Moral Character, Policy Effectiveness, and the Presidency: The Case of JFK

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-460
Author(s):  
W. J. Rorabaugh
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
White Males ◽  
The People

The founding fathers laid down a number of principles for successful governance in the new republic. Among these, in the formal sense, were written constitutions, the division of power among three branches of government, checks and balances to prevent abuse of power, the rule of law, and equality before the law. Most of these ideas were English in origin and had been practiced, in varying degrees, in the colonies. The failure of the colonial polity, the founders believed, had occurred because at times British power in North America had been exercised in opposition to notions of sound governance. In addition, the founders heeded public opinion and accepted, somewhat reluctantly, broad participation by white males in the political process. Having experienced British tyranny, they embraced free speech and a free press. While these various principles, the founders agreed, were ingredients that could produce a republic, such a republic would be viable only if the people and their political leaders possessed virtue.

State, Sovereignty, and the People: A Comparison of the “Rule of Law” in China and India

2009 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan K. Ocko ◽  
David Gilmartin
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Social Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
British India ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
China And India ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

This paper uses the concept of the “rule of law” to compare Qing China and British India. Rather than using the rule of law instrumentally, the paper embeds it in the histories of state power and sovereignty in China and India. Three themes, all framed by the rule of law and the rule of man as oppositional yet paradoxically intertwined notions, organize the paper's comparisons: the role of a discourse of law in simultaneously legitimizing and constraining the political authority of the state; the role of law and legal procedures in shaping and defining society; and the role of law in defining an economic and social order based on contract, property, and rights. A fourth section considers the implications of these findings for the historical trajectories of China and India in the twentieth century. Taking law as an instrument of power and an imagined realm that nonetheless also transcended power and operated outside its ambit, the paper seeks to broaden the history of the “rule of law” beyond Euro-America.

Presidential Autocracy and the Rule of Law

Worldview ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
D. L. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Henry Kissinger ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
The City

The year 1972 seemed fateful to those who cherish the commitment of American democracy to the tradition of checks and balances. Indeed, as the year ended, the realization was beginning to dawn that the nation was on the edge of a full-scale constitutional crisis.Nineteen seventy-two was the year when President Nixon reopened the door to China, then mined Haiphong harbor and bombed the city of Hanoi; when he visited Moscow, concluded a treaty limiting strategic arms and directed Henry Kissinger to announce that peace was "at hand," then suddenly renewed and intensified the bombing, suspended it for thirtysix hours at Christmas, renewed it, then stopped it again—all without explanation to the people on whose behalf he was acting.

scholarly journals Argentina’s Politicized Bureaucracy: A Historical Analysis of Two Political Regimes

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Verónica Elías
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Fair Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Democratic Rule

This article employs the concept of “bureaucratic authoritarianism” (O’Donnell, 1978, 1988) to evaluate whether the character of Argentine bureaucracy has changed in the shift from dictatorial to democratic rule. A brief discussion about the political and administrative history of that country follows the characterization of bureaucratic authoritarianism in light of accountability and clientelism (Fox, 2000; Smulovitz & Peruzzotti, 2000, 2003). This article explores the possibility of bureaucratic legitimacy in Argentina through the enforcement of the rule of law, the system of checks and balances, and the fair treatment of citizens.

scholarly journals ARTICLE 7 PROCESS AND DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING OF HUNGARY AND POLAND. DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF LAW

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-85
Author(s):  
Łukasz ZAMĘCKI ◽  
Viktor GLIED
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Eu

This paper examines developments in Poland following the 2015 elections and in Hungary since 2010, which included the gradual destruction of democratic institutions, challenges to the rule of law, as well as to the system of checks and balances. The authors consider the Ziblatt–Levitsky model (2018) as a meaningful framework for the analysis of the way in which the power structure was reshaped and have based their research on the classification set out in this model. Our objective is to present the political changes that took place in the two Central-Eastern-European countries during the last decade that resulted in the process under Article 7 being used for the first time in the history of the EU. The paper conclusion is that the path of de-democratization of Hungary and Poland is seen from the perspective of the EU and Council of Europe, as similar one. In actions taken toward both countries, the EU concerns mostly the principle of the rule of law.

scholarly journals Does religiosity promote property rights and the rule of law?

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICLAS BERGGREN ◽  
CHRISTIAN BJØRNSKOV
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Cultural Determinants ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSocial and cultural determinants of economic institutions and outcomes have come to the forefront of economic research. We introduce religiosity, measured as the share for which religion is important in daily life, to explain institutional quality in the form of property rights and the rule of law. Previous studies have only measured the impact of membership shares of different religions, with mixed results. We find, in a cross-country regression analysis comprising up to 112 countries, that religiosity is negatively related to our institutional outcome variables. This only holds in democracies (not autocracies), which suggests that religiosity affects the way institutions work through the political process. Individual religions are not related to our measures of institutional quality.

scholarly journals PENGARUH KEKUASAAN POLITIK TERHADAP PEMBENTUKAN HUKUM DI INDONESIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-104
Author(s):  
NURAINI NURAINI
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The State ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
General Power ◽  
Political Configuration ◽  
Political Decisions

The state of Indonesia embraces the sovereighty of the people or democracy. The people are the owners of the highest power in the state. The real power comes from the people, by people, and for the people. Even idealized power is held together with the people. Indonesia itself is also a country that adheres to the law. From the opinion of the exparts we can see that the state that follows the rule of law is always related to power. Where power is always limited by the laws that bind it. In other words the sphere of power is limited by the rules that are bound by the rules that have been composed and written and made by the agency that is authoorized to make it.The type of research used is normative juridical research. This study uses “ conceptual approach, legislation approach, and historical approach, in discussing the problems that exist in this research method is a way to perform analysis of data.Political power is the ability to use the source of influence to influence the process of making and executing political decisions so as to benefit itself, the group or society in general. Power is a gekala that always exist in the political process, in Indonesia law is a product of power (politics) so that the character of each legal product  will be determined or colored by consideration of force political configuration that gave birthday.

Omnibus Law di Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Gugun El Guyanie , Okky Alifka Nurmagulita
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Character ◽  
The Government ◽  
Opening Up

This article examines the drafting of the Omnibus Law on the Job Creation Bill, the original purpose of which was to facilitate investment or accelerate the economy. Starting from the disharmony of several overlapping regulations, out of sync between one law and another in the investment sector, a universal sweeping law that contains thousands of articles is needed. This study uses the theory of the formation of laws and regulations and the perspective of legal politics, with juridical analysis, to explain how a process of drafting a law, the principles of formation, and the political dynamics that gave birth to it. This paper emphasizes that the process and politics of the Omnibus Law legislation on the Job Creation Bill has minimal public participation and is not transparent. So the legal product of the Job Creation Law is formally flawed, and materially contains articles that are capitalist in content, opening up investment for investors but on the other hand harming the people. In this study, it was also found that the Omnibus Law of the Job Creation Act was born with more character instrumentalist-oligarchic, where the government transplants the Omnibus Law solely as a short-term pragmatic option to spread the 'red carpet' for investors. In other words, the Omnibus Law fails to create an instrumentalist-democratic character, which is oriented towards fulfilling and strengthening the values ​​of the rule of law which is long-term oriented while at the same time creating a sustainable participatory-democratic climate.

States of emergency and the rule of law under contemporary African constitutions: A comparative analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-101
Author(s):  
Lukman Adebisi Abdulrauf
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
African Countries ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
And Control

Emergencies, whether natural or man-made, are inevitable in contemporary societies. Although the nature and magnitude of such emergencies are usually unpredictable, governments across the world must adopt measures to mitigate and control the emergency while securing the lives and properties of the people. Since emergencies envisage exceptional circumstances, there may be the need for the suspension of the normal legal order and its temporary replacement with an extraordinary regime to help restore the normal legal order. During the subsistence of the extraordinary regime, the question that has always concerned modern-day constitutionalists is how the rule of law can be maintained in such a regime which is characterised by the suspension of the normal legal order. This concern is even more apparent in Africa considering the general attitude of political leaders who will want to take advantage of every opportunity to abuse human rights, consolidate powers and remain in government. All these concerns therefore centre on the nature and scope of state of emergency provisions in constitutions and their implementation. Therefore, in this article, I will comparatively analyse the nature and scope of state of emergency provisions under modern African constitutions to determine the extent to which they are inclusive and embrace the basic tenets of the rule of law. I will further interrogate the applicability of the rule of law in states of emergency using recent practices in selected African countries.

9 Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee HP
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Fundamental Importance ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
The Rule Of Law

This concluding chapter presents some reflections about the trajectory of constitutional development in Malaysia. The Malaysian Constitution was conceived with a clear aim of dividing powers among the political entities of executive, legislature, judiciary, and the Malay Rulers. However, in contemporary Malaysia now, there is increasing unease over the unconstrained expansion of executive power, as well as strong distrust in the unbridled exercise of powers in the name of protecting public order and security. The Malaysian nation’s ability to traverse the path of harmony and national advancement in a shrinking world will depend on the fidelity of its political leaders and its many peoples to the constitutional understandings embodied in the Merdeka Constitution, the constitutional principles of fairness, justice, and equality, as well as a common subscription to the fundamental importance of upholding the rule of law.

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