In late 2011 to early 2012 the four UK Boundary Commissions published their provisional recommendations for new parliamentary constituencies. These were produced according to new rules for redistributions legislated in 2011, which make electoral equality the paramount criterion; organic criteria—such as continuity of constituency boundaries and fitting those within the maps of communities rep…
What would happen if all parties competing in the electoral game were forced to hold open, binding, concurrent and obligatory primaries constrained by a ‘Sore Loser Law’? The answer to this question has not been explored, perhaps because there is only one democracy in the world that has applied such rules more than once: Uruguay. This country offers a fertile ground for testing some of the hypo…
Time for Reflection (TFR) was designed at the inception of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, as an alternative to Westminster Anglican prayers, to provide a weekly opportunity for representatives of religions and belief systems to address the Parliament. Appearances are designed to reflect the diversity of belief in proportion to relative support in the country as evident in the 2001 census. Chr…
This article uses empirical data to establish and analyse the links between pre-parliamentary political experience and career trajectory once elected to the House of Commons. It suggests a move away from the existing occupation focused frameworks towards a broader ‘political experience’ approach which distinguishes between traditional and non-traditional routes into Parliament. The framework is…
This article analyses the wealth of data released by the Labour Party on its 2010 leadership election. We uncover the way in which the list of candidates was expanded via the initial nomination process in the parliamentary Labour Party and highlight the artificiality of some candidacies. We find little evidence in the voting data to support the belief that the Miliband brothers represented tw…
The publication of a White Paper, Recall of MPs, and a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny, by the UK Government in December 2011 was greeted with almost universal antipathy. In bringing forward the draft Bill Cabinet Office ministers declared their intention to ‘trigger a debate on what would be the best model for a recall mechanism’ and they expressed a willingness ‘to consider alternativ…
Comparative trends in political participation in the West draw a pessimistic picture: younger generations tend to avoid formal politics, opting instead for radical forms of political engagement or opting out altogether from the political process. This trend poses an obvious threat to the core democratic idea of popular control of government. One remedy for this problem, proposed in recent years…
The departmental select committees of the British House of Commons deal with executive oversight, but not with legislation. This has two important knock-on effects. First, although these committees are permanent, expert, and largely well regarded in Britain, they are often overlooked by omparative scholars. Second, and connectedly, their impact on policy is very difficult to assess. Even in the…
Focusing on case studies of five different petitions systems, but also drawing on the Coalition government's new e-petitions system, this article identifies a number of characteristics of petitions systems. It argues that as a tool for participation they have the potential to act as a significant input to representative forms of democracy by providing a mechanism to enable the public to express…
Buku ini membahas mengenai uapay Presiden SBY dalam mengelola kebijakan pembangunan nasional di era yang sedang berubah (policy-making process in the changing context). Buku ini mengurai persoalan mendasar dalam pembangunan daerah, agenda kebijakan, danlangkah demi langkah yang telah dilakukan oleh Presiden dalam menyatukan semua potensi anak bangsa guna menggapai visi nasional kita, yait…
Buku ini mendeskripsikan data dan kajian tentang masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh Indonesia sebagai Negara kepulauan. Ada enam kajian yang dipaparkan; pertama tentang budaya maritime, geopolitik dan tantangan keamanan Indonesia; kedua , tentang pengelolaan wilayah pesisir dan laut oleh pemerintah pusat dan pemerintah daerah; ketiga, tentang studi perbandingan program pemberdayaan masyar…
Buku ini menelaah berbagai aspek pengelolaan wilayah pesisir dan pulau-pulau kecil di Indonesia. Ada lima persoalan yang disorot: Pertama, tentang hak pengusahaan perairan pesisir yang boleh diberikan kepada masyarakat lokal, nelayan tradisional, dan pelaku usaha; Kedua, nilai strategis coral triangle initiative bagi masyarakat pesisir; Ketiga, peran lembaga swadaya masyarakat inter- n…
Negara Indonesia adalah Negara yang besar. Sejak awal berdirinya Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia, para pendiri Negara menyadari bahwa Bangsa Indonesia merupakan bangsa yang majemuk karena terdiri atas berbagai suku bangsa, adat istiadat, budaya, bahasa daerah serta agama yang berbeda-beda. Dengan keanekaragaman tersebut, mengharuskan setiap langkah dan kebijakan Negara dalam kehidupan…
Peristiwa G 30 S telah menjadikan banyak keluarga-keluarga yang menjadi susah hidupnya karena masalah ketidaktahuannya sebagai masyarakat tentang apa yang sebenarnya terjadi pada tahun 1965 itu. Buku ini merupakan kumpulan artikel yang mendokumentasikan tentang kehidupan yang pernah dan sekarang dijalani para korban yang dituturkan melalui berbagai cerita yang dituliskan. Sebagai suatu p…
Kajian yang dilakukan oleh Sekjen DPD RI ini merupakan dukungan keahlian terhadap kebijakan lembaga dalam mengevaluasi pelaksanaan otonomi daerah dengan fokus penelitian pada Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Barat dan Kalimantan Tengah. Landasan evaluasi dilakukan dengan pendekatan kapabilitas, dimana kesejahteraan tidak diukur semata melalui peningkatan pendapatan ekonomi masyarakat, tetapi dik…
Buku ini menceritakan perjuangan hidup sang pengarangnya Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa. Dari bukan siapa-siapa menjadi seorang yang dikenal public karena berbagai gagasan-gagasan selama menjadi anggota legislative selama empat periode. Buku biography yang kaya akan motivasi hidup ini terlihat jelas bagaimana sebenarnya kehidupan ini disikapi oleh setiap orang dengan pandangannya masing-masin…