Les partis politiques et la forme parlementaire de gouvernement en Bulgarie, 1879–1912

SUMMARY

In this article, Maria Manolova discussed the evolution of parliamentary government in Bulgaria from the establishment of autonomy to the eve of the Balkan wars. It illustrates how, in a society with no previous tradition of constitutional government, the evolution of a mature and stable system of parliamentary politics, sustained by responsible, competing political parties, proved to be a slow and difficult process. The instability of the parties which did develop, and their excessive number, hindered the evolution of a functioning parliamentary system.     

Le Parlement et le pouvoir religieux dans le Portugal du Moyen Âge

SUMMARY

The medieval Portuguese clergy and nobility, particularly those of higher status, were the political and ideological support of the sovereign. As vassals of the king they had been members of the curia regia from its beginnings. They naturally became part of the parliament when it was created in the thirteenth century. In these early assemblies the monarch consulted them about political issues of general interest, but the clergy and nobility were free to bring forward their own concerns. Maria Helena da Cruz Coelho examines how the clergy complained to the kings D. Afonso IV (1325–57), D. Pedro (1357–67) and D. Fernando (1367–83). They insisted on defending their privileges, ecclesiastical rights and temporal power, presenting long lists of accusations mostly against the nobles and royal officials. But to give a wider perspective the author also studies the dissatisfaction that the people expressed in these assemblies about the clergy, charging them with oppression while both collecting taxes and rents and applying justice. The parliamentary discussions demonstrated clearly the social tensions of the times and allowed the king to judge and to rule in a more balanced way between the estates in order to exert his sovereign power in a pacified kingdom.     

Le pouvoir et la guerre dans le discours parlementaire (1914–1918)

SUMMARY

In 1914 the political situation in Portugal was driven by feelings of insecurity, following the revolution of 1910 which had replaced the monarchy by a republic. In this article, Maria Ribeiro illustrates the state of public opinion and its reaction to the European war. The article uses the speeches of the party spokesmen in debates in parliament down to the final decision to enter the war on the side of the Entente powers in February 1916. It argues that public opinion was driven by three perceived sources of insecurity: fear that the great powers had designs for the taking over of Portugal's African colonies; the fear that since the establishment of the republic, the Spanish monarchy might be contemplating intervention in Portuguese internal affairs and sought to compromise her independence; and a general perception that the new republic needed to assert its international status. This last consideration, the desire to establish firm international recognition of the sovereignty of the Portuguese Republic, was probably the principal factor which moved the Portuguese political leaders to intervene in the war.     

MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF MARGINALIZATION PROCESSES AT THE PERIPHERY OF EUROPE

Under the influence of the enlargement of the European Union, there is now a renewed concern for marginalization processes in rural areas. Especially in countries at the periphery of Europe, these processes often have a large‐scale and multifaceted character. As agriculture and rural areas have become dissociated, the marginalization or success of the one no longer necessarily affects the other, and not necessarily in the same way. Dealing with the phenomenon in policy terms requires tools to explicate it. In this article, we present a simple typology of marginalization processes as a first step to its disentangling. The typology is applied to Finland and Portugal, countries at the periphery of Europe. The results strengthen the idea that different processes with different characteristics are going on at the same time, requiring specific approaches.     

Parlament und Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in der österreichischen Monarchie

SUMMARY

In this article Maria Sofia Corciulo discusses the dissolution of the recently elected ‘Chambre introuvable’ by Louis XVIII, following his second restoration in 1815. The king had been completely surprised by the outcome of the elections, which returned an ultra-royalist majority. This put severe pressure on the king and his ministers who were committed to moderate, conciliationist policies, in which they were supported and pressured by the representatives of the Allied powers. The Ultras found themselves in confrontation with the ministers and policies of the king. This created a paradox, in that the Ultras, who wished to reinstate features of the ancien régime, could only do so by imposing parliamentarianism on the king, and use their majority to force him to change his ministers and adopt policies that they knew he opposed. On the other hand, the king felt he could only save the liberal constitutional values, which he and the ministers considered necessary if civil war was to be avoided, by a dissolution of the Chamber, for which there was no clear constitutional justification. The article discusses whether Louis XVIII, by his dissolution, which his critics claimed was a coup d'état, in fact secured the future of liberal constitutional government in France.