Parliamentary Democracy

by Hopkinson, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780754622130
• ISBN10: 0754622134
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Ashgate Pub Ltd

Summary

With the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the legitimacy of one-party and often one-person rule in other parts of the world has been fundamentally challenged. For the first time, parliamentary democracy has almost become the universally accepted model to adopt or to be perfected. In the past decade, nascent democracies have started to build the institutions and capacity necessary to sustain democracy, whilst longer-established democracies continue to refine their democracy, sometimes even introducing whole-scale reforms.With the launch of new democracies and the re-examination of the old, this book is a timely examination of whether the elements of a perfect democracy can be identified and how democratic structures and practices can be improved.

Author Biography

Nicholas Hopkinson is Deputy Director at Wilton Park, West Sussex.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Senator Margaret Reid
Preface	ix
Introduction	xi
Democracy and Good Government	1	(18)
What is Democracy?	1	(2)
What is Good Government?	3	(1)
Multi-party Democracy	4	(1)
Independence of Public Servants	5	(1)
Efficient Public Administration	6	(3)
The Military	9	(1)
Creating an Enabling Environment for Economic Development	10	(5)
Media Freedom	15	(4)
To What Extent Should Cultural Values and the National Context Determine Democratic Practice?	19	(4)
Adapting Democracy to National Circumstances	23	(14)
Federalism	23	(8)
Local Government	30	(1)
Which Electoral System?	31	(6)
Alternative Electroal Systems in Small States	33	(4)
Free and Fair Elections	37	(8)
Ensuring a Representative Electoral Roll	38	(2)
The Role of Boundary Commissions	40	(3)
Voter Education	43	(1)
Access to the Media	43	(2)
Representation, Political Parties and Direct Democracy	45	(12)
Models of Political Representation	45	(3)
Building Representative and Effective Political Parties	48	(4)
Financing Political Parties	51	(1)
Direct Democracy	52	(5)
Ensuring Parliamentarians are Representative	57	(6)
Selection of Candidates and Members	57	(2)
Gender	59	(4)
Improving the Effectiveness of Parliament	63	(22)
The Balance between Parliament and the Executive	64	(2)
Pros and Cons of Parliamentary and Presidential Government	66	(2)
Parliamentary Committees	68	(3)
Improving the Quality of Legislation	71	(2)
The Role of Presiding Officers	73	(5)
Rules on the Outside Interests of Parliamentarians	78	(4)
The Role of Parliamentary Associations	82	(3)
Is There a Correlation between Democracy and Development?	85	(2)
Case Studies	87	(30)
The United States	87	(4)
Europe	91	(8)
Switzerland	92	(1)
The European Union	93	(5)
Central Europe	98	(1)
Small Commonwealth States	99	(5)
The Caribbean	100	(3)
Singapore	103	(1)
Large Commonwealth States	104	(5)
Australia	104	(1)
India	105	(2)
South Africa	107	(2)
Alternatives to Multi-party Democracy	109	(8)
Uganda	109	(4)
Guernsey	113	(4)
Conclusions	117	(4)
Appendix: List of Participants	121