scholarly journals Local Democracy without Elections: The Politics in Nepal

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 63-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Than Bahadur Chetri

The article analyzes the nature of perversion at local level in the absence of poll, controversy and conflict in local transition of Nepal at the present context. It also argues that the absence of elections at micro democratic institutions, right to vote and elect own representatives remain on paper, poor service delivery and no service delivery, the relation between the state and the citizens have further widened due to legacy of exclusionary politics. At the end, political parties are the creator of democracy; they lack a common vision to lead the society and how to live together. Federalism a new political order, is going to start; the coming days will show whether it will bring stability or instability in such society.Journal of Political Science. Vol. 17, 2017, Page: 63-81

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Markus Klein ◽  
Frederik Springer ◽  
Philipp Becker ◽  
Yvonne Lüdecke

In Germany, there are an estimated 200,000 seats to be filled at the local level in city and municipal councils, city council assemblies, and district councils . It is of fundamental importance for the functioning of local democracy that a sufficient number of candidates can be found for these mandates . Against this background, the recruitment potential of political parties and municipal voters’ associations with regard to candidates for mandates at the local level is examined comparatively . The data basis is a representative population survey conducted as part of the 2017 German Party Membership Study . It is shown that a good quarter of the population can in principle be won over to a candidacy at the munici­pal level . Ten percent would only run for a party, six percent only for a municipal voters’ association and a further ten percent for both political groups . These three candidate poten­tials each have a specific profile regarding their socio-structural composition and their polit­ical attitudes .


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-136
Author(s):  
Zaldi Rusnaedy ◽  
Fatma Fatma ◽  
Almuhajir Haris

The pragmatism of political parties is one of the causes for the proliferation of political dynasties and the massive number of single candidates in several electoral politics periods at the local level. The implementation of the 2020 local election simultaneously gave birth to many candidates who have a kinship with political officials both at the central and regional levels, both currently or who have served. Apart from the practice of dynastic politics, a single candidate's presence also adds to the problems in the democratic process at the local level. A single candidate is present as a consequence of implementing the local election system simultaneously, which opens wide the opportunity for the local election to be held even though only one pair of regional head candidates are joined, as a consequence, the empty column is presented as the opponent of the match. This article collects data through a literature study. To answer these two phenomena, the author examines them during the local election implementation. This study indicates that these two phenomena co-opt local democracy and clog the circulation of the leadership elite. Both political dynasty candidates and single candidates have enormous potential to win elections. Both phenomena are caused by poor internal recruitment and candidate selection processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-151
Author(s):  
Sitti Aminah

The reform aims to achieve democracy, prosperity, and justice at the local level. Even though the reform process has been rolling for more than two decades, the goal of reform in realizing local democracy through an ideal regional head election is still far from expectations. This study aims to analyze the causes of the absence of synergy between regional autonomy and regional elections and identify the causes. A qualitative approach is used in the literature review method. The result showed that the root of the problem is not creating a synergy between regional autonomy and regional head elections because the application of the decentralization concept in Indonesia is dominated by the administrative decentralization perspective and the lack of actualizing the political perspective decentralization. The definitions of decentralization and regional autonomy in Acts tend to preserve centralization. Besides, regional autonomy's main objective places more emphasis on the administrative objectives of government and regional development rather than the development of local democracy. The lack of synergy between regional autonomy and regional elections is the gap between expectations and reality and conflicts at the ideological and technical levels. The gap between expectations and reality can be seen from the hope of realizing the acceleration of the democratization process at the local level, but technically, regional autonomy is characterized by an oligarchy of political parties and transactional politics. There are some suggestions for the Ministry of Home Affairs to revise the policy packages for decentralization and regional autonomy, especially in articles regulating the definition and objectives of regional autonomy, as well as revising Acts of Regional Head Election and Acts of Political Parties, particularly regarding the mechanism for nominating regional heads.


Author(s):  
Halyna Kuzub

The problem of power decentralization is up to date in a modern political science. We can trace its historical genesis first in European and further in the USA political ideas. Decentralization of power was considered along with the study of a perfect state system, civil society and local self-government. It is argued that the major part of successful process of power decentralization in the Western Europe was due to the idea nature for their political culture. The article attempts to retrace the history of the idea of power decentralization. As a background of the investigations of such thinkers as J. Bodin, J. Althusius, J. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau, C.-L. Montesquieu, R. Owen, C. Fourier, J. S.Mill, T. Jefferson, A. de Tocqueville and M. Dragomanov were thoroughly investigated. The paper also considers the modern definitions of power decentralization. Likewise the value of structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism and constructivism are argued in terms of further surveys of power decentralization. To conclude, the author opines that civil servants training, their theoretical teaching and moral education have to become the main objectives in perspective investigations. Furthermore, the success of power decentralization depends not only on devoting authority by central government, but also on capacity of its implementation by deputies on the local level. Keywords: Decentralization of power, deconcentration of power, administrative and political decentralization, classical and non-classical philosophy, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, construc-tivism


Author(s):  
Hazel Gray

This chapter contrasts the way that the political settlement in both countries shaped the pattern of redistribution, reform, and corruption within public finance and the implications that this had for economic transformation. Differences in the impact of corruption on economic transformation can be explained by the way that their political settlements generated distinct patterns of competition and collaboration between economic and political actors. In Vietnam corrupt activities led to investments that were frequently not productive; however, the greater financial discipline imposed by lower-level organizations led to a higher degree of investment overall in Vietnam that supported a more rapid economic transformation under liberalization than in Tanzania. Individuals or small factional networks within the VCP at the local level were, therefore, probably less able to engage in forms of corruption that simply led to capital flight as happened in Tanzania, where local level organizations were significantly weaker.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela C. Rodríguez ◽  
Diwakar Mohan ◽  
Caroline Mackenzie ◽  
Jess Wilhelm ◽  
Ezinne Eze-Ajoku ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In 2015 the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiated its Geographic Prioritization (GP) process whereby it prioritized high burden areas within countries, with the goal of more rapidly achieving the UNAIDS 90–90-90 targets. In Kenya, PEPFAR designated over 400 health facilities in Northeastern Kenya to be transitioned to government support (known as central support (CS)). Methods We conducted a mixed methods evaluation exploring the effect of GP on health systems, and HIV and non-HIV service delivery in CS facilities. Quantitative data from a facility survey and health service delivery data were gathered and combined with data from two rounds of interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted at national and sub-national level to document the design and implementation of GP. The survey included 230 health facilities across 10 counties, and 59 interviews and 22 FGDs were conducted with government officials, health facility providers, patients, and civil society. Results We found that PEPFAR moved quickly from announcing the GP to implementation. Despite extensive conversations between the US government and the Government of Kenya, there was little consultation with sub-national actors even though the country had recently undergone a major devolution process. Survey and qualitative data identified a number of effects from GP, including discontinuation of certain services, declines in quality and access to HIV care, loss of training and financial incentives for health workers, and disruption of laboratory testing. Despite these reports, service coverage had not been greatly affected; however, clinician strikes in the post-transition period were potential confounders. Conclusions This study found similar effects to earlier research on transition and provides additional insights about internal country transitions, particularly in decentralized contexts. Aside from a need for longer planning periods and better communication and coordination, we raise concerns about transitions driven by epidemiological criteria without adaptation to the local context and their implication for priority-setting and HIV investments at the local level.


2021 ◽  
pp. 245513332110340
Author(s):  
Habib Zafarullah ◽  
Jannatul Ferdous

Bangladesh has experimented with e-governance since the early 2000s and currently ranks among the top 10 least developed countries. The deployment of e-governance at the local level has provided benefits to the rural people, with local councils increasingly using information and communications technology (ICT) to expand community-based delivery systems and augment rural service delivery. One-stop cyber centres provide a range of services that are user-friendly, cost-effective and less time-consuming. This study focuses on five sub-districts to inquire about the range of services provided by the e-service centres there. It has recorded citizen perceptions and the level of their satisfaction and the observations of service providers about the e-service mechanism. It also identifies key challenges in service delivery. Citizen satisfaction was measured using 12 indicators, while the service provider observations focused on social issues, governance, resource and technical issues. The study found several issues requiring attention to consolidate the e-governance system in the country.


2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 585-587
Author(s):  
Bradley C. Canon

Malcolm “Mac” Jewell was a mainstay of the Political Science Department at the University of Kentucky (UK) for 36 years. For that same period and even longer, he was one of the profession's leading researchers in explaining legislative behavior (particularly in the states) and how state political parties worked. Mac retired from UK in 1994 but continued being active in our profession. Around 2004, he began suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He died on February 24, 2010, in Fairfield, Connecticut.


Slavic Review ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venelin I. Ganev

Infamously, the 1991 Bulgarian Constitution contains a provision banning political parties “formed on an ethnic basis.” In the early 1990s, the neo-communist Bulgarian Socialist Party invoked this provision when it asked the country's Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the political party of the beleaguered Turkish minority. In this article, Venelin I. Ganev analyzes the conflicting arguments presented in the course of the constitutional trial that ensued and shows how the justices’ anxieties about the possible effects of politicized ethnicity were interwoven into broader debates about the scope of the constitutional normative shift that marked the end of the communist era, about the relevance of historical memory to constitutional reasoning, and about the nature of democratic politics in a multiethnic society. Ganev also argues that the constitutional interpretation articulated by the Court has become an essential component of Bulgaria's emerging political order. More broadly, he illuminates the complexity of some of the major issues that frame the study of ethnopolitics in postcommunist eastern Europe: the varied dimensions of the “politics of remembrance“; the ambiguities of transitional justice; the dilemmas inherent in the construction of a rights-centered legality; and the challenges involved in establishing a forward-looking, pluralist system of governance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-408
Author(s):  
Miroslav Řádek

Abstract Department of Political Science at Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin prepared its own exit poll during election day on March 5, 2016. The survey asked seven questions that were aimed at determining the preferences of the respondents concerning not only the current but also past general elections. Interviewers surveyed the choice of political party or movement in parliamentary elections in 2016 as well as preferences in past elections. Followed by questions concerning motivation to vote - when did the respondents decide to go to vote and what or who inspired this decision. The survey also tried to found out how many preferential votes did the voters give to the candidates of political parties and movements. Final question asked about expectations for the future of individual respondents. This article is the information output of the survey. The interviewers were 124 university students and its return was 1,612 sheets. The aim of this paper is to communicate the findings of this unique survey, which is unprecedented in the Slovak political science.


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