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This chapter argues that for democratic competition to be effective, individual participants must be free to contribute their ideas and express their beliefs in the input side of the democratic process and make uncoerced choices as participants in determining the outcomes of the process. Effective institutional performance trades on a causal relationship between individual participation and normatively legitimate collective outcomes. The requirements of this causal relationship dictate that participants establish conditions necessary to create an institutional environment that allows for the highest probability of achieving the desired effects. Here the requirements of effective institutional performance dictate that participants attend to substantive aspects of effective individual participation and its preconditions—freedom and equality.

The debate on the impact of women's proportional strength in decision-making bodies has focused mainly on whether it affects public policy priorities, in the context of western legislatures. This focus misses the in-between process: the impact of women's numbers on their effective participation, such as attending meetings, speaking up at them, and holding office. There is also a dearth of rigorous empirical analysis which controls for factors other than gender. This chapter provides a typology of participation, examines the extent to which women are participating in different activities within community forestry institutions in India and Nepal, and statistically examines whether a group's gender composition affects women's effective participation. It also tests for any critical mass effects. The results support the popularly emphasized proportions of one-quarter to one-third, but women's economic position also matters. On office bearing, going towards gender parity further improves a woman's chances of holding office, as do her personal attributes, such as being literate and single.

Discusses the “interim scheme” for legal representation of children at children's hearings, in place since 2002. Explores the implications of the Inner House decision in K v Authority Reporter 2009 SLT 1019 where the lack of legal aid for relevant persons was described as a “systemic flaw” in the children's hearing system. Discusses the amendments to the interim scheme to bring in legal aid for relevant persons, and presages the replacement of the interim scheme with a proper system amending the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 by the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011

Mainly as a result of the nature of criminal procedure in the Netherlands, which until recently could be characterized as a modern moderate inquisitorial system, the fitness-to- plead principle has been rather underdeveloped here. This chapter analyses how the European Convention on Human Rights, EU Directives, and the increase of adversarial elements in an originally inquisitorial criminal justice system are now catalysing the fitness-to-plead principle. Fourteen recommendations will be provided for what is considered a necessary reinforcement of the legal position of defendants who possess insufficient abilities to adequately participate during criminal proceedings—both preliminary investigation and trial—or who are even unfit to stand trial. The recommendations are based on a detailed analyses of criminal procedure law of the Netherlands, case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and several EU Directives that are relevant for the fitness to plead principle..

This chapter examines the issue of minority rights and their implementation. This is an area that has relied heavily on soft law instruments to expand the scope, reach, and implementation of human rights protection. Vague provisions of hard law instruments have been given substantial specificity in content, and whole areas—such as language rights and rights of effective participation—have emerged with their own sub-elements with important implications for minority protection and good governance. Their case study indicates that less dogmatic approaches and constructive engagement, with interpretative intermediaries, may result in greater and more sustained gains in the effective enjoyment and realization of human rights. More broadly, this is an example of the dynamic interplay between international norms and domestic behaviour, where the two orders of law positively intersect generating voluntary compliance and sustained performance.

This chapter reviews the legal framework in England and Wales for dealing with defendants in criminal trials who are ‘unfit to plead’, and considers efforts to reform the legal test and procedures. The chapter offers a critique of the present law governing fitness to plead and its failure to reflect modern-day trial processes and psychiatric understanding. It examines law reform proposals made over recent decades and how these have failed to produce significant development in the common law. It focuses in particular on the Law Commission’s recent report and draft Bill in 2016. That report seeks to provide a fair and effective process for those who are unable to participate effectively in their criminal trial and to ensure that defendants’ rights are respected.

A breach of the European Convention on Human Rights had been found for the failure to allow paid legal representation at some children's hearings. The Scottish Government responded by creating an “interim scheme” for the provision of legal representatives in some categories of children's hearings. That interim scheme lasted from 2002 until 2013, when the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 came into force.

This concluding chapter reviews and summarises the key themes addressed over the course of the book – including the elaborate and ritualistic nature of the public performances played out in court; the evident marginalisation of lay court users; and court users’ perceptions of legitimacy of the court process and its outcomes. The final part of the chapter briefly considers the implications of the study findings for policy and practice. Here, it is argued that that the position of victims and witnesses at court has considerably improved over the past two decades, but could yet be improved much further in terms of the treatment they receive throughout the judicial process. With respect to defendants, it is noted that their marginalisation within the court process and stance of ‘passive acceptance’ have troubling implications for their ability to exercise fully their right to a fair trial. It is suggested that procedural justice perspectives on court processes and interactions can help to identify ways of challenging defendants’ passivity and building their capacity to participate effectively in the judicial proceedings which concern them.

The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Fitness to plead is an area of growing importance in most Western jurisdictions. It challenges the justification for criminalisation wherever a person’s mental capacity calls into question their ability to participate meaningfully in a trial. However, the doctrine has proven difficult to apply in practice, with many legislative models represented across the jurisdictions. How best to formulate rules for the fair trial of those with mental or physical incapacity and how to manage the issue of disposition following a finding of unfitness is a challenge in most countries. These and other issues are explored in this book through the insights of domestic and international scholars who are familiar with the law around unfitness to stand trial. This chapter broadly describes the fundamental parameters and human rights aspects of the fitness-to-plead doctrine, and concludes with a brief account of the essential elements of each chapter.