Law, Politics, and Democracy in the Twenty-first Century

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-362
Author(s):  
J. Mitchell Pickerill
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Process ◽  
First Century ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Law And Courts ◽  
The Us

Political scientists have long rejected the old law and politics dichotomy and recognize instead that law and court decisions are inherently political in numerous ways. Still, courts are not the same as executive and legislative institutions, and law is not simply a synonym for politics or policy. Law and courts are distinct and yet connected to political processes and policy outcomes in complex and nuanced ways. The question for law and courts scholars, then, is how and why do political actors (with seemingly increasing frequency) turn to law and the judiciary to influence public policy, and what are the impacts of infusing law and courts into the US political process? The three recent books under review help to answer these questions.

‘Depoliticisation’ in the Reform of the Panamanian Security Apparatus

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
CORINNE CAUMARTIN
Keyword(s):  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us

This article examines the unusual public security reform process that took place in Panama in the wake of the US military invasion of December 1989. The changes to the Panamanian security forces that ensued were in equal part a ‘demilitarisation’ process, a police reform and an (imposed) transition to democracy where the political domination of the Panamanian security forces came to an abrupt end. Deploying the concepts of demilitarisation, professionalisation and depoliticisation, the article evaluates the political role and activities of police forces and the nature of their relationship with the main Panamanian political actors through to the present Torrijos administration. It then assesses the implications for wider political processes, suggesting that explanations for the success or failure of reform are unlikely to be found in the examination of the design and implementation of the reform itself, but that broader political processes must be analysed in order to understand the dynamic that underpins it.

Blockchain-Based Voting in the US and EU Constitutional Orders: A Digital Technology to Secure Democratic Values?

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-358
Author(s):  
Desmond JOHNSON
Keyword(s):  
Civic Participation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Us ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Eu

The right to vote and participate in the political process is a quintessential feature of any democratic society. Systematic risks to the integrity of US elections and passive civic participation in the EU political process present fundamental threats to the constitutional aspirations and the democratic ideals connected to “We the People” in the US and “United in Diversity” in the EU. The existence of power imbalances, social inequalities and information asymmetries in electoral and political processes illustrate that both jurisdictions are in peril and in risk of democratic backsliding. Blockchain-based voting can transform existing electoral and political processes in the digital age. This raises the question whether blockchain-based voting can be utilised as a digital tool to enhance the democratic legitimacy of US and EU electoral and political systems. Accordingly, this article aims to examine the prospects and limits of blockchain technology to secure foundational democratic norms connected to the right to vote and civic participation at the heart of contemporary constitutionalism. It contends that the decentralised, immutable, accessible, transparent, and secure processes of blockchain technology have the potential to enhance the legitimacy of the US and EU constitutional orders, since blockchain-based voting can act as a forum for enhanced civic participation, public deliberation, and democratic contestation. Nevertheless, the article concludes that a number of important steps must be taken to fully realise the potential of blockchain-based voting in a manner that combats the risks associated with the technology, strengthens public confidence in electoral and political processes and secures a balanced system of governance in the US and the EU constitutional orders.

scholarly journals Political Process For Preparation Of Seated Island Regions As A Government Of Sebatik City ( 2006-2012) Nunukan Regency

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Didi Febriyandi
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Expansion Process ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
High Level

This paper looks at how the political dynamics that occurred in the Sebatik City expansion process in 2006-2012. The process of regional expansion can be understood as a political phenomenon by involving long administrative and political processes. This paper focuses on looking at political aspects so that it discusses in detail the interests of actors and how these actors articulate their interests. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. Primary data collection techniques are done through observation, structured interviews. For secondary data collection is done by documentation and library techniques.The results showed that the political process is complicated because it involves many interests of political actors making the Sebatik City expansion not realized until now. Although academic studies declared eligible and supported by the majority of Sebatik Island, high-level negotiations-negotiations have failed to realize Sebatik as Daera h Autonomy New (DOB). The political process that occurred did not create a consensus so that there was a conflict of interests that ultimately made the Sebatik City Expansion process hampered. Key Words: decentralization, regional autonomy, outer islands, division

scholarly journals On Frontline Workers as Bureau-Political Actors: The Case of Civil–Military Crisis Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 1148-1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jori Pascal Kalkman ◽  
Peter Groenewegen
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Bureaucratic Politics ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Public Policy Making ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
The Public

We focus attention on the public policy-making influence of frontline bureaucrats. They are increasingly operating in interorganizational partnerships and networks in which they develop collaborative relations with frontline workers of other public organizations. We theorize that their embeddedness in local interorganizational environments induces and enables them to defy locally inappropriate policies and to pursue locally relevant policies as policy entrepreneurs simultaneously. The case study of policy-making in Dutch civil–military crisis management demonstrates that this “frontline bureaucratic politics” bears considerably on policy outcomes. We conclude that viewing frontline workers as bureau-political actors enhances our understanding of public policy-making in interorganizational arrangements.

African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Nicole De Silva
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Justice ◽  
African Union ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Law And Courts ◽  
International Court ◽  
Symbolic Resource

This chapter examines international courts’ premises as objects of international law through the case of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. When creating an international court, states become legally obligated to supply its physical premises—a functional and symbolic resource that underpins the court’s legal authority and influence. Drawing on archival evidence, this chapter analyses the African Court’s significant challenges in securing this important resource from political actors within the African Union and Tanzania, the court’s host state. It shows that, with international law and courts, there can be a considerable gap between states’ commitment and compliance, and between legal ambition and political reality. This gap, however, can mobilize court officials to assert their needs for resources and, more generally, the significance of their mandate. Examining international courts’ premises, therefore, can elucidate the tensions between law and politics embedded in international justice specifically and international law more broadly.

Public Health and Politics: Using the Tax Code to Expand Advocacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (S1) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
Eric Gorovitz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Tax Exempt ◽  
Policy Engagement

Protecting the public's health has always been an inherently political endeavor. The field of public health, however, is conspicuously and persistently absent from sustained, sophisticated engagement in political processes, particularly elections, that determine policy outcomes. This results, in large part, from widespread misunderstanding of rules governing how, and how much, public advocates working in tax-exempt organizations can participate in public policy development.This article briefly summarizes the rules governing public policy engagement by exempt organizations. It then describes different types of exempt organizations, and how they can work together to expand engagement. Next, it identifies several key mechanisms of policy development that public health advocates could influence. Finally, it suggests some methods of applying the tax rules to increase participation in these arenas.

16. Social movements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanspeter Kriesi
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Classical Model ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Peace Movements ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Financial Interests ◽  
Information Politics

This chapter focuses on social movements, specific forms of collective behaviour having action repertoires of their own that distinguish them from established political actors. Social movements include movements of the extreme right and anti-racist movements, transnational peace movements, and movements aimed against powerful financial interests and orchestrated through social media. The chapter first explains the meaning of social movements and presents a conceptualization of key terms before comparing social movements with organizations. It then considers how social movements attract the attention and gain the support of the public through a combination of protest politics and information politics. It also discusses the role of social movements in political processes and describes three theoretical approaches to social movements: the classical model, the resource mobilization model, and the political process model. The chapter concludes by analysing the emergence, the level of mobilization, and the success of social movements.

scholarly journals Digital Technology and the Market for Political Surveillance

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip N. Howard ◽  
John N. Carr ◽  
Tema J. Milstein
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
New Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
The Us ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
Private Demand ◽  
Policy Opinion

Many new media technologies, such as the internet, serve both as a tool for organizing public commons and as a tool for surveilling private lives. This paper addresses the manner in which such technological innovations have enabled a dramatically expanded market for public policy opinion data, and explores the potential role of that market in facilitating panoptic regimes of both private and state surveillance. Whereas information about public policy opinion used to be highly reductive, expensive to collect, and restricted to a limited number of powerful political actors, today it is much less expensive, highly nuanced, and widely available. Pollsters now also have the ability to extrapolate political information from our commercial and noncommercial activities. We investigate the work of two organizations, a public policy polling firm named Grapevine Polling, and an advocacy consulting firm named United Campaigns. We find that both the increased sophistication of these firms' methods and the reduced cost of increasingly personalized data together have the potential to undermine the very public sphere that digital media were hoped to reinvigorate. Moreover, overlapping state and private demand for the products of such pollsters reflects the extent to which politics and the marketplace are increasingly intertwined and inseparable under the current articulation of democracy in the US.

Housing and politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Lund
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Secure Control ◽  
Core Executive

This chapter argues that the ‘housing studies’ literature has had a propensity to concentrate on policy outcomes and the roles of industrialisation, capitalism and globalisation in determining continuity and change in housing policy. Such emphasis has meant that the influence of political processes, that is, the struggles to secure control, make decisions and implement them, supported by the state’s authority, have tended to be neglected. Theoretical frameworks such as the new institutionalism, social constructionism and public choice theory, useful in capturing political processes, are considered. The roles of the various ‘actors’ in the political process are outlined: promotional and economic interest groups; think tanks; political parties; the European Union; devolved governments; the Westminster Parliament; the Core Executive; government departments and the electorate.

scholarly journals Political Process and Insecurity Among Youths in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area, Lagos

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-213
Author(s):  
Folorunsho Muyideen Ogunmefun ◽  
Oyeyemi Tolulope Evelyn
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
International Image

Political insecurity is an inevitable endemic menace negating human development across most of the developing nations. However, various reviewed publications posits that youths in most of all developing nations are categorized as crime prone segment of the country used by the state political actors for obstructing political process based on their perceived political vested interest. Youths in all human society are known as the catalyst for accelerating and achieving progressive socio-economic and political development if properly managed otherwise apolitical involvement of the youths in political processes will degenerate to social milieu such as civil unrest, traumatization, retrogressive economic development, death, bad national and international image among the league of nations, Anomie and structural functionalist theories were adopted Qualitative method was adopted for data collection from 40 respondents through the use of In-depth interview and purposive sampling techniques while content method of data analysis was adopted for the transcription of the data collected from the interviewees at Oshodi-Isolo, Lagos. Large numbers of the interviewees concluded that Nigeria political processes, elections, electioneering process is faulty therefore there is a needs for proper reorientation, full sensitization and socialization of Nigerian on the types of political culture and community controlling policing measure needed to foster the growth and development of political process in Nigeria More so, Nigeria youths should purged themselves out of preconceived notion that labeled them (youths) as agent of political violence or insecurity in the country so as to enjoy progressive democratic ethos

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