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Arubber stamp is apolitical metaphor, referring to a person or institution with considerablede jure power but littlede facto power—this can be by force, or be one that legitimately rarely or never disagrees with more powerful organizations.[1]
In situations where this superior official's signature may frequently be required for routine paperwork, a literalrubber stamp is used, with a likeness of their hand-written signature. In essence, the term is meant to convey an endorsement without careful thought or personal investment in the outcome, especially since it is usually expected as the stamper's duty to do so. In the situation where a dictator's legislature is a "rubber stamp", the orders they are meant to endorse are formalities they are expected to legitimize, and are usually done to create the superficial appearance of legislative and dictatorial harmony rather than because they have actual power.
In aconstitutional monarchy orparliamentary republic, heads of state are typically "rubber stamps" (orfigureheads) to an elected parliament, even if they legally possess considerablereserve powers or disagree with the parliament's decisions.
Rubber-stamp legislatures may occur even in democratic countries if the institutional arrangement allows for it.
In many instances, the refusal of a constitutional monarch to rubber stamp laws passed by parliament can set off aconstitutional crisis. For example, when then-kingBaudouin ofBelgium refused to sign a bill legalizing abortions in April 1990, theBelgian Federal Parliament declared him temporarily unable to reign. That effectively transferred his powers to theCabinet for a single day, overriding hisveto.[2]
One of the most famous examples of a rubber stamp institution is theReichstag of Nazi Germany, which unanimously confirmed all decisions already made byAdolf Hitler and the highest-ranking members of theNazi Party.[3] Many legislatures ofauthoritarian andtotalitarian countries are considered[by whom?] as rubber stamps, such ascommunist parliaments like theChineseNational People's Congress,[4][5][6] or the ItalianChamber of Fasces and Corporations during theFascist regime.[citation needed]
Since the2003 elections, Russia'sFederal Assembly has been similarly referred to as a rubber stamp institution.[7][8][9] Russia'sState Duma (the lower house of theFederal Assembly) quickly adopted a number of laws proposed by the government without delay.[10] Theannexation of Crimea was quickly approved in 2014 with only one deputy,Ilya Ponomarev, voting against.[11][12] During theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the legislative approvals of theannexation of occupied territories in late 2022 did not meet any resistance, giving the government full control.[13]
Other suggested examples of rubber stamp legislatures include:
Reichstag –Nazi Germany
Chamber of Deputies,Chamber of Fasces and Corporations –Fascist Italy (1925–1943)
General Assembly –Ottoman Empire
Congress of Soviets,Supreme Soviet –Soviet Union
Volkskammer –German Democratic Republic[14]
National Consultative Assembly –Imperial State of Iran after the1953 coup[15][better source needed]
Federal Senate –Brazil undermilitary dictatorship between 1977 and 1985[16]
People's Assembly –Ba'athist Syria[17][18][19][20]
People's Parliaments – in theBaltic states in the earlySoviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)
Federal Assembly –Russia[7][8][9][13]
Parliament –Egypt[21][22][23]
Islamic Consultative Assembly and theAssembly of Experts (not a parliamentary chamber but a deliberative body) –Iran[24][unreliable source?][25][additional citation(s) needed]
Supreme People's Assembly –North Korea[26]
National People's Congress –China[a]
Chamber of Deputies –Rwanda[34][35]
National Assembly –Nigeria[36][additional citation(s) needed][better source needed]
House of Assembly –Eswatini[37][better source needed]
National Assembly of Vietnam –Vietnam[38]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)Duma election of 2003, reducing the legislature to a rubber stamp.
Russian elections are not free and fair, and Parliament's role in recent years has mainly been to rubber-stamp the Kremlin's initiatives while providing a veneer of democratic legitimacy to Mr. Putin's rule.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Egyptians are voting to elect a new parliament which critics say will just replicate a "rubber-stamp" body in place since 2015 under hardline President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
In the June 12 vote, the assembly – arubber-stamp body in a one-party system – approved the government's plans by 461 ballots to one, with three abstentions.