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102. Accountability social y democracia: El caso de la red de ciudades justas, democráticas y sustentables
- Author:
- Andrés Hernández Quiñones and Jorge Florez Herrera
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo (CIDER), Universidad de los Andes
- Abstract:
- Uno de los rasgos de la última década es el crecimiento de iniciativas impulsadas por organizaciones sociales, ONGs, medios de comunicación, movimientos sociales y ciudadanos orientadas a monitorear y evaluar planes, programas y políticas de desarrollo local en las grandes y medianas ciudades de América latina y a exigir rendición de cuentas por los resultados y los desempeños institucionales en la reducción de la pobreza y la generación de bienestar. Una expresión de estas iniciativas es la Red Latinoamericana por Ciudades Justas, Sustentables y Democráticas (RLCJS) que reúne más de 50 iniciativas ciudadanas que promueven el control social y la evaluación a planes de desarrollo y políticas públicas en sus ciudades. Las iniciativas que configuran la RLCJS se inscriben dentro de una tendencia más amplia de emergencia de iniciativas de participación ciudadana centrada en el control y la exigencia de rendición de cuentas en diversas áreas (derechos humanos, salud, educación, medio ambiente). El presente texto tiene dos propósitos, por un lado, rescatar y utilizar la literatura de AS como una herramienta analítica de utilidad para dar cuenta de la naturaleza de las nuevas iniciativas de participación ciudadana centradas en el control y en la exigencia de rendición de cuentas; y por otro lado, utilizar el marco analítico proporcionado por esta literatura para hacer un análisis de la naturaleza de las iniciativas que forman parte de la RLCJS. Desde esta perspectiva, busca responder a las siguientes preguntas: ¿qué se entiende por accountability social?, ¿son nuevas formas de democracia participativa o por el contrario son nuevas modalidades de representación política?, ¿cuáles son los rasgos que definen estas iniciativas? , ¿Cuál es la incidencia de estas iniciativas en las políticas públicas, la gestión pública y la democracia a nivel local?, ¿qué condiciones determinan su éxito o fracaso?
- Topic:
- Development, Accountability, Cities, Sustainability, and Social Democracy
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
103. Reforming the Department of Homeland Security Through Enhanced Oversight & Accountability
- Author:
- Carrie Cordero
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
- Abstract:
- In November 2002, 14 months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the department) was created by Congress to make America safer from terrorism.1 At the time, the policy focus was on international terrorism, in particular al Qaeda. Since then, not only has the terrorism landscape evolved—from al Qaeda and its affiliates to ISIS to the present increased attention to domestic terrorism linked to white supremacist violence2—but the scope and complexity of national security threats have evolved. The new department centralized border security, immigration enforcement, transportation security, emergency management, and critical infrastructure protection, plus additional functions, with an intent to protect against future terrorist attack. The fundamental activities of the department, however, have always been broader than terrorism. And over the years, attention to the department has quickly shifted depending on the critical events of the time, whether a natural disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, or persistent cyberattacks and other malign cyberactivity since the mid-2000s, or the emergence of a global pandemic.3 Meanwhile, due to a variety of factors, the size and complexity of DHS’s law enforcement functions have grown, while recent attention has focused primarily on the border and immigration functions. The department is arguably the most operational agency in the federal government in terms of its routine activities that affect and directly touch millions of people each day. These varying and disparate missions across the department are focused domestically and therefore require substantial attention to whether and how they are carried out in accordance with law and respect for constitutional protections. This report, issued as part of a Center for a New American Security (CNAS) project4 on enhancing DHS oversight and accountability, posits that 18 years into the department’s existence, the functions of border security and immigration enforcement, as well as the law enforcement functions of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in particular, have grown disproportionately large in size and broad in scope, without the necessary oversight and accountability structures that must accompany such activities.5 And DHS’s border and immigration functions are under tremendous strain as they are tasked with increased policy directives, humanitarian challenges on the southern border, intense political pressure, and growing public scrutiny about these functions. The department is in severe need of legislative attention and policy coordination. If it does not reform to address the issues identified in this report, it is likely the department will face calls for partial or full dismantlement under a future administration.6 Such a result would undo nearly 20 years of effort to better protect the nation from terrorism and emerging homeland threats, and risk returning to a pre-9/11 era of dis-jointed homeland security coordination.
- Topic:
- Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Accountability, and Oversight
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
104. Comprehensive, Contentious, Convulsive, and Continuing: Some Observations on the 2010–2020 Arab Uprisings
- Author:
- Rami G. Khouri
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
- Institution:
- The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The grievances that exploded all over the Arab region between 2010 and 2020 are historic in so many ways that it is hard to know where to start understanding them. Scholars should avoid a single-focus analysis and instead grasp why the protests across nearly a dozen countries have addressed almost every dimension of material, political, and psychological life. Four key factors that converge, though, should take priority in any assessment of what this decade means for the Arab region: (1) the expanding range of rights, denials, and grievances that citizens raise; (2) the fact that Arabs have unsuccessfully tried to redress these grievances since the 1970s without receiving any serious responses from their states; (3) the demands today to go well beyond reforms in individual policies and instead totally overhaul the governance systems and throw out the ruling elites; and, (4) the simultaneous uprisings across much of the Arab region, revealing the common suffering of citizens and the incompetence of governments in about a dozen states at least. In short, the deterioration of the quality of citizenship and the dilapidated state of public services and governance have reached such a severe condition that they have caused mass eruptions by citizens in multiple lands to redress these stressful and often dehumanizing realities.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Social Movement, Reform, Citizenship, Arab Spring, History, and Accountability
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
105. Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure
- Author:
- Jay Schweikert
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that protects public officials from liability, even when they break the law. The doctrine has no valid legal basis, it regularly denies justice to victims whose rights have been violated, and it severely undermines official accountability, especially for members of law enforcement. Accountability is an absolute necessity for meaningful criminal justice reform, and any attempt to provide greater accountability must confront the doctrine of qualified immunity. This judicial doctrine, invented by the Supreme Court in the 1960s, protects state and local officials from liability, even when they act unlawfully, so long as their actions do not violate “clearly established law.” In practice, this legal standard is a huge hurdle for civil rights plaintiffs because it generally requires them to identify not just a clear legal rule but a prior case with functionally identical facts.
- Topic:
- Law, Reform, Criminal Justice, Accountability, Police, and Qualified Immunity
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
106. Holding to Account: How Publishing Facts about Foreign Corruption Creates Accountability
- Author:
- Aaron Sayne and Melanie D. Reed
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- The complex, secretive nature of foreign corruption calls for a collaborative, all-hands-on-deck approach. Corrupt actors go to great lengths to hide their wrongdoing, using layers of legal entities, transactions, secrecy jurisdictions and middlemen. No one response can detect and prevent every bad act, and different anticorruption actors have their own unique interests, mandates and abilities. In many cases, they may struggle even to learn the facts of what went wrong. Prosecuting a corruption crime generates reams of valuable information. This can include the names of bribe takers and payers; the industries, countries and public institutions involved; how the proceeds of crime changed hands; and who facilitated or turned a blind eye. Who should get to see this information? Thought leaders on anticorruption, from Transparency International (TI) to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery (OECD WGB), have long endorsed greater transparency in foreign corruption cases. They argue, for example, that access to information raises awareness, gives guidance to anticorruption practitioners, encourages cooperation with prosecutors and boosts confidence in law enforcement. Conversely, opacity in corruption cases can weaken the deterrent value of prosecutions, open doors for prosecutorial misconduct and thwart efforts to make victims whole. These concerns are particularly keen in cases that settle via tools like deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) or plea bargains. Many governments share evidence from corruption cases confidentially, through formal legal instruments and close working relationships. But how does public disclosure of facts from corruption cases, whether by courts or other law enforcement bodies, aid the broader fight against corruption? Put differently: At a time when enforcement of anticorruption laws remains low in many countries, could more transparency help anticorruption efforts by regulators, companies, the media, civil society and others? To answer this question, the authors of this briefing analyzed materials from foreign corruption cases that have arisen since the inception of laws banning foreign bribery. During the past four years, they also conducted over two dozen interviews with experts government, the private sector, civil society and the press. From this work, they found instances in which other anticorruption actors used published facts from court cases to do their jobs more effectively. Although they undertook this research as part of the Natural Resource Governance Institute’s (NRGI’s) programming aimed at reducing corruption risks in the oil, gas and mining sectors, they did not limit themselves to cases in the extractive industries. Accordingly, their findings and recommendations apply broadly to corruption in other sectors.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Government, Economy, and Accountability
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
107. Forums, Fees and Data Flows: Coordinating Mining and Water Policy in Mongolia
- Author:
- Mirja Schoderer and Ines Dombrowsky
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
- Abstract:
- Mineral and metal extraction threatens water quantity and quality in Mongolia. While good legal provisions for coordination exist, a lack of stakeholder involvement, data availability, human and financial capacity, and general transparency and accountability hinder their implementation.
- Topic:
- Natural Resources, Water, Accountability, Mining, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia and Asia
108. How the G7 Reviews its Work on Development: A Case Study of Internal Accountability
- Author:
- Roger A. Fischer
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
- Abstract:
- This paper suggests ways to improve G7 accountability practice so that it better capture learning effects. Better designed commitments and improved follow up would also support G7 legitimacy, because this would make it easier for external stakeholders to check G7 action against its words.
- Topic:
- Development, Accountability, and G7
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
109. Transparency in the Fight against the Coronavirus: The South Korean Example
- Author:
- Hülya Görkem Demirbulak Bae
- Publication Date:
- 07-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- South Korea constitutes an important example in fighting the pandemic. South Korea handled the process in a planned, rapid manner, and at the same time transparently. In fact, transparency has been one of the secrets of the country’s current success. In light of all of these developments, this essay will lay out how South Korea managed the coronavirus pandemic process and the policies it implemented, with a special emphasis on the role of transparency in the country’s fight.
- Topic:
- Accountability, Transparency, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Asia and South Korea
110. Coronavirus Times in Turkey: Contemplating the Concept of Governance Under the Shadow of a Despotic Leviathan
- Author:
- Esra Kaya Erdoğan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- The question we need to ask is this: how do we determine whether a government is successful or not in the face of a pandemic of such proportions? While it may seem like there is an objective answer to this question, in fact the answer will inevitably be influenced by the political stance, worldview and party preference of the person responding.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Governance, Accountability, Transparency, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean