Suchergebnisse

'International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment' by David Beetham, Sarah Bracking, Ian Kearton and Stuart Weir is reviewed.

The effects of a free market system on European citizenship are investigated. Arguing that globalization has diminished nation-states' authority to control public policy agendas, individual governments have responded by establishing more flexible postwelfare state national economies; consequently, social rights are constrained while social exclusion advances. Three explanations for the reduction in citizens' social protection are presented: increased competition between European Union member states; notions of social rights; the absence of a European Union state with the authority to define social rights; & member states' superior power over supranational institutions, thus preventing the promotion of social rights. Consequently, supranational institutions must be granted increased authority to ensure the maintenance of fundamental social rights in the international free market. 11 References. Adapted from the source document.

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES TWO DIFFERENT, YET INTERRELATED, PHENOMENA: PARLIAMENTARY DECLINE IN WESTERN EUROPE AND THE "DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT" OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. IT ARGUES THAT THE LATTER HAS HELPED TO CONSOLIDATE THE FORMER. THIS IS ILLUSTRATED BY TWO SETS OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES. THE MAIN CONCLUSION TO BE DRAWN IS THAT A SIMPLE REORDERING OF SOME POLICIES WITHIN AND ACROSS DIFFERENT PILLARS WILL NOT REMEDY THE CURRENT DEMOCRATIC SHORTFALLS.