Sustainable Democracy Research Articles

Biometric technologies and the prospect of sustainable democracy in Africa

The paper interrogates the prospect of attaining sustainable democracy in Africa using biometric technology (BT) for elections. Technology has become relevant in virtually every aspect of human endeavour, including election management and democratic development. In Africa, BT has also been deployed to improve the quality of elections and democracy. Using document analysis and review of relevant literature, findings indicate that to a large extent, BT is charting the path for sustainable democracy in Africa. However, the deployment of BT for African elections still faces serious challenges such as its high cost, inability to address some forms of electoral fraud, and lack of technical know-how. The paper concludes that the cultivation of political will to improve the quality of elections is important in order to address the current challenges of using BT in African elections and increase the prospect of attaining sustainable democracy.

Restructuring for Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria: The Role of Political Education and Information Communication Technology

The study examined the role of political education and Information Communication Technology (ICT) for sustainable democracy in Nigeria. The paper conceptualized political education and IC T for sustainable democracy. The paper adopted observation and secondary methods of data gathering. The paper argued that electoral violence and fraud that marred conducted elections in Nigeria was due to decades of military rule that militarized the psyche of most Nigerians, and lack of continuous political education to redirect the militarized mentality they do display in electoral process, to democratized mentality to sustain democracy in Nigeria. This is because the anti-democratic mentality of most Nigerians has created loopholes for politicians to manipulate the electoral process which portents a threat to democracy in Nigeria. The paper revealed that continuous political education through the use of ICT tools like social network sites will create political awareness that will enlighten Nigerians to deter them from electoral violence and fraud, and other related anti-democratic behaviour to bring about sustainable democracy in Nigeria. Therefore, the paper recommends among others, that the Nigerian government should liaise with advanced countries that have successfully built ICT in their democratic governance, to see areas where they can collaborate to ensure stable use of ICT facilities in Nigeria.
 Keywords: Restructuring, Sustainable Democracy, Political Education, Information Communication Technology (ICT)

The abandonment of the Spitzenkandidaten System: (Un)sustainable democracy in the EU?

In the process of the parliamentarisation of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon took a further step forward by introducing into the founding treaties - Article 17.7 TEU- the need to take into account the elections to the European Parliament for the appointment of the President of the Commission. Nevertheless, the European Parliament has been trying to impose its interpretation of Article 17.7 TEU, which has been coined into the Spitzenkandidaten doctrine, according to which the head of the party winning the elections should be elected as Commission President. The Parliament succeeded in imposing its vision with the occasion of the appointment of Juncker in 2014. Nevertheless, by not proposing Manfred Weber, the leader of the most voted party in the 2019 elections, as President, the European Council has prevented the consolidation of the 2014 precedent. Article 17.7 of the TEU also expresses the desire to bring the European elections closer to the citizens, so that their opinion is taken into account when the President of the Commission is elected. And it seems that both the results of participation in 2019 and the perception of the voters show that the Spitzenkandidaten system has been useful for that purpose. In any event, I consider that the fact that citizens voted in the 2019 elections in the belief that their votes would be decisive in appointing the President of the Commission and, in the end, it was not elected an Spitzenkandidaten as head of the Commission, is a very serious lack of consideration for citizens.
 Received: 03 February 2021Accepted: 25 March 2021

Restructuring state power in Sudan

Developing post-conflict economic policies in Sudan remains a significant challenge for the Sudanese transitional government and the international community. This article argues that understanding the conflict, its costs and the progress made during the current peace agreement are essential for advancing policy reforms in Sudan. The Sudanese transitional government has attempted to implement reforms, but little progress has been made because the civilian elements operate outside of the existing state power. The previous regimes policies sustained conflict(s) through both passive and active enablement of the Sudanese security forces, which means that the restructuring of state power is essential to place Sudan on the right course towards sustained democracy. This article posits that addressing structural reforms in Sudan means establishing control over the economy, defense, and security sectors.

Post-Keynesian Institutionalism and the Failure of Neoliberalism: Returning Realism to Economics by Highlighting Economic Insecurity as the Flip Side of Financialization

Post-Keynesian institutionalism (PKI) has always been about starting with the reality of human experience and working to fashion a better world rooted in broadly shared prosperity. In contrast, a decades-long pursuit of the neoliberal agenda has failed to deliver such prosperity and, in many ways, has actually moved the United States further from PKI’s conception of a better world. In an effort to bring economics back in touch with reality, this article describes the economic insecurity that has been a central problem confronting Americans for more than a generation. It then shows how PKI explains that insecurity as a consequence (in fact, the flip side) of a key aim of neoliberalism: financialization. PKI accounts for these trends with a theory of capitalist development that draws on the work of Hyman Minsky. Contributors to PKI also offer more than just theory and analyses: they also propose policy recommendations and institutional changes designed to bolster democratic decision-making, community vitality, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and individual wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for such changes.

NİFRƏT NİTQİNİN ANLAYIŞI-AVROPA ŞURASI VƏ AVROPA İNSAN HÜQUQLARI MƏHKƏMƏSİNİN YANAŞMALARININ MÜQAYİSƏLİ TƏHLİLİ

Providing an opportunity for society to develop and progress, freedom of speech is surely one of the vital conditions for sustainable democracy. Nevertheless, freedom of speech is not an absolute right and exhaustive list of limitations are delineated by many jurisdictions. In Europe as well it is still subject to accepted restrictions designed to prohibit incitement to hatred or conflict with other human rights. This article discusses approaches to hate speech as a legitimate ground for restriction of freedom of speech. The article is dedicated to a comparative analysis of the case law of the ECHR and the provisions of the Recommendations adopted in the framework of the Council of Europe. In particular, the author tries to find a clear distinction between speech that is not welcome by the majority of society and the prohibition of hate speech. Key words: freedom of speech, hate speech, standards of Council of Europe, European Court on Human Rights, context of speech, call for violence

대표의 민주화 - 지속가능한 민주주의를 위한 헌법적 조건 -

한국헌법이 채택한 민주주의는 국민이 대표를 선출하여 구체적 의사결정을 위임하고 정당화하는 대의제 민주주의이다. 그러나 대표는 개념본질적으로 민주주의와 조화하기 어려울 뿐 아니라, 실질적으로 기능하지 않을 경우 피대표자를 제대로 대표한다고 말하기 어렵다. 이처럼 형식화된 대표기능이 자유위임원칙으로 정당화되어 ‘대의제’ 민주주의를 지탱하는 데에는 한계가 있다.BR 민주화 이후에도 정체를 면치 못하고 있는 한국의 민주주의가 현재의 상태를 벗어나, 지속가능한 수준 내지 질적으로 더 높은 단계로 진화하기 위해서는, 대통령과 국회와 같은 대표기관의 대표기능과 이들과 국민을 매개하는 정당과 같은 중개기관의 중개기능을 실질화하는 것이 관건이라 할 것이다. 그러기 위해서는, 대표가 피대표자를 ‘실질적으로 대표한다’고 인정하기 위한 조건이 필요할 것인데, 그 핵심은 대표자가 피대표자에게 반응하여야 한다는 것이다. 그 선제적 조건으로 대표자의 활동이 투명성을 띠어야 되고, 그것을 기반으로 형성된 피대표자의 의사에 대해 대표자가 반응하여야 하며, 대표자가 피대표자의 의사와 지나치게 유리되어 더 이상 신임을 유지할 수 없게 되었을 때에는 책임을 물을 수 있어야 할 것이다. 이처럼 대표의 투명성-반응성-책무성이 확보될 때, 대의제 민주주의의 지속가능성을 기대할 수 있을 것이다. 이 글에서는, 한국헌법상 대의제를 구성하는 요소인 개인적 대표로서의 대통령의 대표기능, 집단적 대표로서의 의회의 대표기능, 그리고 국민과 대표의 중개자로서의 정당의 중개기능을 실질화할 수 있는 제도적 방안을 모색하였다.

The 2015 Biometric Voting System and the Politics of Free, Fair and Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria

The 2015 Biometric Voting System and the Politics of Free, Fair and Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria

Sustainable democracy: the limits of democratic tolerance (World and Ukrainian experience)

Sustainable democracy: the limits of democratic tolerance (World and Ukrainian experience)

The History of Academic Freedom in Africa: Issues, Challenges and Perspectives

This work examines the history of academic freedom in the world with particular emphasis on academic freedom in Africa and its perspectives. This work harbors on the hypothetical contention that academic freedom is the cornerstone for a free society and liberal education. It further proves that academic freedom is an engine for sustainable democracy and prosperity. Written against the backdrop of historical approach, this work concludes that freedom of teaching, research and publication have been defended for many centuries. Because of this many earlier academic freedom defenders were harassed for many years but their cause persists to date.

Bureaucracy as a factor in the functioning of the regional elite: challenges of civic and political representation

The article considers the dependence of political representation at the regional level on the specific configuration of the national political and legal field. The full value and normativeness of public representation are substantiated, as well as the contradictions of the interests of regional political elites and bureaucratic power practices are outlined.The purpose of this article is to clarify the importance of bureaucracy as a factor in the functioning of the regional elite against the background of the challenges of socio-political representation.Research methods. A descriptive method was used to describe the implementation of autonomous government by citizens and to resolve their issues based on the activities of local governments; the method of comparison is used to reflect the composition of regional political elites of European countries and the specifics of the mechanisms of representation at the parliamentary local and regional levels; a method of generalization to demonstrate challenges for elites in the sense of an adequate understanding of their importance and role in political processes at the national and international levels.Results. The assessment of the distribution of powers and the tendencies of influencing the situation in regional communities and territorial units are characteristic only for the countries that are going through a period of democratic transformations and for sustainable democracies. It has been proven that if the bureaucracy is the main actor in the implementation of technical management decisions, the elites can only be coordinators in setting priorities and differences on certain aspects of decision-making at the macro level. Emphasis is placed on the implementation of democratic reform programs, which provide for the representation of the people at all levels of administrative-territorial division. The properties of the elites elected by the citizens, which act only as a temporary component of the general system of decision-making and their implementation, are revealed. It is not possible to represent all, without exception, local communities at the regional level, due to the diversity of their economic and socio-infrastructural potential. An interpretation of the essence of the mechanisms of real democratic political leadership is proposed, which would ensure the support of the population of regional elites as factors of real representation of communities.

Introduction to the special issue: reform or revolution? What is at stake in democratic sustainability transformations

In the face of multiple crises of ecology, economy, and social equity, the question of how to democratically transform toward a more sustainable society is high on the political agenda as well as pertinent to academic research. The first part of this introductory article to the special issue provides a brief overview of contemporary interrelated debates on sustainability, democracy, and transformation. It discusses the main concepts, themes, and questions that are part of the highly diverse and constantly evolving body of literature on the topic, as well as differences regarding analytical frames and normative underpinnings. The overview shows that the literature remains largely silent about supporting theories of change, ontologies, methodologies, and principles—and/or the ways in which transformation, sustainability, and democracy are interrelated. The second part of this article introduces the contributions to this special issue. The special issue is guided by three overarching questions: what can we say about the possibilities and problems of democratically enacting changes toward greater social, ecological, economic, and political sustainability in societies? Which analytic frames are useful for evaluating change, including its democratic and sustainability quality? Where do evaluations and judgments derive their analytical and normative legitimacy from?

Resilient peripheralisation through authoritarian communication against energy democracy in South Korea

ABSTRACT To understand anti-democratic barriers to accomplishing energy democracy, I examine how and why a centralised energy system can maintain itself based on an ethnographic analysis of the local protest of the Miryang community against the Korea Electric Power Corporation’s construction of a 765,000-volt transmission line. In doing so, I incorporate the element of authoritarian communication into the framework of peripheralization – a socio-political reproduction of social, spatial, and environmental inequality caused by siting environmentally hazardous facilities in peripheral communities and reinforcing their powerlessness – to emphasize the aggressive role of government and industry actors. Composed of unidirectional projection, partial absorption, and forceful suppression, authoritarian communication makes the sacrifices of peripheral communities enduring, and consequently enables an undemocratic energy arrangement to be resilient and perpetual. To overcome this mechanism, I highlight the active roles of citizens to contest authoritarian communication and socio-environmental inequalities as a precondition to building a sustainable energy democracy.

Participación Estudiantil, Institucionalidad Escolar y Ciudadanía Democrática: Desafíos Pendientes desde la Experiencia Peruana

El artículo explora, para el caso peruano, el potencial de la experiencia escolar para fomentar disposiciones favorables entre las y los estudiantes hacia actitudes consideradas fundamentales para la sostenibilidad democrática. Se analiza la relación entre la organización y funcionamiento de los mecanismos de participación estudiantil y el auto reconocimiento sobre la propia capacidad para influir en la vida pública. El análisis de la información, producto de la combinación de análisis uni y bivariable y de regresiones bajo el método de Mínimos Cuadrados Ordinarios, surgió de la aplicación de una encuesta a estudiantes de secundaria de seis escuelas públicas peruanas. Los resultados muestran la relación entre experiencia escolar y desarrollo de actitudes democráticas; principalmente, con respecto a cómo la posibilidad efectiva de las y los estudiantes de influir sobre temas relevantes en su escuela, incidiría en un mayor reconocimiento de sí mismas(os) como ciudadanas(os) con capacidad para ejercer poder público. Así, se discute la importancia de que al interior de escuela se trascienda la aproximación electoral (procedimental) a la democracia y que se promueva una cotidianeidad institucional consistente con la apuesta por la formación de la subjetividad democrática, la ciudadanía como identidad pública.

Democratic illiteracy: A threat to sustainable democracy and peace in Ghana

Following the political instabilities that have characterised Ghana few years after independence from British colonialists, many were those who thought multiparty democratic governance was the surest way to good governance and sustainable human development. The paper argues that citizens’ uncooperative attitude in governance issues, and leaders’ unpreparedness to be accountable to the citizenry result from lack of democratic acculturation. The way forward to achieving and ensuring good governance and peace in Ghana therefore is an elaborate and sustained democratic education geared toward making democracy a way of life for Ghanaians. The paper is an empirical study founded on current affairs and democratic politics in Ghana. It combines historical and sociological approaches in the interpretation of textual data and empirical observations in the formulation of its reflections. In so doing, it examines what democracy is not, on one hand, and what it is, on the other. Informed-knowledge of these two realities will lead to democratic literacy urgently required for good governance, socio-economic and political development in Ghana. Key words: Democracy, governance, illiteracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship, responsiveness.

A Critique of Nigerian Federalism and Need for Restructuring Towards Achieving Vision 2030

This paper underscores a critique of Nigeria’s choice of a federal option, the current state of which has led to the incessant clamour, across the nation for restructuring. Federalism in Nigeria since 1960 was adopted to accommodate the nation’s heterogeneous culture with the sole aim of maintaining unity in diversity. The dysfunctional system has been observed to be the main bane of Nigeria underdevelopment, instability, and absence of good governance all of which can negatively affect the achievement of a sustainable national development plan like the Vision 2030. This paper argues that Nigeria is yet to evolve a truly federal system capable of taking care of its numerous challenges. Writing from a historical perspective, the paper uncovers that there are logical inconsistencies in Nigeria’s practice of federalism. What gets here is a hidden unitary framework. The call for restructuring is in a general sense borne out of some apparent degrees of foul play and disparity presently perceived by the part units emerging from defective federalism. Understood in the above is that the necessary ingredients of sustainable democracy and governance are completely lacking in Nigeria. Thus, if the proposed Vision 2030 or any other national development plan is to be accomplished, there has to be a restructuring of the dysfunctional political system; a restructuring that devolves power to the federating units leaving the federal government with vital aspects like defence, foreign affairs among others; a return to the regional arrangement of the past.

The Just Transition and its work of inequality

Changing our relation to the environment in a democratic way implies questioning models and methods of socioecological relations—including work relations. This article critically discusses the notion of a “just transition” toward democratic sustainability as developed at the intersection between climate justice and labor politics. We invite an expansion of ideas of socioenvironmental and labor justice based on Jacques Rancière’s “method of (in)equality,” which problematizes justice theories and the politics of identitarian-group recognition. Our argument is that since both ecological and social crises are produced via inequalities a just transition can be a transition out of the logic of unequal relations—rather than just out of fossil fuels. We posit that socioecological justice in political action can be based on the assumption of equality, the “scandalous” democratic principle according to which political agency belongs to subjects without them having to prove any particular subjectivity worthy of recognition. We thus invite connecting sustainability discourses with a critique of the processes through which subjects become subaltern in the first place, being ascribed unequal positions mostly via violent means such as dispossession and subordination.

The state, hate speech regulation and sustainable democracy in Africa: a study of Nigeria and Kenya

ABSTRACT The debates on hate speech regulation have divided scholars and practitioners. While the liberals largely argue that hate speech ban is anti-democratic and counter-productive for preservation of fundamental human rights, the humanists posit that hate speech is harmful and its regulation is relevant in order to avert the collateral damage/harm it inflicts on human dignity and equality of human beings. Despite the significant efforts in Africa to regulate hate speech, its debates focus on United States and Western Europe. Thus, the account of hate speech regulation in African context is largely understudied. This study therefore examines the impact state regulation of hate speech on sustainable democracy in Africa. Using the qualitative dominant mixed methods approach and data generated from Nigeria and Kenya, the paper argues that state regulation of hate speech presents an opportunity for fostering order, advancing national cohesion, reducing hate speech and promoting inclusive governance for all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion and economic status. The paper concludes that implementing hate speech legislation alongside other non-legal, dialogue-based, egalitarian, voluntary approaches are relevant for diminishing hate speech and the harms it engender as well as promoting sustainable democracy in Africa and beyond.

Pendidikan Politik di Perguruan Tinggi : Sebuah Konsepsi

As an effort, political education becomes an investment in sustainable democracy. The result is citizens’ political awareness and active involvement democratically in national matters. With an opportunity of demographic bonus in the future, the best political therapy must be implemented to young people as a guarantee of the well-functioning of democracy, in which some of them are higher education students. Political education in higher education is constructed in both formal and non-formal forms. In the formal form, it is carried out through political teaching, while the non-formal form is related to the way individuals summarize political knowledge through reflection on a political system. It can be carried out together between teaching through Pancasila and Citizenship Education in the curricular domain and social learning through student organizations in the non-curricular domain.

More Democratic Sustainability Governance through Participatory Knowledge Production? A Framework and Systematic Analysis

This paper investigates how participatory knowledge production may contribute to more democratic sustainability governance. It develops an analytical framework in order to perform a systematic analysis of the GammaSense project in the Netherlands, on the measurement of gamma radiation by citizens. The paper first of all concludes that the way in which participation takes place throughout each and every stage of the knowledge production process, including technically complex issues such as the design of the measurement system and analytical toolset, has consequences for (a) which aspects of the gamma radiation decision-making process can potentially be democratized; (b) who gains a voice on the issue; (c) which form of democratization process is potentially facilitated. Secondly, the democratizing effects of setting the purpose of knowledge production, defining the research object and developing the methodological toolset are closely intertwined. Finally, providing space for multiple epistemologies and being attentive towards the role of material objects—the issue at hand and the methodological devices—are of crucial importance to realize the democratizing ambitions that the GammaSense project aimed to contribute towards.