Operation Burnham and the Diminishing Role of Democratic Accountability in the Modern Security State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khoti Walker-Clements
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Accountability

scholarly journals Investment Portfolio, Democratic Accountability, Poverty and Income Inequality Nexus in Pakistan: A Way to Social Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6411
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shahid Hassan ◽  
Haider Mahmood ◽  
Muhammad Ibrahim Saeed ◽  
Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb ◽  
Noman Arshed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Investment Portfolio ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Autoregressive Distributed Lag ◽  
Short Run

Institutions help to streamline the economic activity-related procedures, where government intervention might be involved. Institutions also play a significant role in social sustainability. The findings using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration for the period from 1984–2019 reveal that investment portfolio and democratic accountability reduce poverty in Pakistan both in the long and short run. Moreover, democratic accountability helps to reduce income inequality, but the investment portfolio’s role is not significant. The literacy rate helps to reduce income inequality, and inflation increases poverty and income inequality. The remittances increase income inequality, and urbanization increases poverty. To eradicate poverty and income inequality, the governments should be accountable for their actions to the general public while they remain in power. If they do not deliver as per their manifestoes, they will not be reelected in the next election. Moreover, there is a dire need to redefine the role of an investment portfolio to reduce the risk of investment. So, investments would increase economic activities and could reduce poverty and income inequality. This study contributes to the literature by inquiring about the role of the investment portfolio and democratic accountability in social sustainability by reducing poverty and income inequality. This study only considers Pakistan’s economy due to limitations of poverty data availability in other countries. The scope could further be broadened by accessing data for a wider Asia region to test the role of the investment portfolio and democratic accountability to reduce poverty and income inequality.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa: Thoughts on its 25-Year-Long Legacy of Judicial Activism

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-33
Author(s):  
Lucky Mathebe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Marginalised Groups

After almost 25 years of what could justifiably be called transformative change in South Africa, a truism is that the country’s new legal order, established by the Constitution in 1993 and 1996, provides the critical foundation of peace and security upon which its freedom has been built. The Constitutional Court was one of the most important of the new democratic institutions in the shaping of the country’s position as a constitutional democracy, upholding the values for which millions of people, black and white, had fought. This article is a brief reflection on the role of the Court in establishing the meaning of this democracy and giving it effect. The main goal of the article is to understand how the Court’s new jurisprudence works in particular contexts, how its work is related to crime and punishment, and what it means for the rights of marginalised groups in society. Using the examples of the Court’s decision in Makwanyane on the death penalty, and the Court’s decision on the findings of the Public Protector’s report on Nkandla, the article finds that the Court’s new jurisprudence takes quite a different view of legal developments in South Africa, insofar as the jurisprudence entrusts broad discretion to the Court and emphasises the need for sustained leadership of the Court to advance the battle for fundamental human rights, the rule of law, and democratic accountability.

Allies or Subversives? Adjudication and Democracy

2018 ◽  
pp. 79-114
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Public Interest Litigation

This chapter addresses the argument that human rights should be not be the responsibility of courts, but of the legislature. Instead of regarding courts and the legislature as mutually exclusive, however, it asks whether we can create a role for justiciable human rights which reinforces democracy. Section II considers democratic objections to justiciable human rights, and canvasses potential responses. Section III examines three ways to reconcile the role of courts with democracy: representation-reinforcing, dialogic, and deliberative theories. It concludes that courts should enhance the democratic accountability of decision-makers by insisting on a deliberative justification for the interpretation or limitation of rights. Section IV turns to objections based on lack of judicial competence to address complex, polycentric issues raised by human rights. Using the example of India’s public interest litigation, it examines ways in which the court structure might be adapted to address these concerns. Section V considers remedies and implementation.

Challenge or Confi rmation? The Role of the Swedish Parliament in the Decision-making on the Use of Force

2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Österdahl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Self Defence

AbstractThe Swedish parliament has a strong position in the decision-making on the international use of force. Still, its role is affected by the rapid internationalization of the Swedish defence. More and quicker decisions have to be taken on Swedish contributions to international peace operations. The origin of the decisions of the Swedish parliament, moreover, can be traced to international decision-making bodies on which the Swedish parliament and sometimes even the Swedish government have no influence at all. Parliament is conscious of its important role and looks after its interests in the domestic decision-making context. Sometimes it challenges the government on specific issues relating to the operations, but in the end parliament always tend to agree and unanimously as well. This article studies the involvement of the Swedish parliament in the decision-making on the contribution of armed troops to international peace operations since the end of the Cold War. The article gives particular attention to the use – or not – of the law delegating the decision-making power over troop contributions entirely to the government. The issue of self-defence against armed attacks on the Realm is also taken up and the potential impact of an expanded notion of self-defence on the decision-making role of parliament. Concerns of democratic accountability form the background to the reasoning in its entirety.

From Government to Governance: Polish Regional Development Agencies in a Changing Regional Context

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ferry
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Structural Funds ◽  
Policy Environments ◽  
Development Agencies ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
Theoretical Analyses

This article charts the evolving role of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in Poland. It argues that changes to regional institutional and policy environments, linked to processes of regionalisation, EU accession, and the administration of European Union structural funds, have prompted increasing diversification of RDA activities. Moreover, questions of democratic accountability and economic efficiency are becoming increasingly pointed. Has regionalisation boosted the democratic accountability and regional orientation of agencies? Has administrative reform simplified agencies' delivery of development programmes? What influence has the administration of structural funds had on this? The article explores these issues, stressing generally that theoretical analyses of RDA activities must take increasing account of agency “positioning,” i.e., their role and purpose in an increasingly crowded and complex regional policy arena. Future scenarios for the evolution of RDAs in Poland are also outlined.

scholarly journals The Financial Development And Economic Growth Nexus: The Role Of Saudi Arabian Financial Institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Bogari
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Private Credit

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of the financial development and the financial institutions quality on the economic growth for the Saudi Arabia. Using generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with a dynamic panel framework, this paper employs different measures of financial development namely the Liquid liabilities (LIQ), Private credit by deposit money banks and other financial institutions (CRE) and Central bank assets (ASS), and for financial institutions quality including socioeconomic conditions, investment profile, law and order, corruption, external conflicts and democratic accountability. For the period (1990-2017), our findings strongly support the hypothesis that financial development leads to growth in the Saudi Arabia. Moreover, empirical results support a positive and significant relationship observed between financial institutions quality and growth. The findings of this paper suggest the need to give more support to the financial development for Saudi Arabia banking that have been launched in the country since the last three decades and to improve the role played by the financial institutions to stimulate saving/investment and, consequently, long-term economic growth.  

Legal Acts and the Challenges of Democratic Accountability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre Curtin
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Informal Practices ◽  
Treaty Reform ◽  
Rule Making ◽  
The Eu

Increasing the role of the European Parliament in legislative and executive rule-making was a key objective of the Lisbon Treaty reformers in their endeavours to enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU. Yet, the Lisbon reform leaves much room for improvement with respect to accountability in the new system of legal acts. The analysis reveals the wide discrepancy between the formal rules and informal practices of the institutions post-Lisbon, giving rise to further accountability concerns. The main problems are the inadequacy of democratic checks over the Council, limited resources and powers of the European Parliament, increased reliance on trilogues at the expense of open dialogue and deliberation, and insufficient public access to institutions’ documents. In conclusion, it is suggested that even in the absence of formal Treaty reform, values such as publicity and participation could be crucial normative standards to be included in the further design of EU decision-making procedures.

11. Police powers and accountability

2019 ◽  
pp. 229-255
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bowling ◽  
Robert Reiner ◽  
James Sheptycki
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Allocation Strategy ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Police Powers ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Accountability ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Resource Allocation Strategy

This chapter focuses on police powers, accountability, and the regulation of police discretion. It begins by considering the legitimation of police legal powers in democratic societies and the problem of police accountability. There is then discussion of policy-making for the police force—priorities in resource allocation, strategy, and style—and the street-level actions of rank-and-file officers. Developments in police powers before and after the landmark Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, and the principle of fundamental balance between powers and safeguards supposedly enshrined in PACE are covered. The chapter then examines developments in police accountability, including the mechanisms for handling complaints against the police and the role of political control in police governance. It concludes by assessing the attempts to reconcile police power and democratic accountability in contemporary societies characterized by a patchwork of domestic, transnational, public, and private police agencies carrying out ‘high’ and ‘low’ policing.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document