Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law and Society
Competitive Supragovernmental Regulation: How Could It Be Democratic?, Errol E. Meidinger
Competitive Supragovernmental Regulation: How Could It Be Democratic?, Errol E. Meidinger
Journal Articles
This paper explores the possibility that a developing form of regulatory governance is also sketching out a new form of anticipatory regulatory democracy. 'Competitive supra-governmental regulation' is largely driven by non-state actors and is therefore commonly viewed as suffering a democracy deficit. However, because it stresses broad participation, intensive deliberative procedures, responsiveness to state law and widely accepted norms, and competition among regulatory programs to achieve effective implementation and widespread public acceptance, this form of regulation appears to stand up relatively well under generally understood criteria for democratic governance. Nonetheless, a more satisfactory evaluation will require a much better understanding …
Giving The Gift Of Public Office, James A. Gardner
Giving The Gift Of Public Office, James A. Gardner
Buffalo Law Review
This interpretive essay, written for the Buffalo Law Review's annual essay issue, identifies an increasingly common pathology of American democracy in which voters treat the election of public officials not as an instrumental act designed to influence public policy, but as an opportunity to present public office as a gift to those who have pleased, entertained, or moved them. The reelection of Strom Thurmond to the Senate at age 93 and the election of nearly forty congressional widows to their late husbands' seats exemplify this trend. Although this behavior bears a passing resemblance to eighteenth-century habits of political deference and …