The Greens have called for the government to intervene and tell the RBA to cut interest rates. Such a step would undermine central bank independence.
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Articles on Checks and balances
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Some fascists claim that democracy and fascism have the same goal – to give effect to the will of the people. But who the people are is where the ideologies divide.
Parliament’s failure to live up to its constitutional mandate was noted by the State Capture Commission as having enabled former president Zuma’s regime to corrupt state behaviour with ease.
A partisan election system, attacks on election administration and widespread disinformation place the U.S. democracy in a precarious position.
Despite their pretensions to support reforms, it is clear that successive governments are not interested in the reform.
In Kenya’s parliamentary system, lack of a clear party majority makes it hard for a president to deliver on election promises.
There is more support for democracy among African people than is often recognised. Yet this can be undermined by election rigging and is lower in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.
Angola needs a mixed electoral system. This would promote accountability through the direct election of representatives from constituencies.
When presidents have tried to address pressing issues through executive action, members of Congress are quick to ask the courts to step in.
Investigations of the 9/11 attacks show that a short, unstable transition between two presidents can weaken US security. Trump’s sweeping staff changes compound the risk, experts say.
Even if other parts of the federal government shut down, Congress could – and would have to – keep working. A legal scholar explains why and how that is possible.
Since the 1940s, Congress has largely let the president make decisions, while members of the House and Senate endorse or condemn those actions from the sidelines.
Congress is supposed to be a check on presidential power, but party politics has muted Republican criticism of Trump. Restoring balance means making a radical change.
Donald Trump is far from the first president to politicise the judiciary, but the way he’s going about it is uniquely dangerous.
It’s quite possible that neither the US nor the UK will ever return to normal when it comes to political and constitutional balance.
In his incautious remarks about the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) report into children in detention, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has shown a disregard for basic institutions of democracy that…
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Associate Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
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