The OSCE ODIHR Guideline on Democratic Law-making for Better Laws: a source of inspiration for strengthening democracy

Abstract

On 16 January 2024, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR) published its Guidelines on Democratic Law-making for Better Laws. The creation of the Guidelines was driven by the acknowledgment that strengthening democratic institutions and processes is essential in the era of democratic and constitutional erosion and decay and the recognition that contemporary lawmaking displays several weaknesses. Based on its decades of experience in assessing legislation and legislative processes in the OSCE participating states, ODIHR intended to provide an overview of the guiding principles of the law-making process that ensure that both the process and the resulting laws comply with the requirements of democracy, the rule of law and human rights commitments. The Guidelines offer a new and rich source of inspiration for scholars devoted to strengthening democracy. This paper identifies new(er) research fields in democratic erosion and revival, institutional protection of the democratic legislative process, constitutional change, and the impact of constitutional rights. Further, based on some non-OSCE participating states related examples, it shows how the inspirational reach of the Guidelines and the research paths it potentially encourage might exceed OSCE participating states.

Keywords: democracy, rule of law, human rights, democratic law-making process, due law-making process, legislation, impact assessment, gender mainstreaming, diversity mainstreaming, OSCE ODIHR, participation, constitutional change, theory and practice of legislation, comparative constitutional law, Guidelines, democratic erosion