Multicriteria Model to Support Governance in Electoral Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sérgio Manoel Martins ◽  
Leonardo Ensslin ◽  
Ademar Dutra ◽  
Sandra Rolin Ensslin
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Multicriteria Model ◽  
Multicriteria Methodology ◽  
The Way

In democracies, power is exercised through political representation and is expressed in periodic elections. In recent decades, the population's heightened commitment to morality and the way public policies have been conducted have provoked demands from society for stricter controls and transparency in the actions of electoral institutions worldwide. In this context, considering the relevance of the performance of these institutions for legitimacy in elections and political stability, this study presents a process to support governance and election legitimacy management. The constructivist multicriteria methodology guided the construction of the model by identifying strategic objectives and highlighting properties associated with critical factors, which allowed for the measurement of performance and the identification of competitive differentials and vulnerabilities. The process of support for governance has the potential to boost performance, increase the credibility of electoral institutions, and increase society's confidence in elections.

scholarly journals Framing policy designs through contradictory emotions: The case of Czech single mothers

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna P Durnová ◽  
Eva M Hejzlarová
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Way

In public policy scholarship on policy design, emotions are still treated as opposed to goals, and their presence is assumed to signal that things have gone wrong. We argue, however, that understanding how and for whom emotions matter is vital to the dynamics of policy designs because emotions are central to the capacity building of policy intermediaries and, with that, to the success of public policies. We examine the case of Czech single mothers in their role as intermediaries in ‘alimony policy’. Our interpretive survey provided single mothers an opportunity to express the way they experience the policy emotionally. The analysis reveals that the policy goal of the child’s well-being is produced at the cost of the mother’s emotional tensions and that policy designs defuse these emotional tensions, implicitly. These contradictory emotions expressed by mothers show us a gateway to problematising policy designs in a novel way, which reconsiders construing policy design as a technical, solution-oriented enterprise to one in which emotional tensions intervene in policy design and are essential for succeeding.

Political representation: the view from France

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-103
Author(s):  
Raf Geenens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
The Self ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Claude Lefort ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
The Way

It is now widely accepted that political representation is not merely a passive, ‘mirroring’ process, but that the process of political representation plays a constitutive role in the construction of citizens’ ideas and preferences. This chapter argues that French political philosophy points to an even more fundamental role for power and representation in the construction (or the ‘constitution’) of society and the self-image of its members. It focuses on a key argument of political theorist, Claude Lefort, who maintained that the specificity of a society is determined by the way power is organized and symbolically represented in that society. On this account, the importance of political representation goes far beyond the formation of opinions and the process of collective decision making. The organization and representation of power is instead seen as a key determinant of society’s self-understanding and of the way citizens within that society understand themselves and their mutual relations.

Rethinking democratic representation: eight theoretical issues and a postscript1

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Castiglione ◽  
Mark E. Warren
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Input And Output ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
The Way

This chapter offers here a sketch of eight theoretical issues that are fundamental to rethinking the problems and potentials of political representation under emerging conditions. The issues include: (1) the relational character of representation; (2) the role that trusteeship plays in forms of democratic representation; (3) an assessment of representation in terms of both input and output; (4) representation considered as a political practice; (5) the way in which representation is constituted by and within political processes; (6) the objects of representation: who and what are represented; (7) the question of who is a democratic representative; and (8) the relationship between authorization and accountability in informal representation. In each of these dimensions the theory of representation in democracies needs refurbishing, a task that requires returning to the concept of representation in a more systematic way, also taking on board theoretical intuitions from deliberative, participatory and radical populist conceptions of democracy. The postscript takes stock of some of these developments and suggests that rethinking political representation is part of the pressing task to reconsider democracy in the 21st century.

scholarly journals CONSTITUTIONALISM AND JUDICIALIZATION OF POLITICS: THE “JUDICIAL” RIGHT TO HEALTHCARE IN BRAZIL

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 358-393
Author(s):  
Bruno Irion Coletto ◽  
Pedro Da Silva Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Way

The right to healthcare in Brazil is seriously protected by the courts. Judicialization of everyday implementation of this public policy is a fact. One explanation may be provided by the way judges understand the effectiveness of this right. People hold subjective right to individualized healthcare benefits, and so they hold standing to sue the state in order to achieve it, regardless any consideration of public policies. Through an analysis of the jurisprudence on this issue, this paper aims to provide a critical understanding not just about what is actually happening in Brazilian courts regarding healthcare, but also to criticize it. The conclusion is that a “strong” conception of constitutionalism and fundamental rights may revel itself as “weak,” from the standpoint of general equality. Judicialization ends up empting the public debate, leading the task of solving the distribution of scarce resources to a “gowned aristocracy.” 

Factors attracting private sector investments in public–private partnerships in developing countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Osei-Kyei ◽  
Albert P.C. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Private Investments ◽  
Survey Responses

Purpose The increasing demand for public infrastructure has caused a rise in the global adoption of the public–private partnership (PPP) concept. However, over the past years, most of the developing countries have failed to attract more private investments as realised in the developed countries. This paper aims to investigate the critical factors that attract private investments in the PPP markets of developing countries. Design/methodology/approach An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted with targeted international PPP experts from the academic and industrial sectors. The inter-rater agreement analysis, mean score ranking and Mann–Whitney U test were used to analyse the survey responses. Findings Results indicate that the three most critical factors are political support and acceptability for PPPs, government positive attitude towards private sector investments and political stability. On the other hand, factors including government guarantees, competent PPP unit and tax rebate on imported equipment are of low importance. The Mann–Whitney U test reveals that experts from the academic and industrial sectors view the importance of three factors differently: adequate public sector experience in PPP, government providing guarantees and government providing tax rebate on imported equipment. Originality/value The research outputs contribute to the existing but limited knowledge on PPP practices in developing countries by providing empirical evidence and cross-cultural perceptions on the conditions that are critical to the expansion of PPP markets in developing countries. It is therefore expected that governments and policymakers seeking to adopt the PPP concept would take into consideration the results and implications to enhance PPP growth.

What Trumped?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne Malveaux
Keyword(s):  
Barack Obama ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Gender Culture ◽  
The Way

This chapter examines whether there was one factor that put Obama in office. There were pivotal points along the way to the Obama victory when critical factors—race, class, gender, and generation—impacted the outcome of the election. But in reviewing the factors that were cited and also relevant, it is argued that there was “no trump” in the outcome of the election. In other words, the election of Barack Obama represented a conflation of forces, where the conventional wisdom around matters of race, class, gender, culture, generation, and the economy could only partially explain the Obama victory. Thus no factor dominated, and every factor mattered, as this historic victory unfolded.

Convicted and Condemned

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keesha M. Middlemass
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Felony Conviction ◽  
Disability Theory ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Understanding ◽  
The Way

Convicted and Condemned is a critical assessment of how a felony conviction operates as an integral part of prisoner reentry. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework and ethnographic data, the book advances knowledge about the connection among politics, racial animosity, history, public policies, and a felony conviction, which is rooted in historical notions of infamy and the political system of white supremacy. By applying social disability theory to the way a felony conviction functions outside of the criminal justice system, this book explores the evolution of a felony conviction, the common understanding of it, and the way it became shorthand for criminality and deviance specifically linked to black skin. On the basis of social practices, politicians took the common understanding of a felony conviction and extended its function beyond the boundaries of the criminal justice system so that a felony conviction is now embedded in policies that deny felons access to public housing, educational grants, and employment opportunities. Unique ethnographic and interview data reveal that because felons no longer can be physically exiled to faraway lands, a form of internal exile is performed when a felony conviction intersects with public policies, resulting in contemporary outlaws. The book argues that the punitive discourse around a felony conviction allows for the extension of the carceral state beyond the penitentiary to create socially disabled felons, and that the understanding of who and what a felon is shapes societal actions, reinforces the color line, and is a contributing factor undermining felons’ ability to reenter society successfully.

Sri Lanka: Finally on the Way to Political Stability

2015 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 615-617
Author(s):  
Dayanath Jayasuriya
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Way

The education of minorities in Bulgaria and Romania: Analyzing the formation and articulation of preferences

Ethnicities ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-433
Author(s):  
Anna Kyriazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Incremental Process ◽  
The Way

This paper investigates explanations in variation in the education-related preferences of comparable minorities in Bulgaria and Romania (i.e., Turks and Hungarians, respectively) as articulated by political, institutional, and civil society actors claiming to speak on their behalf. The study, which is based on original data extracted from 32 in-depth interviews, begins with a classification of the preferences that the interviewees articulated and the diverse arguments on which these were grounded. Subsequently, I turn to the potential explanations of the observed variation by examining a number of themes that emerged during the discussions and that also correspond to the factors usually considered in the literature on ethnic politics. These include the constraining effect of majority public opinion, the minorities' political representation, and notions related to the opportunities of exit and voice. I argue that actors' preferences adapt to the prevailing circumstances through an incremental process: before higher order preferences can be met or even conceived all the lower steps along the way have to be accounted for.

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