemblies, which are commonly called "chambers" or "houses".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/74275466|title=Democratic constitutional design and public policy : analysis and evidence|date=2006|publisher=MIT Press|others=Roger D. Congleton, Birgitta Swedenborg, Studieförbundet Näringsliv och samhälle|isbn=978-0-262-27073-1|location=Cambridge, Mass.|oclc=74275466|quote=Multicameralism remained commonplace within Europe until approximately 1800, after which most European governments gradually became bicameral, partly as a consequence of reforms associated with the French Revolution, but also as a consequence of new constitutional theories and subsequent pressures for constitutional reform}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Passaglia|first=Paolo|date=2018|title=Unicameralism, Bicameralism, Multicameralism: Evolution and Trends in Europe|url=http://on-federalism.eu/attachments/291_download.pdf|journal=Perspectives on Federalism|volume=10, issue 2, 2018|pages=4|quote=The real patterns of the past are those that disappeared because they were abolished more or less recently. Most of them can be jointly defined as ‘multicameralism’, because they featured a number of chambers greater than two.}}</ref> This usually includes [[tricameralism]] with three chambers, but can also describe a system with any amount more. The word "multicameral" can also relate in other ways to its literal meaning of "many chambered" with use in science or biology.

 

Approximately half of the world's sovereign states are unicameral, and newer democracies and more recent constitutions are more often unicameral than not. More specifically many countries have switched to unicameralism whereas the opposite is rare. Nevertheless, many current [[parliament]]s and [[congress]]es still have a multicameral (usually bicameral) structure, which some claim provides multiple perspectives and a form of [[separation of powers]] within the legislature.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}

 

At higher degrees of multicameralism, [[Medieval]] [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian]] [[Deliberative assembly|deliberative assemblies]] traditionally had four estates: the [[nobility]], the [[clergy]], the [[Bourgeoisie|burghers]], and the [[peasants]]. The [[Sweden|Swedish]] and [[Finland|Finnish]] [[Riksdag of the Estates]] maintained this tradition the longest, having four separate legislative bodies. Finland, as a part of [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]], used the four-chambered [[Diet of Finland]] until 1906, when it was replaced by the [[Unicameralism|unicameral]] [[Finnish Parliament|Parliament]].

 

The [[Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia]] originally had five chambers. After [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] adopted a [[1963 Constitution of Yugoslavia|new constitution in 1963]], its legislature was restructured into four chambers each representing the various sectors of Yugoslav society with an additional chamber representing the general population.<ref>[[wikisource:en:Constitution of Yugoslavia (1963)|1963 Constitution of Yugoslavia]] on [[WikiSource]]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arhiv Jugoslavije - The Constitution of the SFRY, April 7, 1963|url=http://www.arhivyu.gov.rs/active/en/home/glavna_navigacija/leksikon_jugoslavije/konstitutivni_akti_jugoslavije/ustav_sfrj_1963.html|website=www.arhivyu.gov.rs}}</ref> The Federal Assembly was the only legislature anywhere with five chambers, and a constitutional amendment added a sixth component described as either a chamber or sub-chamber.<ref>{{cite web|last=Acetto|first=Matej|date=|title=On Law and Politics in the Federal Balance: Lessons from Yugoslavia|url=https://www.pf.uni-lj.si/media/accetto.-.on.law.and.politics.in.the.federal.balance.pdf|access-date=2021-04-07|website=www.pf.uni-lj.si}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2005|title=The changing faces of Federalism|url=http://www.inv.si/DocDir/zaposleni/mitja%20zagar/The%20Collapse%20of%20the%20Yugoslav%20federalism%20and%20the%20Viability%20of%20Asymmetrical%20Federalism_m.pdf|access-date=2021-04-07|website=www.inv.si}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56875231|title=The changing faces of federalism : institutional reconfiguration in Europe from East to West|date=2005|publisher=Manchester University Press|others=Sergio Ortino, Mitja Žagar, Vojtech Mastny|isbn=0-7190-6996-3|location=Manchester, UK|pages=115|oclc=56875231|quote=The council of nations, which was a to reflect a pluralistic ethnic structure and to assure equality among federal units and ethnic communities in the federal parliament, was still a 'sub-chamber' of the federal chamber in the five-chamber federal assembly. Its competences were very limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lapenna|first=Ivo|date=1972|title=Main features of the Yugoslav constitution 1946-1971|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/incolq21&i=228|journal=International and Comparative Law Quarterly|volume=21|issue=2|pages=209–229|doi=10.1093/iclqaj/21.2.209|quote=Ten years later, the Constitution of 1963 completely changed the whole structure of the Federal Assembly and of all the other organs of State authority. It introduced a heavy and complicated system of five or, in some cases, even six "Councils", for which the term "Chamber" seems more appropriate in order to avoid confusion between these bodies and various other councils.}}</ref> Yugoslavia adopted yet [[1974 Constitution of Yugoslavia|another constitution in 1974]], abolishing the Federal Assembly and replacing it with a bicameral legislature.<ref>[[wikisource:en:Constitution of Yugoslavia (1974)|Constitution of Yugoslavia]] on [[WikiSource]]</ref>

 

==See also==