Participatory Democracy and Municipal Referendums in Italian Legal System: A Model to Complete the Iranian Legal System

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Participatory democracy is considered as one of the democratic models of developed countries applicable to small local administrative contexts such as cities through the instrument of local or municipal referendum. In the Italian legal system these processes and tools exist, and the study of scientific foundations, rules and practices of all kinds of local and municipal referendums can be a good example for the scientific community and the developing legal system of Iran, which has so far been deprived of this instrument. The importance of the research is due to the possibility that the correct description of participatory democracy and municipal referendums in Italy can be an example for the Iranian system, given that the answer to these questionsn that can municipal referendums raise popular participation about governance and can they help to stabilize democracy and decentralization or not, it’s a help to discuss methods for strengthen democracy in Iran. Exactly for this reason, in the various parts of this article we will analyze firstly the scientific basis of the concept of participatory democracy, also in relation to other types of democracy, like the deliberative one. Subsequently, starting from the constitution and from the ordinary laws we will limit the research field to the local communities and to the municipalities, i.e. to the administrative units of the Italian legal system. Describing the various types of municipal referendums mentioned by national and local regulations and laws, we will propose some examples of referendums performed in last years in Italian cities and thanks to the study of the judgments of the ordinary and administrative judiciary we will try to describe the features of these referendums, not only in theory, but also in practice. Finally, it will be demonstrated that participatory democracy, and in particular municipal referendums, will in some way guarantee legal development, popular participation, consolidation of the democratic system and decentralization in Italy, and developing countries such as Iran, providing strengths and weaknesses points are recognized, can benefit from this model and can promote  their governance components.

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 10, Issue 2
Autumn & Winter
October 2019
Pages 429-448

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