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{{Short description|Political metaphor}}{{Redirect|Puppet parliament|“puppet government“|Puppet state}}{{multiple issues|{{Political POV|date=April 2023}}{{Globalize|1=article|date=October 2023}}{{More citations needed|date=October 2023}}}}A rubber stamp is a political metaphor, referring to a person or institution with considerable de jure power but little de facto power — one that rarely or never disagrees with more powerful organizations.Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, {{ISBN|0-671-41809-2}} - page 1242 - “*rubber-stamp 2. [Colloq.] to approve or endorse in a routine manner, without thought - *rubber stamp - 2. [Colloq.] a) a person, bureau, legislature, etc., that approves or endorses something in a routine manner, without thought, b) any routine approval” Historian Edward S. Ellis used the term toy parliament to describe a rubber-stamp legislature.

Function

In situations where this superior official’s signature may frequently be required for routine paperwork, a literal rubber 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 a constitutional monarchy or parliamentary republic, heads of state are typically “rubber stamps” (or figureheads) to an elected parliament, even if they legally possess considerable reserve powers or disagree with the parliament’s decisions.Rubber-stamp legislatures may occur even in democratic countries if the institutional arrangement allows for it.

Examples

In many instances, the refusal of a constitutional monarch to rubber stamp laws passed by parliament can set off a constitutional crisis. For example, when then-king Baudouin of Belgium, because of his religious objections, refused to sign a bill legalizing abortions in April 1990, the Belgian Federal Parliament declared him temporarily unable to reign. That effectively transferred his powers to the Cabinet for a single day, consequentially overriding his veto.NEWS, Montgomery, Paul, 5 April 1990, Belgian King, Unable to Sign Abortion Law, Takes Day Off,www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/world/belgian-king-unable-to-sign-abortion-law-takes-day-off.html, 12 March 2022, New York Times,

Legislatures

Historian Edward S. Ellis described Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire as a toy parliament. It was created in 1876 with the sole purpose of appeasing the European powers.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}One of the most famous examples of a rubber stamp institution is the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which unanimously confirmed all decisions already made by Adolf Hitler and the highest-ranking members of the Nazi Party.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Many legislatures of authoritarian and totalitarian countries are considered{{By whom|date=April 2023}} as rubber stamps, such as communist parliaments like the Chinese National People’s Congress,{{Citation |last1=Martin |first1=Shane |title=Authoritarian Legislatures |date=1 January 2014 |work=The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies |editor-last=Martin |editor-first=Shane |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199653010.013.0004 |isbn=978-0-19-965301-0 |last2=Saalfeld |first2=Thomas |last3=Strøm |first3=Kaare W. |last4=Schuler |first4=Paul |last5=Malesky |first5=Edmund J. |editor2-last=Saalfeld |editor2-first=Thomas |editor3-last=Strøm |editor3-first=Kaare W.}}NEWS, 16 March 2017, Nothing to see but comfort for Xi at China’s annual parliament, Reuters,www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-xi-analysis/nothing-to-see-but-comfort-for-xi-at-chinas-annual-parliament-idUSKBN16M1U3, live, 4 March 2018,web.archive.org/web/20180305063039/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-xi-analysis/nothing-to-see-but-comfort-for-xi-at-chinas-annual-parliament-idUSKBN16M1U3, 5 March 2018, NEWS, Wee, Sui-Lee, 1 March 2018, China’s Parliament Is a Growing Billionaires’ Club, en-US, The New York Times,www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/business/china-parliament-billionaires.html, live, 4 March 2018,web.archive.org/web/20180303211107/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/business/china-parliament-billionaires.html, 3 March 2018, 0362-4331, or the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations during the Fascist regime.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}Since the 2003 elections, Russia’s Federal Assembly has been similarly referred to as a rubber stamp institution.BOOK, Rosefielde, Steven, Hedlund, Stefan, Russia Since 1980, 2009, Cambridge University Press, 9780521849135, 174,books.google.com/books?id=lNSiw3S8NIUC&dq=rubber+stamp+%22federal+assembly%22+of+russia+inpublisher:university+inpublisher:press&pg=PA174, 16 June 2023, Duma election of 2003, reducing the legislature to a rubber stamp., NEWS, Troianovski, Anton, Anton Troianovski, Nechepurenko, Ivan, Ivan Nechepurenko, 19 September 2021, Russian Election Shows Declining Support for Putin’s Party, en, The New York Times,www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/world/europe/russia-election-google.html, 27 September 2021, 0362-4331,web.archive.org/web/20210920000513/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/world/europe/russia-election-google.html, 20 September 2021, 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., JOURNAL,prutland.faculty.wesleyan.edu/files/2015/07/Rutland-China-Russia-Compared.pdf, Polis, Moscow, 3, June 2009, 165–176, Post-socialist states and the evolution of a new development model: Russia and China compared, Peter, Rutland, Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly) quickly adopted a number of laws proposed by the government without delay.WEB, 27 November 2011, Duma Ends in Rubber-Stamp Ruling Frenzy,www.themoscowtimes.com/2011/11/27/duma-ends-in-rubber-stamp-ruling-frenzy-a11042, 23 October 2023, The Moscow Times, The annexation of Crimea was quickly approved in 2014 with only one deputy, Ilya Ponomarev, voting against.WEB, Gorelova, Anastasia,www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-ponomaryov-idUSBREA2O17720140325, Russian deputy isolated after opposing Crimea annexation, Reuters, 25 March 2014, 24 December 2015, WEB, Williams, Stuart, 7 March 2014, Russian Parliament Will Vote Crimea Referendum ‘Into Law’,www.businessinsider.com/russian-parliament-will-vote-crimea-referendum-into-law-2014-3, 23 October 2023, Business Insider, en-US, During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the legislative approvals of the annexation of occupied territories in late 2022 did not meet any resistance, giving the government full control.WEB, Joshua, Berlinger, Olga, Voitovych, 3 October 2022, Russian Parliament begins process to rubber-stamp annexations as Moscow struggles to define borders,www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/europe/russia-ukraine-annexation-intl/index.html, 23 October 2023, CNN, Other suggested examples of rubber stamp legislatures include:

Historic legislatures

• {{Flagdeco|Iran|1964}} National Consultative Assembly – Imperial State of IranBOOK, Townson, Duncan, The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern History: 1789-1945, 2001, Penguin Books, 0140514902, 459, 2nd, Retrieved 7 August 2022.{{better source needed|date=October 2023}}
• {{Flagdeco|Brazil|1968}} Federal Senate – Brazil under military dictatorship between 1977 and 1985WEB, Anos 60 e 70: ditadura, bipartidarismo e biônicos - Notícias,www.camara.leg.br/noticias/21997-anos-60-e-70-ditadura-bipartidarismo-e-bionicos/, 24 September 2021, Portal da Câmara dos Deputados, pt-br,

Current legislatures

• {{Flagdeco|Russia}} Federal Assembly – Russia
• {{flagdeco|Macau}} Legislative Assembly – MacauNEWS,www.wsj.com/articles/SB123714953109134025, The Macau Precedent, Wall Street Journal, 16 March 2009,
• {{Flagdeco|Syrian Arab Republic}} People’s Assembly – Syrian Arab RepublicBOOK, Coughlin, Con, Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny, Pan Macmillan, 2023, 978-1-5290-7490-1, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR, UK, 30, 2: The Velvet Glove, BOOK, Ziadeh, Radwan, Power and Policy in Syria, I.B. Tauris, 2011, 978-1-84885-434-5, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010, USA, 56, 2: Inheriting Syria from Father to Son: Hafez al-Asad’s Last Days, NEWS, 20 July 2020, Syria holds parliamentary election amid pandemic and new US sanctions,www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-20/syria-elections-parliament-rubber-stamp-president-bashar-assad/12471634,web.archive.org/web/20200720034655/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-20/syria-elections-parliament-rubber-stamp-president-bashar-assad/12471634, 20 July 2020, ABC News, WEB, 21 July 2020, Syria’s Least Passive Parliament in More Than Half a Century,www.syria.law/index.php/syrias-least-passive-parliament-half-century/,web.archive.org/web/20200811160346/https://www.syria.law/index.php/syrias-least-passive-parliament-half-century/, 11 August 2020,
• {{Flagdeco|Egypt}} Parliament – EgyptWEB,thearabweekly.com/critics-decry-rubber-stamp-role-egypt-parliament, Critics decry ‘rubber-stamp’ role of Egypt parliament, 9 October 2016, The Arab Weekly, WEB, 9 September 2016, Standing in Agreement: Egypt’s Parliament Risks Becoming Rubber Stamp,timep.org/2016/09/09/standing-in-agreement-egypts-parliament-risks-becoming-rubber-stamp/, 31 January 2024, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, en-US, WEB, 24 October 2020, Egypt starts voting in first stage of parliament elections,www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/24/egypt-votes-for-new-rubber-stamp-parliament, 31 January 2024, Al Jazeera, en, 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.,
• {{flagdeco|Iran}} Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts (not a parliamentary chamber but a deliberative body) – IranWEB,iranprimer.usip.org/resource/assembly-experts, The Assembly of Experts, The Iran Primer, 13 June 2011, 23 October 2023, United States Institute of Peace, {{unreliable source?|date=October 2023}}WEB, A new session for Iran’s rubber-stamp Parliament, Alex, Vatanka, 26 May 2020, Middle East Institute,mei.edu/blog/new-session-irans-rubber-stamp-parliament, 23 October 2023, {{Additional citation needed|date=October 2023}}
• {{Flagdeco|North Korea}} Supreme People’s Assembly – North Korea“N Korea holds parliamentary poll” {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704232958news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7930775.stm|date=4 July 2017}}. BBC News. Retrieved 8 March 2009.

References

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