Author Archive: democraticaudit
Special advisers and the ‘phone-hacking’ scandal
One of the many issues involving the functioning of UK democracy raised by the phone hacking/police corruption scandal is that of the role of the special adviser in Whitehall. An important facet of this affair, underlining claims of an inappropriate closeness between the ‘Murdoch press’ and politicians, involves Andy Coulson, Editor of the News of the World from […]
It does matter who provides public services, especially when things go wrong
Recent coverage of the evidence of mistreatment of patients with learning disabilities at the Winterbourne View residential hospital in Bristol raises an important question. Is the level of democratic accountability for public services the same, regardless of the status of the organisations specifically involved? Andrew Blick argues that it does matter who provides our public services – […]
Who monitors external appointments to government departmental boards?
Non-executive directors (NEDs) have been a feature of departmental boards since the formative stages of their development in the early 1990s. Employed by Conservative and Labour governments alike, the directors are seen by many as a complementary addition to the machinery of Whitehall – valuable for the experience and ‘outsider’ perspective that they are deemed to bring […]
The EU Bill is flawed, but it could open up other options for democratic reform
Referendums have become an increasingly important part of the process of constitutional change in the UK. In a constitution historically unreceptive to such devices, referendums have been used to gauge the public’s appetite for continuing membership of the EEC, devolution, changes to the structure of regional and local government, and now, electoral reform. Dr Mike Gordon argues […]
Police, politics and the media – the risks of elected police commissioners
Police and Crime Commissioners look set to become a reality, despite the limited interest in the elections, and the poor job done by the Home Office in informing the public about the changes. But do they risk politicising the every day operations of the police? Andrew Blick looks at the potential implications. Recently I blogged […]
Talking sense on Lords reform: why the PSA’s new Briefing fills a crucial gap
Stuart Wilks-Heeg On 19 May 2010, just weeks after the General Election, the new Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, promised that the incoming coalition government would preside over ‘a wholesale, big bang approach to political reform’, amounting to ‘the biggest shake up of our democracy since 1832’. It scarcely needs pointing out that, following the […]
What’s happening to our democracy?
Stuart Wilks-Heeg, 28 February 2011 Our fourth Audit of UK democracy, due for publication later this year, deploys International IDEA’s ‘State of Democracy’ assessment framework and is built around 77 separate ‘search questions’. As we consider the huge evidence base which our Audit is generating, however, one ‘overarching’ question which is not part of the framework becomes […]
Votes for prisoners: Still a reform too far?
Raminder Samrai Cross-posted from Our Kingdom, As the party conference season approaches, political observers will be paying close attention to potential fault-lines within the governing coalition. Yet those searching for tests of the coalition’s internal cohesion might be advised to look further afield than Liverpool and Birmingham this autumn – starting this week in Strasbourg. At […]
Reduce and equalise? Why electoral geography matters
Stuart Wilks-Heeg 9th July 2010 Whether or not we end up voting under a different electoral system at the 2015 General Election, it looks almost certain that most of us will be voting in different constituencies. The Parliamentary Reform Bill, which will make provisions for the referendum on AV and for fixed term parliaments, will also […]
The asylum amnesty ‘scandal’: mind the gap
Guest author: Dr Alex Balch, University of Liverpool A new government, a period of fiscal restraint, problems over a massive asylum backlog, a failed Home Office IT project…. the Coalition in 2011? No – New Labour in 1999. Governments might change, but the gap between policy aims and outcomes (or the difference between what politicians say […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.