Gambian election presages authoritarian turn

Significance His main rival, Ousainou Darboe, placed a distant second with just under 28%. The result relates more to popular rejection of Darboe and savvy alliance-building than a popular endorsement of Barrow’s five years in office, which have been marred by scandals and broken electoral promises. Impacts Without a term limit for the presidency, Barrow is now poised to prolong his stay in office. The continued presence of regional forces will mitigate a coup risk. Barrow will apply the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) selectively to protect close allies.

The Democratic Cost of Consecutive Re-election and Presidential Term-Limit Evasion in Latin America

Despite theoretical arguments suggesting the strong effects of presidential term limits and re-election on democracy, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence to evaluate them. We test both the effect on democracy of the existence of a consecutive re-election rule and of reforms introducing it for incumbent presidents. Using evidence from Latin American countries between 1945 and 2018, we test their relationship to both vertical and horizontal accountability. A synthetic control method is employed to account for the effect of term-limit reforms, and time-series cross-section models for modelling the association with the re-election rule. Both vertical and horizontal accountability as well as the quality of democracy are eroded by term-limit evasion reforms in most countries and strengthened in none between 1990 and 2018. Allowing presidents to run for re-election – relative to term-limited ones – is consistently associated with weak democratic outcomes.

PEMIKIRAN MUHAMMAD SYAHRUR; TEORI NADZARIYAH HUDUD DAN APLIKASINYA

One of the great thinkers in the contemporary era is Muhammad Syahrur, a Syrian liberal Islamic figure. Through his controversial works, al-Kita>b wa al-Qur’a>n: Qira>’ah Mu’a>shirah, (al-Kitab and al-Qur’an: a Contemporary Reading) Syahrur introduces a new theory of Quranic interpretation, called as the theory of limits. He asserts that the theory of limits is an approach within ijtihad (individual interpretation) to study the muhkama>t verses (clear and direct verses of law) of the Qur’an. The term limit (h}udu>d) used by Syahrur refers to the meaning of “the bounds or restrictions of God which should not be violated, contained in the dynamic, flexible, and elastic domain of ijtihad.”. By using the descriptive-analytical method, the article is talking about the contribution of the theory of limits in qur’anic interpretation that makes significant contributions to the enhancement of Qur’anic studies.

Implikasi Ketatanegaraan Presidential Term Limit menurut Pasal 7 UUD NRI 1945 sebelum Amendemen terhadap Presidential Continuism Masa Orde Baru

Presidential term limit according to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution (UUD) before the amendment should not be interpreted as only one measure namely in terms of quantity (limits on the term of office and the maximum period of office in office), but must regulate in terms of quality (legal norms and political ethics in commitment creating a democratic and competent government). As a result, every President in power will endeavor to presidential continuation by changing, avoiding, reinterpreting, amending the constitution or even presidential term limit in article 7 of the 1945 Constitution before the amendment. In the constitutional order, it will have implications for every President in power to form an authoritarian government and reduce democracy, abuse of the President's power to hold office continuously, give birth to an elected president who is incompetence in government administration, and creates stagnation of political regeneration.

Commerce in Children: Slavery, Gradual Emancipation, and the Free Womb Trade in Colombia

In 1821, as the Wars of Independence drew to a close, officials of the newly created republic of Gran Colombia passed a national gradual emancipation law. At the center of it was a Free Womb law that declared legally free the children of enslaved women born after the law's promulgation, while bonding these children to their mothers’ masters until the age of 18. Yet, in addition to establishing a term limit on their legalized captivity, the law stipulated conditions for the commerce in Free Womb children, laying the groundwork for what I refer to as the Free Womb trade. This article presents the first detailed exploration of the origins, operations, and limitations of the Free Womb trade in Colombia, particularly at the level of one province: the northwestern Pacific coastal province of Chocó. I argue that the trade created distinctly bounded market geographies of Free Womb children, who were actively, if at times ambiguously, incorporated into Colombia's slave economy. As a general rule, the Free Womb trade placed captive families at the mercy of their masters; yet, as one extraordinary case reveals, the full extent of the local trade's legal power was not entirely secure.

Institutionalizing Personalism: The Russian Presidency after Constitutional Changes

The 2020 constitutional changes considerably increase presidential powers while sending mixed signals about presidential transition. The main driver of the amendments were term limits. The “zeroing” of Putin’s presidential terms enhances certainty for himself by fostering uncertainty for others. But there is more to the amendments: Numerous changes are not new, they simply align the constitutional text with subconstitutional powers the presidency had been accumulating. The embedding of term limit circumvention in a comprehensive constitutional overhaul is a risk-hedging strategy to avert resistance by weakening the signal about Putin’s intentions. Constitutional changes are therefore an instrument of elite coordination. The amendments also increase presidential flexibility. This expedited regime personalization is detrimental to governance and will make repression more prevalent. But it also creates more risks for Putin. Regardless of how presidential succession will play out, Putin’s legacy will be a highly personalized authoritarian regime with a constitutionally unconstrained presidency.

Electoral Incentives and the Allocation of Public Funds

Politicians allocate public resources in ways that maximize political gains, and potentially at the cost of lower welfare. In this paper, we quantify these welfare costs in the context of Brazil’s federal legislature, which grants its members a budget to fund public projects within their states. Using data from the state of Roraima, we estimate a model of politicians’ allocation decisions and find that 26.8% of the public funds allocated by legislators are distorted relative to a social planner’s allocation. We then use the model to simulate three potential policy reforms to the electoral system: the adoption of approval voting, imposing a one-term limit, and redistricting. We find that a one-term limit and redistricting are both effective at reducing distortions. The one-term limit policy, however, increases corruption, which makes it a welfare-reducing policy.

Presidential Tenure and Constitutional Provisions: Recent Evidence from Central Africa

Constitutions around Africa have been repeatedly tested on the issue of presidential term limits. We explore the four most recent cases of African presidents facing the end of their constitutionally mandated limit, all of which developed in Central Africa. Burundi, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo all adopted constitutions limiting presidential tenure to two terms; yet, in 2015, when these limits were approaching, none of the sitting presidents simply stood down. Our analysis focuses on the constitutional provisions meant to protect the two-term limit, the strategies employed by each of the four presidents, and the difficulty they faced in pursuing extended tenure. We find that constitutional provisions do constrain, but not always to the expected degree. Our analysis adds a consideration of a foundational constitutional factor to the growing literature on term limits in Africa, with implications for other regions of newly developing democracies.