scholarly journals The boundaries of transnational democracy: alternatives to the all-affected principle

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHAN KARLSSON SCHAFFER
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Law ◽  
Transnational Democracy ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractRecently, theorists have sought to justify transnational democracy by means of the all-affected principle, which claims that people have a right to participate in political decision-making that affects them. I argue that this principle is neither logically valid nor feasible as a way of determining the boundaries of democratic communities. First, specifying what it means to be affected is itself a highly political issue, since it must rest on some disputable theory of interests; and the principle does not solve the problem of how to legitimately constitute the demos, since such acts, too, are decisions which affect people. Furthermore, applying the principle comes at too high a cost: either political boundaries must be redrawn for each issue at stake or we must ensure that democratic politics only has consequences within an enclosed community and that it affects its members equally. Secondly, I discuss three possible replacements for the all-affected principle: (a) applying the all-affected principle to second-order rules, not to decisions; (b) drawing boundaries so as to maximise everyone's autonomy; (c) including everyone who is subject to the law. I conclude by exploring whether (c) would support transnational democracy to the extent that a global legal order is emerging.

scholarly journals Between technochauvinism and human-centrism: Can algorithms improve decision-making in democratic politics?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal D. König ◽  
Georg Wenzelburger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Established Democracies ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe promise of algorithmic decision-making (ADM) lies in its capacity to support or replace human decision-making based on a superior ability to solve specific cognitive tasks. Applications have found their way into various domains of decision-making—and even find appeal in the realm of politics. Against the backdrop of widespread dissatisfaction with politicians in established democracies, there are even calls for replacing politicians with machines. Our discipline has hitherto remained surprisingly silent on these issues. The present article argues that it is important to have a clear grasp of when and how ADM is compatible with political decision-making. While algorithms may help decision-makers in the evidence-based selection of policy instruments to achieve pre-defined goals, bringing ADM to the heart of politics, where the guiding goals are set, is dangerous. Democratic politics, we argue, involves a kind of learning that is incompatible with the learning and optimization performed by algorithmic systems.

scholarly journals Conventionalism in Constitutional Interpretation and the Place of Administrative Agencies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Shane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Constitutional Interpretation ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Administrative Agencies ◽  
The Law ◽  
Political Decision Making

This essay considers judicial independence, both as a legal and constitutional feature, and how states should seek to protect it. This essay posits that judicial independence is a universal constitutional requirement at both the federal and state levels, examining these ideas in the context of interbranch review and federal expectations of state judicial review. Further, this essay examines the limits of judicial restraint—either reflexive deference to other branches’ political decision-making or shrinking from unpopular judgments that advance constitutional rights—as strategies to protect judicial independence. It concludes that a state judiciary’s most self-protective stance is one of principled adherence to the law.

Framing and Political Decision Making: An Overview

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Oxley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Government Budget ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Decisions ◽  
Political Decision Making

Political communicators have long used framing as a tactic to try to influence the opinions and political decisions of others. Frames capture an essence of a political issue or controversy, typically the essence that best furthers a communicator’s political goals. Framing has also received much attention by scholars; indeed, the framing literature is vast. In the domain of political decision making, one useful distinction is between two types of frames: emphasis frames and equivalence frames. Emphasis frames present an issue by highlighting certain relevant features of the issue while ignoring others. Equivalence frames present an issue or choice in different yet logically equivalent ways. Characterizing the issue of social welfare as a drain on the government budget versus a helping hand for poor people is emphasis framing. Describing the labor force as 95% employed versus 5% unemployed is equivalency framing. These frames differ not only by their content but also by the effects on opinions and judgements that result from frame exposure as well as the psychological processes that account for the effects. For neither emphasis nor equivalence frames, however, are framing effects inevitable. Features of the environment, such as the presence of competing frames, or individual characteristics, such as political predispositions, condition whether exposure to a specific frame will influence the decisions and opinions of the public.

Religion, Equality, and Anarchy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micah Schwartzman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
The Law ◽  
Political Decision Making

Recent debates about whether the liberal state should give special treatment to religion focus mainly on two issues: (1) whether religious beliefs deserve special exemptions from the law, and (2) whether religious beliefs can serve as a justification for political decision making. Theories of religious freedom can be described in terms of how they respond to each of these issues. A general taxonomy of such theories makes it possible to draw systematic comparisons between them. It also reveals that competing theories face a familiar pattern of objections based on concerns about equality and anarchy. In important ways, these concerns motivate and constrain all liberal theories of religious freedom. Explicating the tension between equality and anarchy helps to clarify the central commitments and limitations of existing and possible theories. By process of elimination, it also suggests an argument for the appeal of political liberalism.

scholarly journals Brexit and the Everyday Politics of Emotion: Methodological Lessons from History

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-856
Author(s):  
Jonathan Moss ◽  
Emily Robinson ◽  
Jake Watts
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Everyday Politics ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Political Decision Making

The 2016 European Union referendum campaign has been depicted as a battle between ‘heads’ and ‘hearts’, reason and emotion. Voters’ propensity to trust their feelings over expert knowledge has sparked debate about the future of democratic politics in what is increasingly believed to be an ‘age of emotion’. In this article, we argue that we can learn from the ways that historians have approached the study of emotions and everyday politics to help us make sense of this present moment. Drawing on William Reddy’s concept of ‘emotional regimes’, we analyse the position of emotion in qualitative, ‘everyday narratives’ about the 2016 European Union referendum. Using new evidence from the Mass Observation Archive, we argue that while reason and emotion are inextricable facets of political decision-making, citizens themselves understand the two processes as distinct and competing.

Wegvoeringen en weggevoerden tijdens de meidagen van 1940

2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-259
Author(s):  
Etienne Verhoeyen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Belgian Society ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Risky Business ◽  
Political Decision Making

Met dit boek levert Frank Seberechts een nagenoeg volledige studie af van een van de minder fraai kanten van de Belgische samenleving in 1940: de administratieve arrestatie en de wegvoering naar Frankrijk van enkele duizenden personen (de ‘verdachten’), Belgen of in België verblijvende vreemdelingen. De extreem-rechtse en pro-Duitse arrestanten hebben na hun vrijlating dit feit politiek in hun voordeel uitgebaat, waardoor volledig in de schaduw kwam te staan dat de overgrote meerderheid van de weggevoerden joodse mensen waren die in de jaren voor de oorlog naar België waren gevlucht. Dat het beeld van de wegvoeringen niet volledig is, is grotendeels te wijten aan het feit dat de meeste archieven die hierop betrekking hebben tijdens de meidagen van 1940 vernietigd werden. Met name de politieke besluitvorming over de wegvoeringen vertoont nog steeds schemerzones, zodat het vastleggen van verantwoordelijkheden ook vandaag nog een gewaagde onderneming is.________Deportations and the deported during the Maydays in 1940 By means of this book Frank Seberechts provides an almost complete study of one of the less admirable sides of Belgian society in 1940: the administrative arrest and the deportation to France of some thousands of people (‘the suspects’), Belgians or foreigners residing in Belgium. The extreme-right and pro-German detainees politically exploited this fact after they had been freed, but this completely overshadowed the point that the large majority of the deported people were Jews who had fled to Belgium during the years preceding the war. This incomplete portrayal of the deportations is mainly due to the fact that most of the archives relating to the events had been destroyed during the Maydays of 1940. The history of the political decision-making about the deportations in particular still shows many grey areas and it is therefore still a risky business even today to determine which people should be held accountable.

scholarly journals A survey of methods for evaluating mini-publics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeuchi Ayano
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractPublic participation has become increasingly necessary to connect a wide range of knowledge and various values to agenda setting, decision-making and policymaking. In this context, deliberative democratic concepts, especially “mini-publics,” are gaining attention. Generally, mini-publics are conducted with randomly selected lay citizens who provide sufficient information to deliberate on issues and form final recommendations. Evaluations are conducted by practitioner researchers and independent researchers, but the results are not standardized. In this study, a systematic review of existing research regarding practices and outcomes of mini-publics was conducted. To analyze 29 papers, the evaluation methodologies were divided into 4 categories of a matrix between the evaluator and evaluated data. The evaluated cases mainly focused on the following two points: (1) how to maintain deliberation quality, and (2) the feasibility of mini-publics. To create a new path to the political decision-making process through mini-publics, it must be demonstrated that mini-publics can contribute to the decision-making process and good-quality deliberations are of concern to policy-makers and experts. Mini-publics are feasible if they can contribute to the political decision-making process and practitioners can evaluate and understand the advantages of mini-publics for each case. For future research, it is important to combine practical case studies and academic research, because few studies have been evaluated by independent researchers.

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