Economics, Politics, and Governance*

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bimal Jalan

This paper discusses the dynamics of economics, politics, and governance and its implications for the Indian economy in general and the governance issues of educational institutions in particular. Independent India was founded on a democratic framework and an operational governance structure. The vision was to attain the specific economic and social goals that the country had set for itself. What is puzzling is the fact that despite the ideal combination of economics, politics, and civil service, the expected results were not achieved. What might have happened is the development of a substantial gap between the economically sound and the politically feasible policies, on the one hand, and the disharmony between the different levels of the administrative machinery, on the other. The author agrees with the renowned economist, Hanson, who found an answer to the problem not in the theory of planning or the people making the plans but with the unrealistic assumptions about the likely responses of the people. For instance, it was assumed that the people elected to power, the citizens of the country, and the labour and management of the public enterprises would all work selflessly to achieve the economic objectives of the country. In reality, however, regional and sectional interests dominated the political and economic decisions making the Indian economy self-centric, narrow, and wasteful. The channelization of economic benefits to the special interest groups led to the lop-sided distribution of wealth. To add to this was the political corruption which was accepted as an unavoidable feature of the electoral process. Another blow came from the public sector enterprises which, instead of generating public savings, led to the accumulation of internal public debt and lower investment. What is unfortunate is that all this continued for a long time despite the realization that they were going against the basic assumptions of the post-Independence policy framework. Taking the issue of fee determination in the case of IIMs, the author feels that it is again a complex interplay of the three elements - economics, politics, and governance. The economic issue from the public policy point of view is: why the larger subsidy from public funds and for whose benefit? While it is a popular political move to grant subsidies, it is a matter of conscious political choice as to which target group should get the benefit. Towards making India's vision a reality, the author suggests the adoption of pragmatic and flexible approaches with the contemporary realities in mind. The steps would include: simplifying administrative procedures managing fiscal deficit through fiscal policy changes ensuring accountability through legal reforms avoiding bureaucratic interference eliminating administrative discretion While a lot needs to be done in all these areas, the author is confident that with the economic potential of the country and the innate ability of the people of this country, it would definitely be possible to realize the full potential within the next two decades.

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-206
Author(s):  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Andrew Blick ◽  
Matt Qvortrup

The referendum came onto the agenda in the UK in the final quarter of the nineteenth century, and it has never entirely disappeared from it, either as a proposition or a working device. Use of the referendum in the UK was conceived of and presented both as a natural extension of the principle of democracy that was then taking hold, and as a means of offsetting perceived defects with the representative variant of popular government that had developed. In particular, it was seen as a safeguard against the manipulative impact of parties that might lead the parliamentary system to serve the ends of factions within the elite above the people. It might enable the public to vote for a particular party with which they were broadly sympathetic without needing to endorse their entire programme; and would mean that a government could not implement measures of major significance to which a majority objected. It was largely envisaged as likely to have a conservative impact, creating a new and final means by which change might be blocked. Yet its appeal spread across the political spectrum; as did opposition to it....


Author(s):  
Markus Patberg

This chapter deals with the question of whether the public narrative of ‘We, the people of Europe’, which claims constituent power for a cross-border demos composed of EU citizens, can be justified in terms of a systematic model. To that end, it draws on the political theory of regional cosmopolitanism, which holds that even though the EU is not a state, it has its own political community. The literature on regional cosmopolitanism offers two possible strategies of defending the idea of an EU-wide constituent power: a first-principles approach and a reconstructive approach. The chapter argues that only the latter proves viable, and then goes on to examine the merits of the model that it gives rise to. While regional-cosmopolitan constituent power plausibly responds to the fact that the EU has created a new group of addressees and authors of the law, it neglects the continuing importance of the member state peoples and fails to explain how an EU-wide constituent power could be reconciled with the compound and dependent nature of the EU polity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Hoang Vuong

<em>Background</em>. Over the past 15 years or so, in Vietnam, a phenomenon has steadily grown more and more widespread: the forming of co-located patients communities. Poor patients choose to live together, seeking/lending supports from/to one another. Despite the undeniable existence of these communities, little is researched or known about how co-located patients perceive the value of what they receive as cluster members, or how they assess their future connection to the communities they are living in. <br /><em>Materials and Methods.</em> The study employs multiple logistic regressions method to investigate relationships between factors such as perceived satisfaction from community-provided financial means, reported health improvements, along with patients’ shortand longer-term commitments to these communities. <br /><em>Results</em>. The results suggest meaningful empirical relationships: 1) between, on one hand, gender, perceived values and sustainability of patients communities, financial stress faced by patients and the financial benefits they received from the community, and, on the other hand, their propensity to stay connected to it; and 2) between economic conditions, length of stay with a community, general level of satisfaction, health improvements on one hand and long-term commitment to these communities on the other hand. <br /><em>Conclusions</em>. Patients who choose to stick to co-location clusters do so for an economic reason: finding means to fight their financial hardship. This may suggest a degree of complication higher than one would have thought in dealing with poor patients from a social point of view. Concretely, the majority of the public only focuses on charity programs and in-king donations, while ignoring the more sustainable – and, at the same time, more complicated – alternative which is to create suitable income-generating jobs for patient. In addition, patients are not only those who seek to ask for supports but can potentially be the donors contributing to the sustainability of those voluntary communities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1641-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Volkmann

It is a long-established commonplace in any debate on immigration that immigrants should integrate into their receiving society. But integrate into what precisely? Into the labor market, into the legal order, into the political system, into a national culture whatever this might comprise? The Article tries to approach the question from the legal point of view and looks for hints or clues in the constitution which might help us with the answer. For this purpose, it explores the general theory of the constitution as it has been shaped by its professional interpreters as well as by political actors, the media and the public. The main intuition is that “constitution” is not only a written document, a text with a predefined, though maybe hidden meaning; instead, it is a social practice evolving over time and thereby reflecting the shared convictions of a political community of what is just and right. Talking about constitutional expectations toward immigrants then also tells us something about ourselves: about who we are and what kind of community we want to live in. As it turns out, we may not have a very clear idea of that.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Castleman

The World Trade Organization (WTO), created in 1995, adjudicates “trade disputes” between member nations in cases with great human rights, cultural, environmental, and public health significance. Throughout the process of dispute resolution and even after a case is concluded, very little of what happens is made accessible to the public. However, it is one thing to criticize the WTO for its lack of transparency from outside the process, and another to critically examine what was withheld from disclosure and what dangers that presents. This is the inside story from a scientific adviser to one of the parties in a WTO case, analyzing what happened from a public health point of view. This analysis concludes that the public health justification of banning asbestos was accepted in the end by the economists at the WTO, despite the WTO's bias in favoring the party (Canada) making the free trade challenge (to public health legislation, in this case) in numerous stages of the process, despite the WTO's utter lack of expertise in science, medicine, engineering, and public health, and despite important erroneous statements made to the WTO under the cover of confidentiality. Despite its result, this case illustrates that the WTO's threat to national sovereignty could never withstand the light of day, that the people of the world would reject this dangerous free trade fundamentalism if the limitations and dangers of the process were open for all to see.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Décio Passos

Abstract This article analyses the situation of higher education courses in theology in Brazil, from a political and institutional point of view. It notes the need to adopt the epistemological status of theology itself as a parameter of institutionalization, in order to overcome the exclusively political criteria that have governed the process of accreditation of those courses, as well as the construction of curriculum guidelines. It affirms the ‘public’ aspect as inherent to theological reflection. Theology being a logos of faith structured originally within the university may, in the same space, be recognized as legitimate and established knowledge, according to the academic rules of the scientific community.


Matatu ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Inuwa Umar–Buratai

The discourses of nationhood and nation-building in the developed Western world have been facilitated by the prevalent cultures of writing and documentation. The situation in the developing world has remained largely fragmented because of the absence of such coherent, broadcast, and comprehensive forums for a discourse on 'nationhood'. Different societies articulate their perception of the priorities of nationhood in a range of forms – manifest in ritual visual displays, entertainment and formal rhetoric such as poetry, religious sayings and quotations – which were not dependent on literacy, including the ceremony of durbar. The ordinary people construe the durbar as a spectacle, perhaps because it encompasses a wide range of performance artists drawn from the many groupings within society. However, durbar functions, through its display of martial strength, to reinforce the political and religious power of the ruling elite: durbar within society. The focus in this essay is to examine political undertones of durbar, specifically the ways in which localized participation in the reinforcing ritual of relationships of power provides the people with an opportunity for the public exhibition of individual skills and for the elites an avenue for containing any nascent – or potential – articulation of resistance in society.


PERSPEKTIF ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Bhakti Satrio Wicaksono

This article aims to find out what happened to digital democracy regarding the Dildo account case. This research uses descriptive qualitative research research methods. The type of observation method used is the non-participation observation method. The non-participant observation method is the method that researchers chose in conducting this research. The results of the study show that the view of digital democracy can be seen from two perspectives, namely the government and the people's point of view. Political parody basically offers a new way of engaging in the political world. The Dildo case shows that not everyone can freely express their opinion on social media. The freedom to voice opinions, especially through cyberspace, still cannot be said to be free. This can be seen with how when the Dildo account voices humor and national issues that are close to the public, it still gets contra opinions from other parties. The conclusion of the research is that political parody basically offers a new way of engaging in the political world. Dildo case shows that not everyone can freely express their opinion in social media. The existence of internet technology in terms of statehood can be a double-edged knife, especially on social media where information is spread so fast. Parody or current humor is treated wisely and is not necessarily considered a dangerous thing.


Author(s):  
Rehia K. Isabella Barus ◽  
Armansyah Matondang ◽  
Nina Angelia ◽  
Beby Masitho Batubara

Ahead of the 2019 general election which is divided into two stages, namely the Legislative election and the Presidential election. This event is the right moment to find out the political participation of the people at the grass-roots level while at the same time seeing the interaction between the people in the grass-roots and political parties. The interaction that wants to be seen is what forms of political behavior and community participation at the grassroots, as well as how political parties behave in interacting with this community. Then the important point that is also seen is how political parties behave in involving and seeking to raise support from the community. In the end, through this research, it will be known the quality of political participation from the public and electoral political parties in 2019.


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