Such a phenomenon is particularly clear in Brazil, where, in the past few years, a number of influential associations put forward documents proposing significant changes to environmental licensing and impact assessment regulations.
"We wanted to put forward a document that was responsible and achievable," he said.
"It will be interesting to see how other [EU] member states react to the claims the Scottish government have put forward in this document".
Through the guidelines put forward in this document, Francis, who defined himself as from "the ends of the Earth" is moving his church to be less "uniformized" by Rome alone and to become more pastorally plural and creative on the ground.
Premiers and chief ministers had raised vociferous objections to proposals to remove federal funding from hospitals altogether, an option put forward in a leaked document on federation reform.
Newt Gingrich became the latest Republican candidate to endorse the so-called marriage pledge, a controversial document put forward by an influential evangelical group in Iowa that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.
Athens has put forward a 13-page document detailing reforms and public spending cuts worth €13bn with the aim of securing a third bailout from creditors that would raise €53.5bn and allow it to stay inside the currency union.
Although Mr Obama only unveiled his budget in February, he has been forced to lay out new proposals in response to an alternative document put forward by Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, that calls for a radical overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid, among other things.
The final capitulation surfaced in a UN agenda document put forward by Kofi Annan in March.
On Thursday, Democrats on the Senate budget committee put forward their own budget document.
And of course there is the issue of "constitution fatigue" - this is the third draft basic law put to Egyptians in the past three years including the Islamist version and a temporary document put forward by the Army High Command back in 2011.
