Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe role of Downing Street Chief-of-Staff has been neglected by examinations of British Politics, prime ministers, and political leadership and management. This is despite the role having existed since 1997. This article is a "first move" in correcting this omission. The Chief's responsibilities are difficult to define but cover oversight of the political operation within 10 Downing Street. This includes Human Resources; "gatekeeping"; being the PM's closest adviser; institutional reforms; and other related functions. The article uses a theoretical framework drawn from the emerging literature on political management (Lees-Marshment, in Political management: the dance of government and politics, Routledge, Abingdon, 2021) to provide an understanding of what the Chief does and why it is important that we comprehend it better. It focuses upon how chiefs have undertaken the four "D's" (deliberating, designing, doing, and dancing) of political management and what insights can be gleaned from this evidence. Application of this framework helps to reveal key developments of chiefs' work in a structured and detailed manner.

Since 2005, both the U.N. General Assembly and the Security Council have expressed for the first time a clear acceptance of the existence of a responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Though scholars have since debated the legal status of this responsibility, commonly referred to as R2P, it is most accurately described as a declaratory principle rather than a binding rule of international law. Still, recent resolutions by the Security Council, particularly those in reaction to the ongoing atrocities in Darfur, Sudan, explicitly invoke R2P while calling for protective actions in accordance with the principle. If the Security Council continues to implement R2P, the principle may crystallize into a binding norm of international law in the foreseeable future.