Volume 4, Issue 2

The present article addresses the question of whether Switzerland can continue to be seen as an extreme case of federal consensus democracy, as illustrated by Arend Lijphart (1999). A re-analysis of Lijphart's (1999) study of the Swiss political system from 1997 to 2007 clearly demonstrates that due to recent political-institutional changes (a decreasing number of parties, growing electoral disproportionality, increasing decentralization and deregulation of the relationship between the state and interest groups), a consensus democracy with strong tendencies toward adjustment and normalization of the original exceptional Swiss case to meet the rest of the continental European consensus democracies has emerged. This development has been further strengthened by intensified public political contestation, rising polarization between the political camps in parliament, and the weakening of the cooperative search for consensus as the dominant mode of negotiation within the government. From the perspective of international comparison, Switzerland can thus be seen henceforth as a typical example, not an extreme case, of consensus democracy.

The article analyzes how the interpretation of 'universal' geopolitical ideas, especially those related to images of US power, depend on national as well as publishing and rhetorical interests. More specifically, by using Lithuanian examples, the historical circumstances of the reception of geopolitical ideas in Central and Eastern European countries are considered. It is suggested that different expectations with regards to certain geopolitical ideas often leads to misunderstanding or unreflective acceptance of new intellectual fashions. One can also reasonably doubt the straight transmission to Lithuania of the division between the intellectual traditions of the right and the left (in the way these traditions are manifested in Western Europe or the US). Nevertheless, accelerated public intellectuals' relations with different contexts created by globalization (access of the Internet, translations, academic journeys, international conferences, seminars) help to escalate these tendencies. In this, the success of post-Soviet cultural elites in establishing their forms of geopolitical identities depends on their ability to critically evaluate those different contexts.

With the intention of contributing to the comparative studies about the impact that constitutions have on the ordinary democratic political process, this article analyses the profile of the Brazilian 1988 constitution based on its contents and discerning to what extent the constitutional text - as well as its constitutional provisions - comprises public policies. Our hypothesis is that a constitutional text that contains many public policies (like the Brazilian one) is more prone to become a target of changing initiatives. The Brazilian constitution of 1988 presents a high rate of constitutional amending, with 62 amendments in twenty years (3.1 amendments per year); most of them sponsored by the Executive branch, aiming at implementing public policies. Due to the fact that the post-1988 governmental platforms have abided a ``constituent agenda," the comprehension of the current Brazilian political dynamics (especially the relationship between branches of government) passes necessarily through the understanding of Brazilian constitutional features. Such analysis has been done by means of a ``Constitutional Analysis Methodology" (Metodologia de Análise Constitucional - MAC) developed by the authors, which allows for the interpretation of the meaning of the constitutional provisions as well as their measurement.

The article is concerned with the Norwegian Storting and the composition of its MPs over the last 60 years. It asks whether a professionalization of the legislative body has taken place, and then discusses it in terms of social, economic and demographic backgrounds. To what extent has there been a replacement of certain groups, so that some are represented whereas others are falling out? How representative are the elected representatives for the population at large? In analyzing these questions, the article demonstrates how central features of the recruitment system impact the composition of the political elite.