This document is the first National Strategy for Homeland Security. The purpose of the Strategy is to mobilize and organize our Nation to secure the U. S. Democratic deficit in the European Union. European Union. This article is part of a series on thepolitics and governmentof the European Union. The concept of a democratic deficit within the European Union is the notion that the governance of the European Union EU lacks democratic legitimacy. The term was initially used to criticise the transfer of legislative powers from national governments to the Council of national government Ministers of the EU. This led to an elected European Parliament being created in 1. EU legislation. Since then, usage of the term has broadened to describe newer issues facing the European Union. However voter turnout has fallen consecutively at the seven elections since the first election in 1. European voters. This is the lowest of any national election in the 2. European Union where turnout at national elections averages 6. EU. 1Opinions differ as to whether the EU has a democratic deficit2 or how it should be remedied if it exists. Pro Europeans i. Sri Lanka Good Practice in Expanding Health Care Coverage Research Studies Series 3 Ravi P. RannanEliya Lankani Sikurajapathy. Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' title='Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' />EU argue that the European Union should reform its institutions to make them more accountable, while Eurosceptics argue that the EU should reduce its powers and often campaign for withdrawal from the EU. Intel Usb Drivers. Use and meaning of the termeditThe phrase democratic deficit is cited as having first been used in 1. Young European Federalists in their Manifesto,5 which was drafted by Richard Corbett. In 1. 97. 9 it was used by David Marquand in reference to the then European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union. He argued that the European Parliament then the Assembly suffered from a democratic deficit as it was not directly elected by the citizens of the Community. Democratic deficit, in relation to the European Union, refers to a perceived lack of accessibility to the ordinary citizen, or lack of representation of the ordinary citizen, and lack of accountability of European Union institutions. Constitutional nature of the democratic deficiteditIn the European Union, there are two sources of democratic legitimacy the European Parliament, chosen by the electorates of the individual EU countries and the Council of the European Union the Council of Ministers, together with the European Council of heads of national governments, that represent the peoples of the individual states. The European Commission the civil service of the Union is appointed by the two bodies acting together. Democratic legitimacy within the EU can be compared with the dual legitimacy provided for in a federal polity, such as the USA, where there are two independent sources of democratic legitimacy, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and, to become law, decisions must be approved both by one institution representing the people as a whole and by a separate body representing the peoples of the individual states. The German Constitutional Court referred to a structural democratic deficit inherent in the construction of the European Union. It found that the decision making processes in the EU remained largely those of an international organisation, which would ordinarily be based on the principle of the equality of states and that the principle of equality of states and the principle of equality of citizens cannot be reconciled in a Staatenverbund. In other words, in a supranational union or confederation which is not a federal state there is a problem of how to reconcile the principle of equality among nation states, which applies to international intergovernmental organisations, and the principle of equality among citizens, which applies withinstates. A 2. British Electoral Reform Society wrote that this unique institutional structure makes it difficult to apply the usual democratic standards without significant changes of emphasis. Certainly, the principles of representativeness, accountability and democratic engagement are vital, but the protection of the rights of minorities is perhaps especially important. The EU is a political regime that is, in one sense at least, entirely made up of minorities. European CommissioneditOne assertion of democratic illegitimacy focuses on the role of the European Commission in initiating legislation. This criticism has, in turn, been criticised, using comparisons with the situation in national governments where few members bills are ever debated and fewer than 1. The Commission is reestablished every five years. Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' title='Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' />Extracts from this document. Introduction. Politics Assignment one To what extent is Britain a liberal democracy Students name LU ZHEYU MERCURY Student. Modern authoritarianism has succeeded, where previous totalitarian systems failed, due to new strategies of repression, the exploitation of open societies, and the. The concept of a democratic deficit within the European Union is the notion that the governance of the European Union EU lacks democratic legitimacy. Quotes 1830s. Born under another sky, placed in the middle of an alwaysmoving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which sweeps along everything that. Individual members of the incoming Commission are nominated by national governments and the proposed Commission is or is not approved jointly and severally by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. Parliament has the power to dismiss the Commission early and has used that power. According to R. Daniel Kelemen, fragmented power systems like the European Union and the United States may tend to produce more detailed regulations that give member states less discretion in implementation. In an attempt to strengthen democratic legitimacy, the Treaty of Lisbon provided that the nomination of the President of the European Commission should take account of the result of the European parliamentary elections, interpreted by the larger parliamentary groups to mean that the European Council should nominate the candidate Spitzenkandidat proposed by the dominant parliamentary group. However, this has also been criticized from the point of view of democratic legitimacy on the grounds that the European Union is not a country and the European Commission is not a government, also having a semi judicial role that requires it to act as a referee or policeman rather than a partisan actor. The fear is that a semi elected Commission president might be too partisan to retain the trust of national leaders too powerless to win the loyalty of citizens. This, too, is seen as a possibly insoluble problem resulting from the Europeans dual nature, partly an international organization and partly a federation. The Electoral Reform Society observed polling evidence from Germany which showed that support for the CDUCSU EPP group ahead of the 2. European Parliament elections was higher than support for the Social Democrats S D group and that there was little difference between their support in the opinion polls for national and European Parliament elections. This was despite another poll showing that S D candidate Martin Schulz was more popular among German voters than EPP candidate Jean Claude Juncker. They concluded that this does not suggest that the majority of German voters are treating the contest as a chance to choose a Commission President. However, they recommended that the candidate model be kept with a clearer set of rules for future elections. European ParliamenteditOne assertion of democratic illegitimacy focuses on the alleged weakness of the European Parliament. This has been countered by a number of political scientists, who have compared the systems of governance in the European Union with that of the United States, and stated that the alleged powerless or dysfunctional nature of the European Parliament is now a myth. It is argued that there are important differences from national European parliaments, such as the role of committees, bipartisan voting, decentralized political parties, executive legislative divide and absence of Government opposition divide. Corruption Global Issues. It goes without saying, almost, that corruption is everywhere. Corruption in poor countries is well commented on sometimes used dismissively to explain away problems caused by other issues, too. It would be futile to provide examples here see also the sources of information at the end of this document for more on this. Rich countries, also suffer from corruption. Examples are also numerous and beyond the scope of this page to list them here. F221' alt='Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' title='Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' />However, a few recent examples are worth mentioning because they are varied on the type of corruption involved, and are very recent, implying this is a massive problem in rich countries as well as poor. The first example is the US government, accused of outsourcing many contracts without an open bid process. Jim Hightower notes that An analysis by the Times found that more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition. In essence, the Bushites choose the company and award the money without getting other bids. Prior to Bush, only 2. Another example is Italy, where former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and some of his close associates were held on trial for various crimes and corruption cases though Berlusconi himself has not, to date, been found guilty of any charges. Many key teams in the massive Italian soccer league, Serie A were also found to be involved in a massive corruption ring. Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' title='Weaknesses Of Democracy Pdf' />In the United Kingdom, the arms manufacturer, BAE was being investigated for bribing Saudi officials to buy fighter planes, but the government intervened in the investigation citing national interests. The Guardian also reported that BAE gave a Saudi prince a 7. British arms deal, with the arms firm paying the expenses of flying it. This seemingly large figure is small compared to the overall deal, but very enticing for the deal makers, and it is easy to see how corruption is so possible when large sums are involved. International institutions, such as the United Nations and World Bank have also recently come under criticism for corruption, ironically while presenting themselves in the forefront fighting against corruption. The recent example with the UN has been the oil for food scandal, where the headlines were about the corruption in the UN. In reality, the figures of 2. UN were exaggerations it was 2 billion it was the UN Security Council primarily US and UK responsible for much of the monitoring US kickbacks for corrupt oil sales were higher, for example. This is discussed in more detail on this sites Iraq sanctions, oil for food scandal section. At the World Bank, headlines were made when its recent president, Paul Wolfowitz, was forced to resign after it was revealed he had moved his girlfriend to a new government post with an extremely high salary without review by its ethics committee. Paul Wolfowitzs appointment was also controversial, due to his influential role in architecting the US invasion of Iraq. A former member of staff at the World Bank also noted concerns of cronyism related to Wolfowitzs appointment way before the scandal that forced him to resign. The US nominee for the next president is the former US Trade Representative and currently an executive at Goldman Sachs, Robert Zoellick. His nomination is also coming under criticism. Bush supports it, saying Zoellick is the right man to succeed Paul in this vital work. Former World Bank chief economist, and Nobel Prize winner for economics, Joseph Stiglitz feels that instead of a political appointee, it would be better to get an economist who understands development. As also reported by the BBC, Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said that he thought Mr Zoellick was a terrible choice because Zoellick has no significant experience in economic development in poor countries, and that he has been a close friend to the brand name pharmaceutical industry, and the bilateral trade agreements he has negotiated for the US effectively block access to generic medication for millions of people. While the US typically gets its preferred nomination to head the World Bank, Europe has typically got its preferred person to head the IMF. Critics have long argued that this lacks transparency and is not democratic. While not illegal as such, it does feel like a form of corruption.