How can non-elected representatives secure democratic representation?

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 the People Give, They Can Take Away”

Provisions for the direct recall of elected representatives before the completion of their terms allow unsatisfied citizens to gather a number of signatures and submit to a vote his or her continuity in office. Following a Latin American trend, it was introduced for the first time in Bolivia with the 2009's Constitution. Since then, according to the regulation, there were two periods in which recall petitions were enabled–2013 and 2018–in which a total of 369 requests were registered at the subnational level. However, despite the number of initiatives, with only one exception (Bolpebra, Pando), none of them achieved a recall election. This chapter explores the reasons explaining the low number of initiatives achieving a vote. The study offers a comparative analysis of institutional designs and an in-depth study of attempts as well as the vote in Bolpedra.

4. What People Think and Do about Politics

This chapter focuses on citizen attitudes, values, cultures, and behaviours, which underpin the British political system. Particularly important is voting for elected representatives, whether MPs, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Members of the Senedd (MSs), Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs), directly elected mayors, police and crime commissioners (PCCs), local councillors, or even parish councillors. Then there are extensive forms of political participation from citizens and groups, ranging from complaining to public authorities to protesting. Both voting and participation are linked to wider attitudes and beliefs about politics. The chapter also provides an understanding of the different forms of turbulence that have emerged in recent years, in particular since 2014, with the arrival of populist movements, and the more frequent use of referendums.

Functional democracy: An analysis of the key elements of a democratic system

This article debates democracy and the key elements of a democratic system. For this purpose, some of the internationally reputed authors and experts have been quoted. There is no universally accepted definition of democracy but most of the intellectuals and scholars are agreed that in democracy the supreme authority is vested in the hands of the people who exercise it through their elected representatives. The paper adopted qualitative, historical, and analytical method. The scholar has undergone an extensive study of available literature such as books, journals articles, newspapers and internet sources to make this study more commendable and get it become visible for the future scholars. The paper is based on qualitative study as it discusses facts for finding the truth. Democracy cannot flourish without certain necessary conditions. The focus of the paper is on the fundamental’s elements of democracy each of which is a basic condition for the success of democratic type of government everywhere.

Privatization of Law Enforcement

The year 2020 ushered in growing calls to defund the police. In Canada, as in other countries where the movement to defund the police has gained momentum, activists demand transferring money from police departments to social workers, reducing the number of police officers, and increasing police departments’ democratic accountability. This last group of reform initiatives is, perhaps, the least controversial one because it calls for improving the familiar structures of democratic oversight over police departments, such as municipal councils, independent police oversight boards and complaints bodies, and others. The demands for greater accountability of police departments to the public are a symptom of a deeper problem - there is a growing discrepancy between the goals of policing and the consequences of the police’s actions. This discrepancy materializes when the police’s attempts to ensure public safety result in the marginalization of racialized communities, particularly in larger cities across Canada. In order to understand why laudable policy goals lead to deeply problematic consequences, it is necessary to analyze the policing process in our cities. While it has traditionally been assumed that this process is left to the discretion of separate police departments, this paper demonstrates that externalities, such as data generated by private technologies, play an important role in undermining the goals of policing. Reliance on private data and technology does not absolve the police of accountability for resulting human rights violations. However, it has important implications for the reform of public oversight over the police. In an era when non-governmental actors are taking part in law enforcement through procurement contracts, democratic control over the exercise of the police’s contracting powers is an important, albeit often overlooked, instrument of police reform. Relying on contracts for predictive policing technologies as a case study, this paper argues that communities should condition the funding of police procurement on ex ante assessment procedures, technical specifications, and contract enforcement rights. Also, local elected representatives should have an opportunity to approve any data and technology sharing arrangements as well as federal standing offer arrangements that extend predictive policing to their communities.

African Parliaments Volume 1: Evidence systems for governance and development

Parliaments play a pivotal role in governance, and yet little is known about how evidence is used for decision-making in these complex, political environments. Together with its practice companion volume, African Parliaments: Systems of evidence in practice, this volume explores the multiple roles legislatures play in governance, the varied mandates and allegiances of elected representatives, and what this means for evidence use. Given the tensions in Africa around the relationships between democracy and development, government and citizen agency, this volume considers the theories around parliamentary evidence use, and interrogates what they mean in the context of African governance.

For the people, by the minister: Ministerial interventions in subnational, elected bodies and a principled approach to their future application

<p>Although frequently ignored, New Zealand’s democratically-elected, subnational bodies provide many of the day-to-day services we rely upon, from water and sewerage to healthcare and education. However, the broad discretion enjoyed by ministers responsible for local government, District Health Boards, school boards of trustees and tertiary institution councils means elected representatives could easily be removed with little justification. This paper reviews the ministerial intervention regimes for each of these bodies and concludes that a principled approach to their use is needed to protect democratic values and prevent a concentration of power with the ministers. It suggests democracy, subsidiarity, the scale of the problem, the importance/centrality of the function, timing, complexity, transparency, consultation, apolitical decision-making and minimising interventions as principles upon which to critically analyse past interventions and ensure these powers are used more effectively in future.</p>

For the people, by the minister: Ministerial interventions in subnational, elected bodies and a principled approach to their future application

<p>Although frequently ignored, New Zealand’s democratically-elected, subnational bodies provide many of the day-to-day services we rely upon, from water and sewerage to healthcare and education. However, the broad discretion enjoyed by ministers responsible for local government, District Health Boards, school boards of trustees and tertiary institution councils means elected representatives could easily be removed with little justification. This paper reviews the ministerial intervention regimes for each of these bodies and concludes that a principled approach to their use is needed to protect democratic values and prevent a concentration of power with the ministers. It suggests democracy, subsidiarity, the scale of the problem, the importance/centrality of the function, timing, complexity, transparency, consultation, apolitical decision-making and minimising interventions as principles upon which to critically analyse past interventions and ensure these powers are used more effectively in future.</p>

The Quest for Legitimacy: A Comparative Constitutional Study of the Origin and Role of Direct Democracy in Switzerland, California, and New Zealand

<p>This thesis is a comparative constitutional study of the origin and role of direct democracy in Switzerland, California, and New Zealand. It reveals that the direct democracy systems in these jurisdictions came into being as a consequence of sustained periods of economic turmoil which coincided with widespread disillusionment with the performance of elected representatives. Constitutional reformers in these jurisdictions embraced direct democracy as a means of improving, not displacing, representative democracy. Their aim was to restore the legitimacy of their constitutional systems. The study also demonstrates that the majoritarian potential of the direct democracy devices in Switzerland, California, and New Zealand is limited. It is limited to the extent that is consistent with the constitutional principles underlying representative democracy in these jurisdictions, particularly those designed to protect minority rights. This reconciles the competing philosophical traditions on which most of the arguments for and against direct democracy are based. Provided minority rights are protected sufficiently, Jeffersonian-inspired advocates of direct democracy should not offend adherents of representative democracy, whether Burkeian or Madisonian in its conception. This thesis concludes that the direct democracy systems in Switzerland, California, and New Zealand are not the same, nor could be, given the unique forces that contributed to the formation and practice of constitutional law in these jurisdictions. They are different primarily because direct and representative democracy coalesced differently in Switzerland, California, and New Zealand due to variations in the constitutional principles underlying representative democracy in these jurisdictions. These principles vary because constitutional law in each jurisdiction is a unique and intricate confluence of law, politics, history, economics, and cultural expectations. This study also fills a void in the literature on direct democracy, primarily by documenting the origin of New Zealand's direct democracy system, analysing its possible role, and comparing it to the origin and role of the systems in Switzerland and California. In doing so, it provides a detailed examination of the origin and role of direct democracy in Switzerland and California, topics that have previously escaped comprehensive treatment.</p>