Reforming Canadian Democracy? Institutions and Ideology in the Reform Party Project

1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Laycock
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractThis article considers connections between the ideological orientations of the Reform party of Canada and its proposals for reform of political representation. Particular attention is devoted to its advocacy of direct democracy, new models of representative behaviour and constitutional reform as means of democratizing Canadian politics. These proposals are discussed in relation to Reform's account of collusion between special interests, parties and interventionist governments in our federal system. Reform's preference for market-based over political decision-making is identified as a key foundation of their explanation and remedies for the crisis in Canadian democracy. A review of Reform's blending of older populist critiques with modern neo-conservative perspectives on this problem clarifies the party's distinctiveness and appeal. The Reform agenda emerges as one aiming to contract not just the power of special interests, but also the scope of democratic decision-making in public life.

scholarly journals The British Academy Brian Barry Prize Essay: Representing the Future: The Interests of Future Persons in Representative Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Santos Campos
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Prize Essay

Abstract As a reaction against contemporary democracy's inherent short-sightedness in solving problems that are likely to affect distant future generations, there has been a recent increase in proposals for different kinds of democratic representation of future persons. This article shows that even though there can be no such thing as political representation of future persons, the relevant affected interests of the as-yet unborn can still be taken into consideration in political decision making. This aim is achieved by focusing on the political representation of children as special cases of semi-future members of the class of the represented.

scholarly journals Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN A. OLKEN
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Direct Election ◽  
Willingness To Contribute ◽  
Political Decision Making

This article presents an experiment in which 49 Indonesian villages were randomly assigned to choose development projects through either representative-based meetings or direct election-based plebiscites. Plebiscites resulted in dramatically higher satisfaction among villagers, increased knowledge about the project, greater perceived benefits, and higher reported willingness to contribute. Changing the political mechanism had much smaller effects on the actual projects selected, with some evidence that plebiscites resulted in projects chosen by women being located in poorer areas. The results suggest that direct participation in political decision making can substantially increase satisfaction and legitimacy.

Direct Democracy and Institutional Change

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 651-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN E. SCARROW
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Direct Control ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Decision Making

Is direct democracy on the rise around the world? Previous efforts to answer this question have investigated patterns of referendum usage and have found only small and isolated increases. In contrast, the current study focuses on patterns of institutional change and finds a broad movement to redesign institutions in ways that give citizens more opportunities to exercise direct control over political decision making.

scholarly journals Impact of globalization on the direct participation of citizens in local self-government in the Republic of Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 07013
Author(s):  
Margarita Cheshmedzhieva ◽  
Vesela Mircheva ◽  
Galina Pisarska ◽  
Elena Haydushka
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Direct Participation ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Decision Making

Research background: The direct participation of citizens in political decision-making in the state is one of the ways to implement the public relations between the political state represented by the authorities of local self-government and administration. In addition to that, the civil society on behalf of the local inhabitants of the municipalities is also part of this process. Purpose of the article: This report aims to examine which forms of direct democracy are most often applied in the system of local self-government and what is the result of them in view of the economic independence of municipalities. The comparative study covers the periods before and after the signing of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1995 by the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as the periods before and after the accession of our country to the EU in 2007. These two events play a key role in the impact of globalization processes on the direct participation of citizens in local political decision making. Methods: The methodological tools, used in the research, include the comparative analysis and the comparative-legal method. Findings & Value added: The contribution of the research is expressed in tracking the trend in the application of various forms of direct participation of citizens in local government in the Republic of Bulgaria, in outlining the main shortcomings of legal regulations and factors, favoring or hindering the implementation of these forms, and in formulating proposals de lege ferenda to improve existing legislation.

On Political Representation

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEOFFREY BRENNAN ◽  
ALAN HAMLIN
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Rational Actor ◽  
Political Decision Making

An essential feature of political representation is that a mediating assembly is set between the citizenry and political decision making. Representation involves indirect decision making or agency. Rational actor political theory often assumes representation in order to focus on problems of a principal–agent kind, but offers only relatively weak arguments for representation. We offer an alternative argument for representation that builds on our broader interpretation of rational actor political theory – an interpretation that emphasizes expressive considerations relative to instrumental considerations, and operates in a richer motivational setting. As well as providing an account of representation, we believe that our approach is capable of re-connecting rational actor political theory to many of the concerns of more traditional political theory.

The Public Sector and the Courts

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg ◽  
Helena Wockelberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Institutional Autonomy ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
Administrative Model ◽  
Political Decision Making

Recurring themes relating to the central constitutional principles of the public sector and the courts can be summarized asadministrative dualism(administrative agencies are organized in separate units outside the ministries) andinstitutional autonomy. The scope of the dual Swedish administrative model, as well as how much institutional autonomy government agencies and the courts are granted by the Constitution, have been strongly debated. These debates exemplify what we refer to as “the Swedish Constitution as a story of unresolved issues.” Paradoxically, substantial constitutional reforms in this area rarely come about due to regular constitutional reform-making in Sweden. Instead, they are often the result of formally less demanding political decision-making.

scholarly journals Deliberative democracy and the internet: Could online deliberative democracy replace classical democracy

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeljko Mancic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Political Decision Making

This text deals with one of the attempts to make the idea of deliberative democracy more acceptable by conducting it through the Internet. Citing the simplicity of access and use of the Internet, many authors believe that it is possible to join deliberative democracy with direct democracy, and thus reach the best possible system of political decision making. It will be shown, however, that although this idea has many advantages over classical theories of deliberative democracy, it raises more issues than it solves. Despite this, the idea of online deliberative democracy should not be neglected, but rather joined with existing procedures of political decision making, significantly improving these procedures.

scholarly journals Full Transparency of Politicians' Actions Does Not Increase the Quality of Political Representation

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stadelmann ◽  
Marco Portmann ◽  
Reiner Eichenberger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Difference In Difference ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractWe identify the impact of transparency in political decision-making on the quality of political representation with a difference-in-difference strategy. The quality of political representation is measured by the observed divergence of parliamentary decisions from revealed voter preferences on identical issues. We show that full transparency of votes of individual politicians does not decrease divergence from voter preferences.

scholarly journals Civic Paternalism in Political Policymaking: The Justification for No-Vote Stadium Subsidies

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy B. Kellison ◽  
Michael J. Mondello
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Community Benefit ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Partial Description ◽  
Political Decision Making

Direct democracy practices such as initiatives and referenda are increasingly ignored or circumvented by political leaders who allocate subsidies toward new professional sport stadium developments. In a democracy, such a means of governing may be problematic if the outcome is unreflective of the public will. The existing literature makes several theoretical connections for this line of political decision-making, including urban growth machines and trustee–delegate representation. In this paper, these concepts are integrated with empirical evidence to support the conceptualization of civic paternalism, a term that provides partial description of the political decision-making process. Civic paternalists justify their decisions by arguing that a city’s continued vibrancy and growth optimize community benefit while remaining acutely aware of their decisions’ political consequences. We illustrate the concept of civic paternalism by drawing from interviews with political leaders associated with one of the most recent cases of the no-vote subsidy.

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