Tag: democracy

Published on by Dave

The EU’s democratic deficit.

Some notes based on the ERS’ document, “Close the Gap: Tackling Europe’s Democratic Deficit”. They have 12 proposals, seven of which suggest actions for the UK Parliament, two for political parties (other than Labour) and one each for the Council, Commission and Parliament. So not so much an EU deficit, more a UK paying attention problem. Mind you, they could pay more attention to what HMG is doing too. I read it once, and made some diigo notes, which I reproduce below/overleaf. … Continue reading “The EU’s democratic deficit.” →

Published on by Dave

Data analytics and democracy

Today, privacy campaigners have been circulating tweets about Brittany Kaiser’s document dump proving that Cambridge Analytics and AIG were working as a single entity. This would seem somewhat contrary to what the police and the ICO have been able to find. There’s more to find here and when I find it, I’ll post the stories here. Continue reading “Data analytics and democracy” →

Published on by Dave

Constitutionalism beyond Liberalism

I was challenged by Michael Wilkinson of the LSE on my interpretation of he importance of the Cherry/Miller ruling on the legality of the 2019 prorogue. Suggested or discovered reading, included a review of  a book he co-edited. My notes have lain around on my hard disk and I decided to tidy them up. Here are my notes and thoughts. From the reviews, I’d say the title is provocative but it might have a jargon meaning about which I am unclear. … Continue reading “Constitutionalism beyond Liberalism” →

Published on by Dave

On Presidentialism

While writing and thinking about the democratic legitimacy of the Referendum, I discovered the work of Juan J Linz. This article initially hosted my thoughts on Linz’s views on the US Presidential system and its clones. I returned to it in the Autumn of 2021 when questions of why the founding fathers did it this way.

On, my article, Dictatorship and plebiscites I had been pointed at “Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe” a review by Fukiyama of Linz & Stepan’s revised work on Autocracy, which was also referenced by Qvortrup, Here is a mirror, on this site. The Fukiyama piece is very short and more of a plug than a review. I found the Linz paper, and link below, also here are further notes on Presidentialism and Parliaments. Continue reading “On Presidentialism” →

Published on by Dave

Lewisham Council’s Democracy Review

Lewisham Council, are looking at their constitution to see if they make it more democratic. They are running a consultation  which started in 2018 and is planned to finish and I propose to submit some evidence. I thought I understood how it worked, but I don’t; here are my notes.  Continue reading “Lewisham Council’s Democracy Review” →

Published on by Dave

New Labour and Party Management

An unfinished white Paper by Emmanuelle Avril of the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. The paper is called, The (Unintended) Consequences of New Labour: Party Leadership vs Party Management in the British Labour Party. and was presented to the Political Studies Association 2015 conference, in March so before the election. The abstract states,  Continue reading “New Labour and Party Management” →