Achieving accountable government
Why do voters back corrupt and dishonest politicians? Interview with Milan Vaishnav
A candidate with criminal allegations hanging over them will repel voters – or will they? Not necessarily. In India, a third of the MPs elected in 2014 faced an ongoing criminal case. Milan Vaishnav, the author of a new book about the nexus of crime and democracy in India, talks to Ros Taylor about the appeal […]
It’s impossible to find out by how much the Coalition did cut civil service admin costs. This is why
Driving down administrative costs has long been a government priority, and the 2010-15 coalition government was particularly ambitious in this regard. Did they succeed in doing so? Christopher Hood and Ruth Dixon, drawing on their award-winning A Government that Worked Better and Cost Less?, explain how numerous civil service reclassifications have made it impossible to track spending accurately. They […]
Faith schools do better chiefly because of their pupils’ backgrounds
Faith schools generally achieve better exam results than their counterparts, with Roman Catholic schools doing particularly well. If government proposals go ahead, oversubscribed new faith schools will soon be allowed to select all their pupils according to religion, rather than only half of them. But how much of their success is down to their intake? Rebecca Johnes […]
What’s going wrong with English Votes for English Laws – and how can it be improved?
The ‘English Votes for English Laws’ procedural rules have attracted much criticism since they came into use a year ago – variously described as complex, divisive and not making England’s voice heard. Daniel Gover and Michael Kenny look at how EVEL is working, and how it could be improved. Similar Posts‘English Votes for English Laws’ —a viable answer to the […]
Without liberalism, democracy is dreadful. Fortunately we have both
It is quite all right to hate democracy. T. F. Rhoden dislikes democracy immensely. Without classical liberalism, he argues, it is normal to mistrust democracy in its purer form. Democracy is dreadful without the classifier “liberal” in front – because liberalism is a safeguard against democracy’s inherent decadence of rule by the people. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump’s […]
Big money buys influence in Brussels. Or does it?
In Brussels, big corporations can buy influence – and the VW emissions scandal proved it. Or at least that’s the received opinion about lobbying. But Bas Redert looks at the relative success of big and small lobbyists and finds that public opinion, not the size of their budgets, is the salient factor when it comes […]
The secret of better government? Citizens who complain
Citizens are becoming more sceptical and critical of their governments. Chris Welzel and Russell Dalton examine whether this phenomenon is good or bad for democratic stability by looking at the relationship between assertive and allegiant citizen norms and effective governance. They challenge the Burkean view that good government requires an obedient citizenry to function properly. Assertive citizens […]
The costs of being honest: what Serpico can teach us about reducing corruption
Although bureaucratic corruption plagues many countries, researchers struggle to recommend ways to deter it. Aksel Sundström argues that the effect of violent intimidation by people trying to bribe enforcement officers has been largely overlooked. He suggests that protection schemes for officials may have the potential to reduce the costs of honest behaviour. Similar PostsIn places […]
How No Child Left Behind encourages better-off parents to flee poorly-performing schools
For a democracy to function properly, its citizens need to be informed. In order to encourage this and make providers more accountable, the US has implemented performance accountability measures for public and private goods and services. In new research, John B. Holbein examines the effects of the No Child Left Behind policy, which gives citizens information […]
Schools and healthcare in some post-Soviet hybrid democracies have improved. How?
After the end of the Cold War some ex-communist countries embraced full democracy, some became hybrid regimes while others backslid to authoritarianism. Andrea Cassani, Francesca Luppi, and Gabriele Natalizia examined the quality of education and healthcare in these states. They found that while the more democratic a country the better its public services, some hybrid regimes have also […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.