The budgetary impact is one of the determining factors in the creation of tax legislation. At the same time, it is not always clear on the basis of which rules, and in what way, this factor has... Show moreThe budgetary impact is one of the determining factors in the creation of tax legislation. At the same time, it is not always clear on the basis of which rules, and in what way, this factor has significance in the tax legislative process. This information gap may hinder parliament's role as a tax co-legislator.Understanding and overview of the budgetary impact of (a part of) a tax bill is indispensable to show meaningful parliamentary involvement in the adoption of a tax law. Only then will parliament, as a tax co-legislator, be able to form a stand-alone position on proposed tax legislation, have the real opportunity to make adjustments to it and control the budgetary impact.The cabinet has an (active) obligation to inform individual MPs. However, parliament often does not appear to be adequately informed about the budgetary impact of tax legislation. In that case, there is no meaningful parliamentary involvement in the adoption of the tax law, which also involves the legitimacy of taxation.This thesis focuses on when and why, according to parliament, the budgetary information provision is not sufficient for the tasks as a tax co-legislator. Proposals to improve this information provision are also being put forward. Show less
This article focuses on large-scale petitioning campaigns, or petitionnementen as they were called, organized between 1828 and 1878, including contemporary reflections and debates on this new... Show moreThis article focuses on large-scale petitioning campaigns, or petitionnementen as they were called, organized between 1828 and 1878, including contemporary reflections and debates on this new phenomenon. Although there were only a handful of petitionnementen, they had a remarkable impact—not only on the issues at hand but also on the balance of power between Crown, Cabinet, Parliament, and people. Mass petitions necessarily challenged the political system, whose legitimacy was based on elections under a limited franchise. Based on parliamentary reports, pamphlets, and other sources reflecting on petitioning in general and the petitionnementen more specifically, this article asks how petitioners claimed legitimacy, and how politicians and other observers responded to those claims. Special attention is given to the international context within which Dutch petitioning practices developed. The article focuses on three case studies, representing the major petitioning campaigns of this period: the Southern petition movements of 1828–1830 that were a catalyst for the Belgian revolution (thus reinforcing the association between mass petitioning and revolution), the Anti-Catholic "April Movement" of 1853, and the so-called People's Petitionnement of 1878, against the liberal education law. Remarkably enough, in the Netherlands it was not progressive reformers, but most prominently conservative Orthodox Protestants who organized petitionnementen. Show less
When it comes to voting in parliament, party group unity is the rule rather than the exception in most (European) parliamentary democracies. But how do individual MPs come to their decision to vote... Show moreWhen it comes to voting in parliament, party group unity is the rule rather than the exception in most (European) parliamentary democracies. But how do individual MPs come to their decision to vote according to the party group line? This book introduces a theoretical model of MP decision making in which the main decision-making mechanisms, derived from the existing literature on the pathways to party group unity __ cue-taking, agreement, loyalty and obedience __, are placed in a particular sequential order. The three empirical studies in this book assess the relative role of each of the mechanisms, both independent and when possible as a part of the sequential model, in getting MPs to toe the party group line and contribute to party group unity, and explore whether this varies not only between parliaments (chapter 4), but also by levels of government (chapter 5), and through time (chapter 6). Show less
'Where of is Mad al Mankynde' represents a new critical edition of the collection of twenty-four late-medieval anonymous poems contained, among other pieces, in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby... Show more'Where of is Mad al Mankynde' represents a new critical edition of the collection of twenty-four late-medieval anonymous poems contained, among other pieces, in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 102. Each poem is introduced with a brief summary and closes with line-for-line explanatory comments. The poems are glossed both in the margin and in footnotes. The text edition is preceded by codicological and linguistic analyses, including a discussion of dialect and dating, and by a survey of the literary and cultural background, including a discussion of the identity of the author and his audience. The text edition is followed by a comprehensive glossary, an index of names, authors and subjects, and a bibliography. Show less
