Tag: Democracy
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Chris Monaghan: Party-gate as a Ground for Impeachment? Perhaps, But We Need to Modernise Impeachment Before It Is Fit For Purpose
In a recent post published on the UKCLA blog, I argued that impeachment could serve a purpose in the contemporary United Kingdom. The key points were that a modernised impeachment process could buttress the existing political accountability mechanisms. This would support the ability of the House of Commons to hold the government to account and…
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Ronan Cormacain: Blue-eyed Babies, Amnesties, Sovereignty of Parliament and the Rule of Law: The Northern Ireland Legacy Proposals
Could Parliament pass a law that all blue-eyed babies be murdered? This was the hypothetical question posed by Stephen in the Science of Ethics, quoted by AV Dicey in the Introduction to the Study of The Constitution. Dicey agreed with the answer that “legislators must go mad before they could pass such a law, and…
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Jacob Eisler: Voter ID and the Elections Bill 2021: Legislative Manipulation of Democratic Procedure and the Limits of Judicial Review
The Elections Bill 2021, as of the date of publication for the House of Commons Committee stage, advances a variety of changes to the regulation of elections and the practice of voting in the UK. Of the reforms, one controversially reshapes the practical experience of voting for most citizens. A new voter ID requirement will…
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Joseph Jaconelli: Constitutional Disqualification
Many modern constitutional systems, despite the prevalence of adult suffrage, forbid certain classes of person from participation in the most important aspects of the democratic process, whether by withholding the vote from them or by denying them the right to hold office. While the former has received a considerable amount of attention in the literature,…
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Atina Krajewska: The judgment of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal on abortion: a dark day for Poland, for Europe, and for democracy
On 22nd October 2020, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT) held unconstitutional a statutory legal provision, which had previously allowed women to access abortion on the grounds of fatal foetal abnormality. The provision under review, Article 4a para 1 (2) of the Act for Family Planning and the Protection of the Foetus (1993), had decriminalised abortion…
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Christopher McCrudden: Democracy, protests, and Covid-19: the challenge of (and for) human rights
Two excellent databases enable us to track the effect of Covid-19 on political protests and demonstrations. Both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project tell a similar story: that the effect of the virus has been mixed. Some protest movements that were active before the pandemic are…
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Lucien Carrier: The Problems with Institutional Reform in Fragmented Political Landscapes
Clearly, liberal democracy is at a crossroad. Many are dissatisfied with the state of political affairs in their national countries. The news is filled with stories of uprisings in Chile or Bolivia, riots in Hong Kong or Paris, or mass movements in Catalonia or England. People take up the streets for the cause they believe…
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Tarunabh Khaitan: On Coups, Constitutional Shamelessness, and Lingchi
The decision of the Boris Johnson government to prorogue Parliament with the motive of frustrating the latter’s attempts to outlaw a no-deal Brexit was described by some as a ‘coup’. Much debate has since ensued about whether this characterisation is accurate. Whether the government’s actions in relation to Parliament’s prorogation amount to a coup or…
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Kyle Murray: Putting Parliament in Its Place: The Pro-Brexit, Democratic Case for a Second Brexit Referendum
I am a Brexiteer. I am also a democrat (indeed for me the two are very much connected). In this post, I argue that despite mainstream protests to the contrary, democratic principle points to a strong case for a second Brexit referendum. The argument also gives some food for thought regarding the democratic credentials of…
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Richard Ekins: Reflections on Democracy’s Foundations
This is part of a series of posts in which Richard Ekins reflects upon Lord Sumption’s Reith Lectures. You can find the first posts here, here and here. In his fifth and final Reith lecture, broadcast yesterday morning and entitled “Shifting the Foundations”, Jonathan Sumption brings to a conclusion his reflections on “the decline of…