Endogenous voting weights for elected representatives and redistricting

AbstractThe Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council of India has a non-conventional weighted voting procedure having a primary player who is a blocker and a set of secondary players. The voting weights are not fixed and are determined based on the subset of players which participate in the voting. We introduce the notion of voting schema to formally model such a voting procedure. Individual voting games arise from a voting schema depending on the subset of secondary players who participate in the voting. We make a detailed formal study of the trade-off between the minimal sizes of winning and blocking coalitions in the voting games that can arise from a voting schema. Finally, the GST voting procedure is assessed using the theoretical results leading to suggestions for improvement.

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Judicial Legislation

Leiden Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/s0922156500001047 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 3-18

Author(s):

Oliver Aylmerton

Keyword(s):

Judicial System ◽

Democratic Process ◽

Central Topic ◽

The People ◽

Parliamentary Debate ◽

The Law ◽

Elected Representatives

The author describes the main characteristics of the English judicial system and its methodology. A central topic is the so-called judicial legislation, as is illustrated by the developing case lawwith respect to the tort of negligence. The method has the twin advantages of flexibility and pragmatism and it also has the advantages of speed. But there is a minus side also. First, the development of the law in this way can only be achieved at the expense of certainty. Secondly, it involves the alteration of the law, sometimes a quite radical alteration, without any extensive consideration of the practical and economic results such as would take place in the course of parliamentary scrutiny and debate. Judges are not the elected representatives of the people and the methodology of English Judges which results in the development and alteration of the law without the benefit of parliamentary debate may not perhaps be altogether a satisfactory democratic process to a constitutional purist.

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Our Elected Representatives and How They Work

AJN American Journal of Nursing ◽

10.1097/00000446-194903000-00009 ◽

1949 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 129

Author(s):

&NA;

Keyword(s):

Elected Representatives

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The U.S. Civil–Military Relations Gap and the Erosion of Historical Democratic Norms

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1932 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marybeth P. Ulrich

Keyword(s):

Civic Education ◽

Military Service ◽

The United States ◽

American People ◽

National Defense ◽

Civil Military Relations ◽

Military Relations ◽

Volunteer Force ◽

Democratic Norms ◽

Elected Representatives

The gap between the American people and the United States military is growing, with implications for the preservation of democratic institutions. The gap has contributed to the erosion of democratic norms by negatively affecting perceptions of citizenship obligations and weakening the attachment to national institutions. Ironically, a feature of the gap is the rise of a “warrior caste” of men and women who self-select to join the all-volunteer force (AVF), leaving the remaining 99.5% of citizens to think that national defense is a concern for “other people.” With only 1 in 200 Americans directly involved in military service, the wars that the AVF serves in do not directly affect most Americans or their elected representatives. This indifference has led to perpetual wars with poor oversight, eroding the democratic norm of citizen oversight of and participation in the nation’s wars. The civil–military gap can be mitigated with a comprehensive expansion of programs that offer opportunities for military and national service, the adoption of more robust civic education in civilian and military education systems, and fostering a culture of defense among the citizenry.

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Population vulnerability and disaster risk reduction: A situation analysis among the landslide affected communities in Kerala, India

Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies ◽

10.4102/jamba.v3i1.36 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sunil Damodaran Santha ◽

Ratheeshkumar Kanjirathmkuzhiyil Sreedharan

Keyword(s):

Risk Reduction ◽

Disaster Risk Reduction ◽

Social Systems ◽

Disaster Risk ◽

The State ◽

Primary Data ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Major Factors ◽

Elected Representatives ◽

Depth Interviews

Landslides affect at least 15% of the land area of India, exceeding 0.49 million km2. Taking the case of landslide affected communities in the state of Kerala in India, this paper demonstrates that the focus has seldom been placed on assessing and reducing vulnerability. From the perspective of political economy, this paper argues that vulnerability reduction has to be the main priority of any disaster risk reduction programme. This paper also demonstrates that the interactions between ecological and social systems are usually complex and non-linear in nature. In contrast, interventions to tackle landslide risks have followed a linear course, assuming that one hazard event acts independently of another. The key findings of the study show that lack of access to political power, decision making, and resources, insecure livelihoods,environmental degradation, and ine#ectiveness of the state approach to disaster risk reduction are some of the major factors that lead to increasing vulnerability. Qualitative in nature, the primary data were collected through in-depth interviews with people from different groups such as farmers affected by the landslides and secondary floods, men and women living in the temporary shelter, government representatives involved in relief activities, health authorities, and elected representatives.

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Peasants, Democracy and Anthropology

Critique of Anthropology ◽

10.1177/0308275x03023001814 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 93-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Stephan Feuchtwang

Keyword(s):

Religious Tradition ◽

Self Organization ◽

Cultural Resources ◽

Central State ◽

Republic Of China ◽

Democratic Tradition ◽

The Government ◽

Concepts Of Democracy ◽

Elected Representatives ◽

Incense Burner

The gulf between intellectuals and peasants, in which the latter are perceived to be a drag on the modernization led by the former, is usually selfaggrandizement. When, as in China, peasants have the ambivalent status of being the base of revolution and the drag on political reform in the direction of democracy, anthropologists are in a good position to challenge the intellectuals’ pretensions. But we don’t. This article asks why, points out the ways in which we can, and then refutes the notion that Chinese peasants have no democratic tradition with an example. It is an example of self-organization around an incense burner, a religious tradition of territorial association. I put it to the test of a number of concepts of democracy, most of which it passes. But its leaders are chosen by divine selection, raising the question whether this is a form of benign charisma rather than standard electoral democracy. The institution persists into the present of the People’s Republic of China and the government of Taiwan, where it functions as a public good, a test of local loyalty, and a moral basis by which the conduct of state officials and elected representatives are judged. It is a civil institution, but now the issue is whether it will last or be soaked up by central state cultural policies. Whatever the answer, the example also throws down a challenge to anthropologists in other regions to explore ‘peasant’ self-organization and cultural resources for democracy and civil judgement.

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A failed Roma revolution: Conflict, fragmentation and status quo maintenance in Rome

Ethnicities ◽

10.1177/1468796814542181 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 775-792 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Isabella Clough Marinaro ◽

Ulderico Daniele

Keyword(s):

Municipal Government ◽

Initial Period ◽

Status Quo ◽

Right Wing ◽

Political Opportunity Structure ◽

Political Opportunity ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Status ◽

Elected Representatives ◽

Depth Interviews

This article examines novel spaces for Roma political participation that opened up under a right-wing municipal government in Rome between 2008 and 2013. Three channels were created through which Roma could engage with policy-makers and, in theory, make their voices heard: a ‘Mayor’s Delegate for Roma Issues’; a forum for debate among Roma groups and elected representatives in two official camps. Based on in-depth interviews with protagonists of this key period of mobilisation, we evaluate the successes achieved and obstacles faced. In particular, we highlight the differentiations which emerged among Roma actors, concluding that, following an initial period of enthusiasm and cohesion, most participants withdrew, achieving few of their initial goals. While the analysis demonstrates the heterogeneity of Roma groups and interests in this process, it also underlines the constraints created by the external political opportunity structure which ultimately worked to co-opt activists in order to maintain the status quo.

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