How Voters Respond to Presidential Assaults on Checks and Balances: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Turkey

Why do voters support executive aggrandizement? One possible answer is that they do so because they think this will ease their preferred leader’s hand in putting their partisan vision into action, provided that the leader will continue winning elections. We study this phenomenon through a survey experiment in Turkey, by manipulating voters’ perceptions about the potential results of the first presidential election after a constitutional referendum of executive aggrandizement. We find that voters from both sides display what we call “elastic support” for executive aggrandizement; that is, they change previously revealed constitutional preferences in response to varying winning chances. This elasticity increases not only when citizens feel greater social distance to perceived political “others” (i.e., affective polarization) but also when voters are concerned about economic management in a potential post-incumbent era. Our findings contribute to the literature on how polarization and economic anxiety contribute to executive aggrandizement and democratic backsliding. 1

The Populist Moment

This chapter unpacks the populist moment by paying close attention to two main mechanisms that explain the reproduction of populism in power: electoral validation and the aggrandizement of executive power by eliminating institutional checks and balances and reducing societal accountability. The chapter shows how populist presidents found electoral validation for their radical institutional change by winning key referendums and immediate reelection. All these legitimizing elections have one important commonality: despite valid complaints about the lack of a level playing field, contenders did not dispute their outcome. The chapter also examines the different mechanisms populist presidents use to transfer political power in their favor: the gaining of new presidential powers; the subordination of state institutions, in particular the judiciary and the legislature; and the reduction of societal accountability by curtailing freedom of expression and association. These processes are examined in four cases of unconstrained populism in power.

Assessing dynamic risk factors in institutional settings using STABLE-2007

Assessing dynamic risk factors for persons who reside in an institution can be a challenge. Conceptualizing and scoring dynamic risk factors is more difficult when environments are restricted and opportunities for those being assessed to demonstrate changes in behaviour may be few and far between. Additionally, because dynamic risk measures rely partly on file information scoring is dependent on the training and backgrounds of the people who record information and their personal decisions as to what they consider important enough to include in records. This may mean that scoring under research conditions based only on file review does not reflect the reliability of the measure under clinical conditions. Despite these challenges the present paper argues that there is sufficient evidence to support the use of STABLE-2007 as a reliable and valid measure of dynamic risk factors in institutional settings under both clinical and research conditions. Tips are provided on how to conceptualize institutional behaviours in a manner relevant to dynamic risk factors and how to weigh historical versus more recent information. Finally, recommendations are made for implementing a thoughtful system of checks and balances relevant to the assessment process in institutional settings.

Peran Wartawan Dalam Perlindungan Hak Anak Perspektif Undang-Undang Pers

In the mass media coverage of children in conflict with the law, children's rights must be protected. Therefore journalists in producing journalistic works and mass media that disseminate information about children in conflict with the law must keep the identity of the child, both the child as the perpetrator, the child as the victim, and the child as a witness, as well as all information related to the child. In the process of producing journalistic work, a press institution has a flow of copy process which is a mechanism to ensure the fulfillment of checks and balances on the information produced. In addition, there is also a right of reply mechanism in the mass media that regulates if violations occur in journalistic work as mandated in the Press Law and Journalistic Code of Ethics. This mechanism is regulated is nothing but to guarantee the freedom of the press in carrying out the functions of the press which is essential in the life of the nation and state. With this right of reply mechanism, the press that publishes journalistic works that violate the rights of children in conflict with the law, must still be responsible without having to involve aspects of criminal law in it.

Business and Human Rights: Rebuilding Trust for a New Social Contract (A series of events within the framework of the IV Kharkiv International Legal Forum)

A series of events on business and human rights that took place during the IV KharkivInternational Legal Forum in September 2020 is overviewed.The central topic of the discussions is the question of the possibility (or inevitability) of a newsocial contract, where, along with society and the state, business should become a party. The business’simpact on the daily people life and even on the state itself is becoming more and more significant.Business is seen as a direct bearer of human rights responsibilities, especially in situations where the state is too weak to protect human rights, or when it comes to an area of autonomous space in whichthe state should not interfere.Society needs to develop mechanisms that would guarantee the compliance of non-state regulationestablished by business with fundamental legal values – respect for human dignity, justice, freedom,equality. The questions of the application of the requirements of the rule of law to the sphere of suchnon-state regulation, its role in the moments of democratic transformations in societies, as well ason the mechanism of “checks and balances” in a situation when business is outside state control areactualized. Business responsibilities in situations of global dangers should be the subject of an analysisas well. Corporate responsibility to respect human rights, human rights due diligence, non-stateremedies to protect human rights – these and other concepts that are becoming an integral part oflegal practice today require rethinking from legal theory.Scientists, representatives of government entities and business, civil society organizations from30 countries took part in the events.

The Image of the Ancient Jewish Ruler and Autocratic Power During the Formation of Statehood (Based on the Materials of the Hebrew Bible)

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the ancient texts of the Hebrew Bible largely anticipated the political and legal achievements of the last centuries. The Tanakh, additions and commentaries to it determine the direction of modern international humanitarian law, ways of forming state administration, lay the foundations of a system of checks and balances, a system of separation of powers, contain the foundations of the contractual theory of the origin of the state by concluding an agreement between the people and the king. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ancient texts of the Hebrew Bible and update the obtained data in modern political and managerial relations. Some texts of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), authoritative commentaries on them and the results of research by domestic and foreign scientists were used as materials for the study. The research methods were comparison, analysis of documents, and the system method. The conducted research concluded that doubts about the historicity and practical reliability of the texts of the Hebrew Bible are not able to affect the indisputable value of the material contained in it. Even if the events described have never taken place in history, the views expressed in the Bible themselves should be recognized as far ahead of their time and of value for modern political science. The Hebrew Bible defines the representative of the autocratic power (the king) as the first among equals. This applies to rights, duties, and responsibilities. It is this postulate that should be embedded in the modern political and managerial system, in which there is always a manager and performers. And only continuous work (primarily on oneself), self-improvement, as the Hebrew Bible bequeathed, should become the criterion for selecting a leader, and not any preferences.

Standing up for Democracy? Explaining Citizens’ Support for Democratic Checks and Balances

Winners and losers of elections have different stakes in protecting democratic institutions. We provide new evidence for the effects of partisanship and economic performance on support for checks and balances and acceptance of their infringement. Using survey data from 26 European countries, we show that voters who feel close to a political party that lost the elections support checks and balances significantly more than other citizens. We also find that higher satisfaction with the economy is associated with lower support for checks and balances. Our experiment in Ukraine shows that supporters and opponents of the governing party have divergent evaluations of a reform potentially infringing on the independence of the judiciary. Those in opposition find such reforms less acceptable and justified. Again, we find that improved economic performance leads to higher acceptance of judicial reform. Our results confirm that citizens’ support for checks and balances is contingent and volatile.

A systems framework for remedying dysfunction in US democracy

Democracy often fails to meet its ideals, and these failures may be made worse by electoral institutions. Unwanted outcomes include elite polarization, unresponsive representatives, and the ability of a faction of voters to gain power at the expense of the majority. Various reforms have been proposed to address these problems, but their effectiveness is difficult to predict against a backdrop of complex interactions. Here we outline a path for systems-level modeling to help understand and optimize repairs to US democracy. Following the tradition of engineering and biology, models of systems include mechanisms with dynamical properties that include nonlinearities and amplification (voting rules), positive feedback mechanisms (single-party control, gerrymandering), negative feedback (checks and balances), integration over time (lifetime judicial appointments), and low dimensionality (polarization). To illustrate a systems-level approach, we analyze three emergent phenomena: low dimensionality, elite polarization, and antimajoritarianism in legislatures. In each case, long-standing rules now contribute to undesirable outcomes as a consequence of changes in the political environment. Theoretical understanding at a general level will also help evaluate whether a proposed reform’s benefits will materialize and be lasting, especially as conditions change again. In this way, rigorous modeling may not only shape new lines of research but aid in the design of effective and lasting reform.