scholarly journals How can non-elected representatives secure democratic representation?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Fossheim
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Governance Networks ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Elected Representatives

Research on the democratic legitimacy of non-elected actors influencing policy while acting as representatives is often lacking in governance literature, despite being increasingly relevant worldwide. Recent theories of representation argue that there are non-electoral mechanisms to appoint such non-elected representatives and hold them responsible for their actions. Consequently, democratic non-electoral representation can be achieved. Through empirical analysis, this article explores democratic non-electoral representation in governance networks by comparing how non-elected representatives, their constituents and the decision-making audience understand the outcome of representation to benefit the constituency, authorisation and accountability. The research findings conclude that all three groups mostly share the understanding of democratic non-electoral representation as ongoing interactions between representatives and constituents, multiple (if any) organisational and discursive sources of authorisation and deliberative aspects of accountability. All of these are non-electoral mechanisms that secure democratic representation. These findings make an important contribution to the literature on non-electoral representation in policymaking.

What Is a Consultative Referendum? The Democratic Legitimacy of Popular Consultations

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti ◽  
Giulia Oskian
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Normative Significance ◽  
Empirical Point ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Conceptual Work

We examine the democratic legitimacy of popular referendums asking whether they should be understood as bypassing or complementing representative institutions. To answer this question, we focus on the distinction between legislative referendums and consultative ones, noting that even though referendums of the latter kind are by far more prevalent from an empirical point of view, their specific role in democratic decision-making remains under-theorized in the existing literature. We therefore focus on consultative referendums as a possible way of reconciling the referendum procedure with representative democracy. First, we clarify the specific conception of representative democracy that underscores our study; second, we develop the idea that consultative referendums are to be understood to specify the political mandate of elected representatives; finally, we apply the results of this conceptual work to the case of the Greek bailout and the Brexit referendums, aiming to dispel some lingering misconceptions concerning the normative implications of their results and thereby clarifying the normative significance of our theory.

How could Expert Involvement Compensate for an Incomplete Capability of Legitimization through Democratic Representation? Debating the Grounds for Political Legitimacy in the EU

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (02) ◽  
pp. 275-299
Author(s):  
Lena Caspers ◽  
Urban Strandberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Community Approach ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
The Eu

This article contributes to the scholarly as well as societal decades-long debate on the state of democracy in the EU. The objective is to problematize, discuss, and come up with constructive ideas on the role of expert groups in the processes of legitimization of decision-making within the EU. The analysis is guided by a general research question: how could expert involvement compensate for an incomplete capability of legitimization through democratic representation? The empirical analysis of expert influence in decision-making is guided by a new modelling of the so-called Epistemic Community approach. The case chosen to illustrate the model is the authorization process of the emergency contraceptive ellaOne, within the institutional setting of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) at the European Medicines Agency. The empirical material consists of interviews with eight members of the CHMP. To guide the empirical analysis the paper introduces a two-dimensional model of the epistemic community approach, which distinguishes between the institutional preconditions and the ideational motivations of expert groups. The results indicate that the experts within the CHMP had an influence on the policy-making process thanks to favourable institutional preconditions as well as ideational motivations of the experts themselves. Our conclusion is that there is a need for ‘institutional engineering’ as regards the involvement of experts in decision-making, to sustain the legitimacy of expert involvement, and level out the institutional conditions for experts’ influence on policy-making within the EU.

scholarly journals The Role of Religiosity on Fashion Store Patronage Intention of Muslim Consumers in Indonesia

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402092703
Author(s):  
Andriani Kusumawati ◽  
Sari Listyorini ◽  
Suharyono ◽  
Edy Yulianto
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Consumer Decision Making ◽  
Fashion Products ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Store Patronage ◽  
Life Values ◽  
Patronage Intention

Religiosity covers all aspects of human life values. Consumer decision-making in Muslim product purchase needs to involve religiosity. Muslim fashion is increasingly popular and becomes a potential business for fashion entrepreneurs in Indonesia. This condition evokes a dilemma for the consumers as Muslim fashion users on whether they have to conform to the religious sharia or follow the trend. The purpose of this article is to identify the role of religiosity as a factor affecting Muslim consumers to revisit Muslim fashion stores. This research involved 243 Muslim consumers of several Muslim fashion stores. The results showed that religiosity of Muslim consumers had a direct effect on patronage intention and indirect effect on patronage intention of Muslim fashion stores through Customer Satisfaction. The research findings are directed to managerial implications for Muslim fashion entrepreneurs in relation to consumer religiosity and marketing of Indonesian Muslim fashion products.

Impact and paybacks of biomedical research findings in Malaysia 2005–2015

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Kuan Lai ◽  
S Nalliah ◽  
CL Teng ◽  
NLP Chen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health System ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health System Policy

Background: Impact in research encompasses health, economic, and cultural benefits beyond adding to the knowledge base. Funders are under immense pressure to be accountable for the paybacks from funded research.Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to look into the impact of funded biomedical research between the years 2005 and 2015 in Malaysia from the aspects of knowledge production, research targeting and capacity building, as well as health system policy and decision making.Methods: This study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design. Biomedical projects related to breast cancer, coronary heart disease, and dengue, funded by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) between the years 2005 and 2015, were included.Findings: From the questionnaire responses (n=58), on average each funded project managed to produce two outputs and one higher degree student. More than half (61.4%) of the funded projects led to subsequent future research. However, low citations in systematic reviews (10.3%), health policies (6.9%), and clinical practice guidelines (5.2%) were reported. In-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders also saw that most of the local research findings were found to be irrelevant to be adopted into policies by the policymakers.Discussion and conclusions: Paybacks on knowledge production as well as research targeting and capacity building had been achieved, but impact on health system policy and decision making had not been well attained, due to the lack of relevant research findings needed by the policymakers.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Payback on knowledge production was achieved, as there had been a lot of new knowledge generated as captured in academic publications, conference proceedings, policy briefs, technical reports, and research highlights, which is important to advance the frontiers of knowledge.</li><br /><li>Payback on research targeting was achieved, with the current research leading to future study with identification of the knowledge gap and generation of new ideas for new research.</li><br /><li>Payback on capacity building was achieved with the training of researchers, building up research capacity and competencies, production of MSc and PhD graduates, promotion of lecturers, and development of new partnerships and networks.</li><br /><li>Impact on health system policy and decision making was not well attained. There had been a lack of relevant research data and findings being incorporated into policymaking, due to the basic and fundamental nature of most of the funded biomedical research in Malaysia.</li></ul>

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