Part III The Relationship Between the Judiciary and the Political Branches, 13 An Overview of the Diverse Approaches to Judicial and Executive Relations: A Namibian Study of Four Cases

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horn Nico
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Short Overview ◽  
Indirect Influence ◽  
Lower Courts ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the relationship between the judiciary and executive in Namibia. It begins with a short overview of the last decade before independence to shed some light on the historical tension between the executive and the judiciary that the first democratically elected government inherited. It then considers conflicts that threatened the independence of the judiciary in four different situations: a case where the government ignored judgments against them; the issue of the independence of the prosecutorial authority; the independence of the lower courts; and the indirect influence of the executive on judgments of the court. It concludes that although there has generally been friction between the executive and the judiciary, with the former trying to control the latter, the Namibian judiciary has remained fairly independent and withstood pressure from the executive. This has enabled it to ensure that the executive does not abuse its dominant position.

Politics and the Reception of Andrew Lloyd Webber’sThe Phantom of the Opera

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-287
Author(s):  
Amanda Eubanks Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Subsidy ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Elite Culture ◽  
Art Form ◽  
The Government ◽  
Reagan Era ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article analyses the complicated and conflicted critical response to Andrew Lloyd Webber’sThe Phantom of the Operawithin the political, economic and cultural context of the Thatcher/Reagan era. British critics writing for Conservative-leaning broadsheets and tabloids took nationalist pride in Lloyd Webber’s commercial success, while others on both sides of the Atlantic claimed thatPhantomwas tasteless and crassly commercial, a musical manifestation of a new Gilded Age. Broader issues regarding the relationship between the government and ‘elite’ culture also affected the critical response. For some,Phantomforged a path for a new kind of populist opera that could survive and thrive without government subsidy, while less sympathetic critics heardPhantom’s ‘puerile’ operatics as sophomoric jibes against an art form they esteemed.

Documentary Goes Popular

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-102
Author(s):  
Angela J. Aguayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Documentary History ◽  
Creative Force ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

While the documentary genre has frequently been conceptualized as a democratic tool with civic potential, the ways popular advocacy documentary functions in the process of social change is unclear. We need more information about the relationship between documentary agitation and collective organizing for social change, as well as about how this function shifts with the visibility of popular attention. Mainstream commercial culture is more than at odds with a commons of democratic exchange. The advocacy film is a time-honored tradition in documentary history, made specifically for the aims of democratic exchange. This type of film is produced for political causes by activists or advocates who are not closely connected with the government or decision makers. Often the director is constructed as a central creative force. Central figures usually function as surrogates for the film in public interviews and engagements; the speakers are often connected to sponsoring organizations. In this chapter, I first address the historical linage of popular documentary and its movement from the vernacular to the popular. Then, I examine the ways popular advocacy documentary in popular form has morphed in recent years, providing insight into the potential of the genre to make contact with the political structure.

The Frustrated Nationalization of Hydrocarbons and the Plunder of Bolivia

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeppe Krommes-Ravnsmed
Keyword(s):  
Public Expenditure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Accumulation By Dispossession ◽  
Export Volume ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
Oil Contracts ◽  
The Government

Evo Morales came to power in Bolivia after the gas war and a subsequent rebellion that overthrew two presidents in 2003 and 2005. However, the promised nationalization of hydrocarbons remained on paper, and a new extractivist offensive was launched that deepened processes of accumulation by dispossession. Plunder, environmental devastation, and recolonization of indigenous territories have increased because of different factors that are dialectically interrelated: (1) the 2006 oil contracts, which allowed transnationals to retain a dominant position in the sector; (2) the challenge of finding new gas reserves to maintain the current export volume; (3) the country’s substantial dependence on hydrocarbon revenues to maintain public expenditure levels, given that the productive matrix remains unchanged; and (4) the political degeneration of the Movimiento al Socialismo. However, there is no political and discursive coherence: the government conceals its policy behind a revolutionary discourse. Evo Morales llegó al poder en Bolivia después de la guerra del gas y la subsiguiente rebelión que derrocó a dos presidentes en 2003 y 2005. Sin embargo, la prometida nacionalización de los hidrocarburos se mantuvo en el papel y se lanzó una nueva ofensiva extractivista que profundizó los procesos de acumulación por despojo. El saqueo, la devastación ambiental y la recolonización de los territorios indígenas han aumentado debido a diferentes factores que están dialécticamente interrelacionados: (1) los contratos petroleros de 2006, que permitieron a las transnacionales mantener una posición dominante en el sector; (2) el desafío de encontrar nuevas reservas de gas para mantener el volumen de exportación actual; (3) la dependencia sustancial del país en los ingresos por hidrocarburos para mantener los niveles de gasto público, dado que la matriz productiva permanece sin cambios; y (4) la degeneración política del Movimiento al Socialismo. Sin embargo, no hay coherencia política y discursiva: el gobierno oculta su política detrás de un discurso revolucionario.

Rothschilds’ “Delicate and Difficult Task”: Reputation, Political Instability, and the Brazilian Rescue Loans of the 1890s

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEONARDO WELLER
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Brazilian Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

The London House of Rothschild depended on Brazil to maintain its reputation. This became a problem in the 1890s, when the Brazilian government almost defaulted on its sovereign debt after a change of regime had made politics unstable and economic policy unorthodox. This article shows how the relationship between the bank and the state developed to the point that Rothschilds was forced to rescue its client. Exposure enabled Brazil to implement policies designed to defend the regime at the expense of payment capacity without defaulting. The debt crisis ended only after the political situation stabilized toward the close of the century, when the bank pressured the government to tighten economic policy.

Organization of American States

1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-485 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Report ◽  
American States ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Following an investigation resulting from the request by the government of Venezuela that the Council of the Organizationof American States (OAS) ask the Inter-American Peace Committee to look into the flagrant and widespread violations of human rights by the government of the Dominican Republic, the Committee, in a special report, allegedly concurred with the charges, stressing its opinion that international tensions in the Caribbean had increased and would continue to increase, so long as the Dominican Republic persisted in its repressive policies. On the basis of evidence collected during its four-month investigation, the Committee condemned such practices as the denial of free assembly and free speech, arbitrary arrest, cruel and inhuman treatment of political prisoners, and the use of intimidation and terror as political weapons. Despite reports of 1,000 arrests for subversive activities, the Dominican Republic had accounted for only 222 such arrests and had pointed to acts of elemency granted to many of these people; the Committee had, however, been barred from visiting the country. Desirous nevertheless of avoiding any step which might adversely affect the fate of the political prisoners, and in the hope that the Dominican Republic would decree an amnesty on Easter, April 17, the Committee postponed making a pronouncement on the case; instead, it merely issued a general report on April 14 on the relationship between violations of human rights and the political tensions affecting the peace of the Hemisphere. In the later special report the Committee noted that the hope of an amnesty had turned out to be unfounded, and that it had therefore decided to examine all the information available to it, mosdy in the form either of testimony from exiles and other nationals who had recently been in the Dominican Republic or of extensive and reliable press material.

Peru: the Political Economy of an Intermediate Regime

1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. V. K. Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intermediate Regime ◽  
Domestic Capital ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Made In

Any attempt to define the changes in the Peruvian political economy that have taken place since 1968 1 must be made in terms of the relationship between the state and domestic capital on the one hand and foreign capital on the other, and must offer an explanation of the way in which this military- controlled state has tended to replace the former and establish a new relationship with the latter. In particular, the confrontation between the government and foreign capital, and the significance of internal ownership reforms cannot be understood without reference to the development of Peruvian capitalism before 1968.

Somali Resistance to Colonial Rule and the Development of Somali Political Activity in Kenya 1893–1960

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Turton
Keyword(s):  
Political Support ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Associations ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Somali Youth

This article investigates the relationship between different phases of Somali political activity in Kenya. A clear contrast emerges between the focus, the aims and the methods adopted by the Somali pastoralists along the northern frontier and those adopted by the Isaq and Herti Somali traders in Nairobi and Isiolo. The attitude of the former towards the Colonial Government was essentially negative. Yet, while they tended to be resisterspar excellenceand fought against the Government on a large number of occasions between 1893 and 1916, this article shows that their resistance was much more limited than has generally been supposed and that they were never united on a clan basis in their resistance. In fact intra-clan rivalries seriously undermined the effectiveness of their activities Moreover, certain weaker Somali segments actively cooperated with the Government in order to obtain military and political support for their positions which were threatened by stronger groups.On the other hand, Isaq and Herti traders attempted to manipulate the political institution in order to obtain additional privileges within the system. Their agitation had positive goals, for they campaigned to gain Asiatic status. They put pressure on the central organs of Government and hired lawyers to plead their case. They wrote numerous petitions and memorials to governors of the colony, to Secretaries of State and even to two British kings. They formed well-organized political associations and had contacts in British Somaliland and England. Yet, by a curious irony, it seems that the Somali Exemption Ordinance of 1919, which represented the closest they came to achieving non-native status, was not passed as a result of their campaigns. In fact, their later agitation achieved nothing; it seems to have represented a futile effort to counter the gradual erosion of privileges obtained at an earlier date.One of the main characteristics of the Isaq and Herti agitation was its essentially sectarian character. In fighting to obtain Asiatic status they emphasized traits that isolated them from other Somali groups, and they even ended by denying that they were Somali. As such, there was a considerable disparity between their aims and those of the Somali Youth League which emerged in 1946 as the main vehicle of mass Somali nationalism, uniting the Somali pastoralists and traders in one group.

scholarly journals Swiss Consensus Democracy in Transition: A Re-analysis of Lijphart's Concept of Democracy for Switzerland from 1997 to 2007

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Vatter
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political System ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
The Political ◽  
Consensus Democracy ◽  
European Consensus ◽  
The Government ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
The Relationship

The present article addresses the question of whether Switzerland can continue to be seen as an extreme case of federal consensus democracy, as illustrated by Arend Lijphart (1999). A re-analysis of Lijphart's (1999) study of the Swiss political system from 1997 to 2007 clearly demonstrates that due to recent political-institutional changes (a decreasing number of parties, growing electoral disproportionality, increasing decentralization and deregulation of the relationship between the state and interest groups), a consensus democracy with strong tendencies toward adjustment and normalization of the original exceptional Swiss case to meet the rest of the continental European consensus democracies has emerged. This development has been further strengthened by intensified public political contestation, rising polarization between the political camps in parliament, and the weakening of the cooperative search for consensus as the dominant mode of negotiation within the government. From the perspective of international comparison, Switzerland can thus be seen henceforth as a typical example, not an extreme case, of consensus democracy.

scholarly journals Political Risk and Foreign Direct Investment in Tunisia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
Marwa BenGhoul
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Political Risk ◽  
The Political ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Data Frequency ◽  
The Relationship

Political risk factors have been considered as important factors which impact the foreign direct investment (FDI). But, the relationship between the political risk and FDI still not highly covered as expected. In this context, it is crucial to measure the political risk factors impact on the FDI especially for the Arab Spring countries which embraced radical political change after the revolution in 2011. This article aims to investigate the relationship between political risk and the FDI in Tunisia for the case of service sectors. The research is based on aggregate variables that represent six pillars of Governance Indicators. The data was extracted from the Worldwide Governance and the Tunisian Central Bank websites, the data frequency is yearly from 2004 to 2016. The research confirms that the political factors notably the government effectiveness and voice and accountability have significant impact on the FDI and on the FDI in the services sector.

scholarly journals The Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) and the Courts

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Meagher
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Model ◽  
Indirect Influence ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Direct Use

The Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) (‘the Act’) has established a new model of pre-legislative rights scrutiny of proposed Commonwealth laws. This is undertaken by the political arms of government and involves: (1) the requirement that a statement of (human rights) compatibility must accompany proposed laws and certain legislative instruments when introduced into Parliament; and (2) the establishment of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (‘PJCHR’) which regularly reports to the Parliament on the compatibility of its proposed laws with human rights. This article looks at the relationship between the Act – and these two new mechanisms – and the interpretive role of the courts. It does so by first considering the (possible) direct use of statements of compatibility and PJCHR reports by Australian courts in the interpretation of Commonwealth laws that engage human rights. It then assesses whether the Act may exert an indirect influence on the content and scope of the common law interpretive presumptions that protect human rights.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document