Suchergebnisse

Political scientists have largely overlooked the democratic challenges inherent in the governance of U.S. public education—despite profound implications for educational delivery and, ultimately, social mobility and economic growth. In this study, we consider whether the interests of adult voters who elect local school boards are likely to be aligned with the needs of the students their districts educate. Specifically, we compare voters and students in four states on several policy-relevant dimensions. Using official voter turnout records and rich microtargeting data, we document considerable demographic differences between voters who participate in school board elections and the students attending the schools that boards oversee. These gaps are most pronounced in majority nonwhite jurisdictions and school districts with the largest racial achievement gaps. Our novel analysis provides important context for understanding the political pressures facing school boards and their likely role in perpetuating educational and, ultimately, societal inequality.

Analizamos el difuso marco institucional de la Unión Europea y su inherente déficit democrático, junto a la hegemonía de las prescripciones neoliberales en sus instituciones, siguiendo el concepto de "financiarización", para estudiar las limitaciones de la Unión en materia de política exterior. Estas limitaciones convierten la capacidad exterior de la UE en un instrumento político débil, descoordinado e instrumental (WUI). Esto es particularmente relevante en la región del Oriente Próximo y el Norte de África, que constituye un marco analítico para estudiar la hipótesis WUI. Para entender el déficit democrático de la Unión y la financiarización, estudiamos las fuentes de legitimación directa e indirecta que dejan a la ciudadanía europea en una posición secundaria y subordinada, socavando la legitimación democrática en la UE. ; We analyse how the European Union's rather undefined institutional framework, the democratic deficit inherent in its institutions and the hegemony of neoliberal prescriptions expressed in the concept of "financialisation" are limiting EU's capacity of external action. These limitations are becoming the European foreign policy into a weak, uncoordinated and instrumental (WUI) policy instrument. This is particularly observable in the MENA region, especially during and after the so called "Arab Spring", which constitutes a powerful analytical framework to validate the WUI hypothesis. In order to understand the EU's democratic deficit and financialisation, we look at the sources of direct and indirect legitimation that leave European citizenship in a secondary and subordinate position, undermining the sources of democratic legitimacy in the EU.

This publication is the outcome of a project, run by the UCL European Institute in cooperation with the European Commission Representation in London entitled "Reconnect: Citizens, institutions and democracy after the Eurozone crisis". ; -- The democratic deficit, social justice and the Eurozone crisis, Richard Bellamy -- Democratic accountability for a monetary union, Pavlos Eleftheriadis -- Solidarity, democracy and the Eurocrisis, Ulrike Guérot -- Of bread, games and gladiators why magic bullets will not placate eu citizens and why we should nurture a European demoicracy instead, Kalypso Nicolaidis -- The democratic legitimacy of the EU: is federalism the solution or the problem?, Francis Cheneval -- The Eurodividend, Philippe Van Parijs -- Federalism, pan-European Parliament, and against Article 50: a comment on the EU's democratic deficit, Andrew Walton

This article argues for a radical recasting of the European Union democratic deficit debate. Critics have long argued that the EU suffers from a democratic deficit and that growing EU power undermines national democracy. But recent backsliding on democracy and the rule of law in Hungary and Poland reminds us that grave democratic deficits can also exist at the national level in member states and that the EU may have a role in addressing them. This article will place the EU's struggles with democratic deficits in its member states in comparative perspective, drawing on the experience of other democracies that have struggled with pockets of subnational authoritarianism. Comparative analysis suggests that considerations driven by partisan politics may allow local pockets of autocracy to persist within otherwise democratic political unions.

This study evaluates discontinuity induced by the two-stage law-making process of EU directives, which is discussed in the jurisprudential literature as another source of democratic deficit. Directives must be transposed into national law, but lengthy deadlines raise normative questions about the extent to which governments of today can politically and reliably commit domestic majorities of tomorrow. The potential for discontinuity is analysed using transposition data in 15 member states and preference indicators over the last 20 years. The findings reveal that parliaments are largely excluded from this process and that the preferences of the previous and the newly elected representatives often differ considerably, particularly in countries where public support for European integration has declined in recent years.

The proposed new rules would give member states more role in defining their 'fiscal paths'—just not parliaments.