Costa Rica

Special Mixed Committees

The Special Mixed Committees are bodies formed by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica in order to study a particular matter or the fulfillment of a mission. Unlike the rest of the commissions established by law, these can be formed by people who are not legislators, who in their capacity as advisers, have the right to speak but not to vote. In fact, the Special Mixed Committees empower citizens, who are represented by specialists in certain issues, to participate in the debate that arises within the legislative sphere. This way, they can contribute with arguments and points of view on particular topics convened by the Legislative Assembly.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization
embedded in the constitution/legislation 
Frequency
sporadic
Mode of selection of participants
restricted 
Type of participants
citizens civil society private stakeholders  
Decisiveness
democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision  
Co-Governance
yes 

Means


  • Deliberation
  • Direct Voting
  • E-Participation
  • Citizen Representation

Ends


  • Accountability
  • Responsiveness
  • Rule of Law
  • Political Inclusion
  • Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting
Formulation and decision-making
Implementation
Policy Evaluation

How to quote

Do you want to use the data from this website? Here’s how to cite:

Pogrebinschi, Thamy. (2017). LATINNO Dataset. Berlin: WZB.

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