Добірка наукової літератури з теми "Elected people"

The purpose of this study is to analyze the recalling system of legislative members in Indonesia that does not reflect the value of Pancasila justice; as well as obstacles and solutions to the recalling of legislative members in Indonesia that fulfill a sense of justice and Pancasila values. The research method used is an empirical juridical approach. Research conclusions is the recalling system for legislative members in Indonesia has not reflected the value of Pancasila justice, especially the four principles of Pancasila, namely democracy led by wisdom/deliberation, and eliminating the election system based on Open Proportionality, where constituents do not choose parties but elect candidates. Obstacles in recalling legislative members in Indonesia restrain legislative members from voicing their opinions and their efforts to fulfill the demands of their constituents and their nation, and make legislators no longer become representatives of the people but merely party officials. Recalling members of the legislature should be returned to the sovereignty of the people through the General Election Commission which determines and determines the elected legislative member, whether an elected legislative member can be recalled by his party or not, and as a form of people's sovereignty, regulations should be made regarding terms, conditions and procedures of people from the electoral area of elected legislative members to be able to recall the legislative members who are representing them to the General Election Commission, and if there is a dispute between the people recalling the recalled members or their political parties, the dispute can be carried out through the Constitutional Court or Supreme Court.

The passage of the 18th Amendment to Constitution of 1973 of Pakistan is a major constitutional development to strengthen local system of government in Pakistan. The amendment constituted one of the most dramatic devolution of power since drafting of 1973 Constitution. The increased authority accorded to provincial governments has enhanced their ability to retain control of their revenue; however, most taxes will continue to be redistributed by the center. The amendment authorizes the provinces to establish the local government system. This paper focuses on the failure of various provincial governments to conduct periodic local body’s elections and to implement the system. The study also focuses on the political leadership insincerity in their commitment to devolution of power to the local representatives. The study finds out that contrary to non-elected institutions elected institutions are to greater extent reluctant to empower local representatives. The study also finds out that despite lack of political will, unsound financial conditions remained a major obstacle in deepening the roots of these institutions. These elected representatives at federal and provincial level half-heartedly supporting this system as they think of the later will reduce their influence and will decrease their power base.

This paper will conduct a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of the electoral system from three perspectives to verify whether the election truly reflects the will of the people. First, we will explore the authenticity of the will of the people, that is, whether voters are able to express their political preferences and needs autonomously and independently, independent of external factors. In this regard, the investigation can include the voters' access to information, the independence of propaganda activities, and the voters' political awareness and ideological independence. Second, we will continue to assess the objectivity of the electoral process. An objective electoral process should be fair and transparent, ensure that every eligible voter has equal access to the election, and ensure that the counting of votes and the announcement of results are accurate and fair. From this perspective, we can focus on factors such as whether the design of the electoral system is sound, how engaged the electorate is, and the role and function of the election monitoring body. Finally, we will assess whether the people who are elected actually represent the will of the people. This requires an examination of whether the background and commitment of the person elected matches the political expectations and needs of the people. Whether the elected person can truly represent the interests of the voters and perform his duties within the scope of his duties is also an important indicator to assess whether the election truly reflects the will of the people.

This study aimed to analyze local democracy in the old order, new order, and reform eras and reconstruct local democracy in Indonesia. The study was sociological juridical with a statutory approach, a historical approach, and a conceptual approach. Local democracy was reflected in the election of regional heads from the old order era until the reformation, which changed under the applicable laws and regulations. The Regional People's Representative Council elected regional heads in the old order era. In contrast, in the new order era, they were elected by the Regional People's Representative Council based on mutual agreement with the Minister of Home Affairs or the Governor. The filling of regional head positions in the reform era, which the Regional People's Representative Council previously carried out, was done directly by the people. Indonesia reconstructed local democracy through several alternatives: regional heads elected by the Regional People's Representative Council, elected through determination, directly elected by the people, and elections in accordance with regional peculiarities.

Relations between the judiciary and the elected authorities (i.e. the legislative and the executive) in each country and at all times are among the most sensitive from the point of view of statehood. There is an obvious truth expressed in the famous saying of Lord Acton: ‘Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely’2. The universal calling of judges is to restrain executive and legislative branches of government in their efforts to increase their power, especially at the expense of individuals. A state where there is no sufficiently strong counterweight to the natural omnipotence of the people’s representatives is not in line with the principle of the rule of law, because there is no one to remind the elected powers that their mandate has its limits – contemporarily established in particular by constitutional norms and the international regime for the protection of human rights.3 Naturally, courts do not directly take part in a political discourse, even though some kind of judicial review of the acts of public authorities exists virtually everywhere; these should not be characterised as an interference in political matters.4 The mutual respect of the judiciary and elected authorities proves the maturity of the state constitutional system, regardless of how far-reaching the powers are of judges to examine the constitutionality of legislation.

The American and French revolutionaries of 1776 and 1789–1793 invoked the sovereignty of the people to dethrone their kings and make declarations of human rights. In 1755 and 1794, the people of Corsica invoked the same principle to declare their independence first from Genoa and then from France. By agreement with Britain, in 1794 they adopted a constitution guaranteeing human rights, and elected George III to be their king. In the 1830s, under threat from foreign forces, representatives of the people of New Zealand invoked the same principle. They declared their independence and by agreement with Britain they enthroned Queen Victoria on condition of obtaining guarantees of all the rights and privileges of British subjects. By these agreements that are less well known than the revolutions of 1776 and 1789 Britain accepted the sovereignty of both British and foreign peoples as exercised through their representatives, of an elected monarchy and of the duty of governments to guarantee human rights in England and in the Empire.

From the main duties of members of the DPR RI and how members of the DPR RI can be elected for several periods as well as the results of interviews with members of the DPR RI who have been elected more than once. From table 1 it can be analyzed that with a total of 11 commissions and the average number of members of each commission is 53 members. So from the data obtained, the number of members of the DPR RI who were elected for more than 1 period still dominates in the 2019-2024 elections. Of the 575 elected members of the DPR RI, as many as 286 people or 49.74 percent are non-incumbents. (only once elected) as many as 298 people or 50.26 percent are incumbents (elected more than once). Of course, for members of the DPR who have been elected several times, they have abilities that can be realized and felt by the people who voted for them. SWOT Analysis Identification of Social and Emotional Competencies for Members of the Indonesian House of Representatives who were Effectively Elected by the People More than once (Study on Members of the Indonesian House of Representatives for the 2019-2024 Period) In analyzing the data collected, using SWOT analysis (Strengthness, Weakness, Opportunities, Threatment). The basic concept of this SWOT approach is to first identify the strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats so that the problems faced, how to achieve them and the actions that need to be taken to maximize strengths and seize existing opportunities and overcome weaknesses and threats can be identified. As for the factors of social competence and emotional competence for members of the DPR RI who have been effectively elected more than once. Emotional Self Awareness, describes how members of the DPR RI understand their own emotions so that they do not have an impact on others. The results of interviews with sources at the Democratic Party, Golkar and PDIP can explain that as a member of the DPR, one must be able to have self-comfort, the ability to think positively, recognize one's weaknesses to be able to control oneself. The second dimension in this study is self-management, with three measurements, namely self-control, achievement orientation and positive outlook. Self-control measures the efforts of members of the DPR RI in facing work challenges and criticism, the results of interviews that have been conducted explain that challenges must be faced, for that it is important for members of the DPR RI to equip themselves with knowledge and information in order to be able to face work challenges. The third dimension in this research is Relationship Management. Where relationship management is measured by four measurements, namely Communication to Influence, Conflict Management, Inspirational leadership and Negotiation. In the Communication to Influence measurement, analyzing the efforts of members of the DPR RI who were elected more than once in building communication with other people in overcoming problems in order to achieve an agreed solution .The fourth dimension in this study is Social Awareness, with four measurements, namely Empathy, Teamwork, Organizational awareness and National Adhesives. The results of the interview explained that as a member of the DPR RI, it is necessary to understand the problems presented by other people, receive messages with a calm attitude so that with a calm attitude they can find the best solution.

The last two decades have witnessed a growing global acknowledgement of indigenous rights, for instance manifested in the 2007 unDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Nordic countries have all responded to the rights claims of the indigenous Sámi people by establishing popularly elected Sámediggis (Sámi Parliaments) to serve as their representative bodies. Internationally, the Sámediggis are often referred to as ‘models’ for indigenous self-governance and participation. Using in-depth interviews with politicians and civil servants, this article provides the first empirical study of the daily work of the Swedish Sámediggi, with a specific focus on its institutional design as a government agency with dual roles: as an administrative authority under the Swedish government and as a popularly elected representative body of the Sámi people. We examine how these dual roles affect the work of the Sámediggi and if the Swedish Sámediggi safeguards the Sámi right to self-determination.

This article contributes to the emerging scholarship on the gender gap in political ambitions. While appointed party positions offer politically minded people the opportunity to have further political careers outside the elected path, the extent to which women prefer such alternative careers is unclear. This article investigates the gender gap in the political ambitions of young people in Norway. Studying the gender gap in a country with numerous role models and established opportunity structures allows us to understand how individual and contextual factors might affect ambitions for different elected and appointed political positions. This research also explores the impact of personality and upbringing. The article draws on a 2019–20 survey of young party member elites. Multivariate analysis reveals that gender is a main factor in differences in ambition for elected positions but less so for appointed positions.

Cette thèse fait partie intégrante du programme de recherche ELURENAQ. Porté par les universités de Pau, Bordeaux et Poitiers, il se concentre sur la région Nouvelle-Aquitaine (fusion de l'Aquitaine, du Poitou-Charentes et du Limousin). Au travers de l'étude des élus, de la représentation, des politiques publiques et de l'identité régionale, il vise à apporter une connaissance historique nouvelle sur cette jeune institution du champ politique français. Parmi ses axes de recherche figure une approche prosopographique des élus du Conseil régional. Elle intègre l'ensemble des représentants ayant siégé depuis les premières élections régionales au suffrage universel en 1986.Ce travail doctoral s'inscrit dans cette aspect du programme. L'approche centrée sur les élus, basée sur la réalisation d'une série d'entretiens oraux et sur une consultation de fonds d'archives divers, a permis la réalisation d'une base de données recoupant l'ensemble des élus concernés.Partant des résultats qu'elle nous offre, les échanges oraux et les sources archivistiques nous permettent d'élargir la focale et de nous questionner : Comment la collectivité et ses élus s'intègrent-ils dans le champ complexe de la République décentralisée ? Quelle place occupent les représentants élus dans cette construction régionale ? Comment celle-ci évolue-t-elle au gré des différentes lois de décentralisation ou d'organisation territoriale ? Quelle vision ont les élus eux-mêmes sur l'ensemble de ces procédés ?Finalement, l'instauration d'une collectivité régionale en 1986 favorise-t-elle l'apparition d'une classe politique régionale spécifique ?
This thesis is an integral part of the ELURENAQ research program. Supported by the universities of Pau, Bordeaux, and Poitiers, it focuses on the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (a merger of Aquitaine, Poitou-Charentes, and Limousin). Through the study of elected officials, representation, public policies, and regional identity, it aims to provide new historical insights into this young institution of the French political field. Among its research focuses is the prosopographical approach to the elected officials who have served on the Regional Council. It includes all the representatives elected since the first regional elections by universal suffrage in 1986.This doctoral work fits into this aspect of the program. This approach centered on elected officials, based on a series of oral interviews and various archives, allowed for the creation of a database that encompasses all the relevant elected officials. Based on the results it provides, oral exchanges and archival sources allow us to broaden our perspective and ask: How do the collectivity and its elected officials fit into the complex field of a decentralized Republic? What role do elected representatives play in this regional development? How does it evolve according to various decentralization or territorial organization laws? What is the elected officials' own perspective on all these processes?Ultimately, did the establishment of a regional collectivity in 1986 facilitate the emergence of a specific regional political class?

The diploma thesis will deal with examining the position of a directly elected president through a plebiscitary approach to the democracy. This approach is based on the idea that contemporary democracy based on vocal power of the people becomes a dangerous fiction in eyes of the theorists of plebiscitarism. Their statements are supported by several trends, among other things, the increasing importance of mass media, or the personalization of politics itself, that significantly reduce means ordinary citizens to participate in political decisions. The Czech Republic is no exception and the introduction of the popular election of the president can be considered as the most visible outcome of these trends. Despite the often negative connotations associated with the notion of plebiscitarism in the past, as well as with certain modifications provided by Jeffrey Green and other contemporary political theorists of plebiscitary democracy, it can be considered as a the most suitable mean of controlling the activities of politicians, even the popularly elected president. The main goal of my diploma thesis is to describe a several theoretical approaches that deal with a plebiscitary democracy as possible alternative to solving issues related to contemporary democracies. These appeals to "the other sense(s)"...

AbstractPermanent containment of crisis risks is good, permanent containment of states dangerous. Only temporary containment of states works, and only when combined with ongoing dialogue on what states must do to get containment lifted. Temporary re-containment of Russia makes sense at the time of writing because it wages a war of aggression in Ukraine. Likewise with Myanmar’s military junta until it restores democracy, releases elected members of parliament, ends the Rohingya genocide, and ceases waging war on its own people.

vIn the 1570s Viceroy Toledo implemented a resettlement of Andeans from their widely dispersed hamlets into larger grid-patterned towns called reducciones. Each new reducción was a self-governing república de indios, where native hereditary lords the caciques now shared authority with a town council (cabildo) of elected commoners. Within reducciones, Spaniards reinforced elements of Andean social and political organization: ayllu members were settled together, the town’s elected officials were to rotate among the ayllus and the tax rolls were recorded by ayllu. As part of conversion, each town was assigned a patron saint with a confraternity (cofradía) to celebrate it. Documents related to resettlement, including a statement that Spanish invasion had rescued Andeans from Inca tyranny, were put in each town’s community chest (caja de comunidad). Spaniards argued that reducción failed because Andeans did not live in the towns full time, but Andeans returned regularly to fulfill their civil and religious duties.

This chapter focuses on citizen attitudes, values, cultures, and behaviours, which underpin the British political system. Particularly important is voting for elected representatives, whether MPs, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Members of the Senedd (MSs), Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs), directly elected mayors, police and crime commissioners (PCCs), local councillors, or even parish councillors. Then there are extensive forms of political participation from citizens and groups, ranging from complaining to public authorities to protesting. Both voting and participation are linked to wider attitudes and beliefs about politics. The chapter also provides an understanding of the different forms of turbulence that have emerged in recent years, in particular since 2014, with the arrival of populist movements, and the more frequent use of referendums.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former US Senator Honestly, people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuffaround. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore—I mean, that’s how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn’t care because they’d already accepted it. It’s real scary. I’ve never seen anything like it....

This chapter argued that Africa had its own form of government before colonialism. Traditional authorities formed the type of government and promoted rural development. Traditional leaders promoted the welfare of the rural people until the arrival of colonialism. Long after the end of colonialism and the introduction of democratic dispensation, rural people are turning to traditional leaders because elected leaders are failing to understand the dynamics of rural people. Many studies argue for the dual governance of traditional leadership and elected leadership governance to benefit of the rural people. Empirical evidence in Vhembe District revealed that traditional leaders were still relevant in the democratic dispensation.

This paper referred to the 13 aesthetic measures in the interface layout proposed by the NGO, and put forward the idea of applying the two-dimensional plane evaluation method to the element layout 2.5D graphic. The research first elected the 2.5D graphic in 11 existing web pages as the samples, and extracts two-dimensional layout diagram of these samples. Then the beauty index calculation of the samples layout data found that the 13 aesthetic measures all have significant characteristics. In the experimental part, this study chose to take the measure of balance in the aesthetic measures as an example. By analyzing the numerical setting of the calculation formula, we designed 16 experimental samples and recruited subjects for subjective evaluation. Finally, the standardized data is fitted with manual evaluation results. The experimental results show a certain similarity with the previous sample data calculations, which proves the applicability of this evaluation method.

Oradean lawyer Pavel Maliţa was a personality of the local elite who was involved in the process of culturalization and consolidation of Romanianism on the western border of interwar Romania. He stood out, in particular, by organizing numerous cultural-religious meetings in Oradea and Bihor. His words sought to strengthen in the spirit of the people the attachment to the church and the nation. Elected vice-president of the Association “Oastea Domnului” - Oradea branch, he was the main organizer of several meetings in the communes of Bihor County. Needy people have benefited from his charitable projects in Oradea. Dispersal of prints represented another mean of cultural-national propaganda for the interwar times, especially in the villages of Bihor, where, gradually, the printed word imposed itself in the life of the rural community. As a result, the lawyer tried to spread as many books, brochures and newspapers as possible.

The paper describes the public participation from the viewpoint of a stakeholder and member of the public. The dialogue between various members of the Dounreay Stakeholders Committee vary widely and do not always seem to represent the views of the wider public. Whilst great care has been taken to select various options for the ultimate condition of the Dounreay site and these have been discussed at great length and the preferred option selected by consensus, there still appears to be some conflict within the local community. It is probable that if the local population had to vote on the options for the future of the Dounreay nuclear site the outcome would be vastly different from that of the Stakeholders Committee. Whilst the politicians have been elected by the people, they represent a distinctly anti-nuclear view (even to the extent of decommissioning) whereas many local people (especially the workers on the Dounreay site) would prefer to see a continuation of nuclear activity at Dounreay. The problem is not only with local politicians but at national level in Scotland itself where the Scottish National Party has formed a coalition with the Green Party on condition all nuclear activities are phased out.

The lighting design in workplace environments involves/demands multidisciplinary knowledge; however, the principle that supports its conception is repeatedly grounded on aesthetical considerations and technical requirements rather than on comfort and inclusive solutions. Besides legislation it is important to observe how people work and the requirements and expectations felt by individuals according to the tools used, spatial layout, geographical orientation, windows area and the reflectance of the surfaces. Natural light aims to illuminate working plans while it is a crucial factor to manage human circadian cycle and mood. Contemporaneous workplace concept is changing to respond to economic pressure and technical improvements. Coworking spaces require a deep understanding as they shelter people from different professional, cultural and social backgrounds with different gender and age issues. Anthropometric and ergonomic concepts are fundamental for a healthy and comfortable environ in which lighting design emerge and deserve special attention. This piece of research aims to study the “do´s and don’ts” of lighting design in a workplace layout in a way that it becomes useful for future humanised planning of coworking environments. In order to achieve such goals this research will be conducted throughout literature review stemming from elected keywords and the analysis of two case studies: Lx CoWorking and Ávila CoWorking, in Lisbon.

Washington State’s Puget Sound Region faces a crisis. A shortfall of over 156,000 affordable housing units has yielded the nation’s third largest population of people experiencing homelessness, which disproportionately impacts people of color. Without swift and decisive action at scale, the crisis will worsen as the region is expected to grow by an additional 1.8 million residents by 2050. At the same time, the region is investing nearly $56 billion in light rail and bus rapid transit with over sixty additional high-capacity transit stations scheduled to open between now and 2041. Sound Communities, a volunteer group of civic leaders from the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors, including architecture and real estate faculty from the University of Washington, is focused on leveraging this historic transit investment to address the region’s housing and climate crises at scale by building complete, equitable and resilient communities with an abundance of affordable housing, public open space, and neighborhood amenities at station areas. With funding from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation and Washington State Department of Commerce, the group is working with elected leaders, city staff, technical advisors and community stakeholders from multiple jurisdictions in designing and advocating for an entity, the Housing Benefits District, that will ensure that all of the region’s residents prosper from its historic transit investment.

The aim of this study was to discuss the aesthetic evaluation in usability studies. Through an exploratory study with pruning shears, we seek to identify possible descriptors that make up the concept of beauty in these instruments for further evaluation of the perception of these factors with the variables of usability. The study was conducted with 90 subjects divided into three groups and both genders: Design teachers, students design and lay people in the matter. The interviews were individual. Each participant evaluated the appearance of nine pruning shears (with a focus on shape), with an issue which should answer what pruning shears considered more "beautiful", and a protocol for semantic differential with 18 pairs of descriptors of the beautiful, which were developed from definitions of beauty in dictionaries, theories of psychology and philosophy. We identified the most representative descriptors for the pruning shears elected most beautiful. The importance of these results is the possibility of carry out further tests about the influence of these descriptors in the perception of the usability of products, including the influence of the aesthetic function in the perception of usability.

Washington State’s Puget Sound Region has a shortfall of over 156,000 housing units yielding the nation’s third largest population of people experiencing homelessness. At the same time, the region is investing $56 billion in light rail and bus rapid transit with over seventy stations scheduled to open between now and 2041. This offers an historic opportunity to leverage public transit to build complete, equitable and resilient communities at scale in response to a worsening housing affordability crisis and growing impacts of climate change. However, this will not happen without community intervention. Sound Communities is a volunteer group of civic leaders from the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors, including architecture and real estate faculty from the University of Washington College of Built Environments (UW CBE) focused on leveraging this transit investment to address the region’s housing and climate crises at scale by building complete, equitable and resilient communities at planned station areas. The group is working with elected leaders, city staff, technical advisors, and community stakeholders from multiple jurisdictions in designing and advocating for an entity, the Housing Benefits District (HBD), that will help to ensure that all the region’s residents prosper from its transit investment and economic growth.

In many fast-growing cities around the country, up to three- quarters of the land zoned for residential use is reserved for detached, single-family dwellings at suburban densities. This is both a climate justice and racial justice issue as it has the doubly negative impact of artificially constraining housing supply and driving up costs, forcing many lower and middle income families farther away from job centers and imposing on them long, costly, and carbon-intensive com- mutes. Single-family zoning was also used as an explicit tool to segregate the U.S. by race starting in the 1920s and, in the process, denied countless people of color access to home- ownership, the most powerful wealth-building tool available to U.S. families. This is a significant factor in the stark racial disparities in household wealth that we see today.This paper outlines the findings of a nationally cited report on single-family zoning released by the Seattle Planning Commission, which advises the City Council and Mayor on land use and housing policy and of which the author is a member. It also reviews a collaboration between the com- mission and a graduate research-based architectural design studio and seminar co-taught by the author. This collabo- ration re-envisions urban, single-family neighborhoods to be more equitable, sustainable and livable while engaging students in a national policy dialogue in the process. The results of the studio will advance the commission’s efforts to advise Seattle’s elected officials in revising public policy to be more aligned with the city’s climate and racial justice goals.

The two human worlds, the natural environment and the technosphere (the man-made envelope around the earth, that is, all the products of earthly civilization) are not in ecological balance, but are in deep conflict. The perspective is in turning the biosphere into the noosphere, the sphere of planned and directed development. Human activity and the technosphere must not be allowed to compromise the conditions of safe life on earth, endangering the very existence of life. The technical revolution has overtaken the development of knowledge about the biosphere and ecological systems. This disproportion is the cause of the impossibility of adequately solving many of the world problems. The biosanitary capacity of the environment represents today a physical barrier in the industrial world. Ecosystem pollutant is matter or energy that is capable of endangering human health, social goods, or their sources. Any substance or energy, which is in the wrong place, at the wrong time and in an wrong amount, can be a pollutant so that even desired activities can produce unwanted consequences. Urban policy is constantly in the relationship between resources, production and movement in the function of realizing the development goals of local joint cooperation. That is why it is necessary to constantly improve the methods of cooperation between elected political representatives and the public. The goals of urban policies are the construction of a pleasant urban environment, improvement of the living environment, social protection, protection of valuable cultural heritage, reduction of operating costs for local governments, benefits for young people, balance of different interests, human rights, etc.

The concept of impeachment has its origins in the history of political and legal thought as a constitutional mechanism to remove public officials for serious violations of the law or abuse of power. Originating from England, it has influenced the constitutions of the United States and the countries of Latin America. In addition to concrete grounds for impeachment, constitutions also allow for impeachment based on abstract grounds, designed for cases where no specific offence can be proven, but the abuse of power is so obvious that the people must be guaranteed the right to recall their elected leader. In Latin America, military coups have been replaced by so-called “soft coups”, which abuse various legal instruments. The abstract nature of the grounds for impeachment contributes to the potential misuse of this mechanism as a tool of lawfare, as many cases demonstrate. During the past decade, Peru has experienced a series of impeachments, with three presidents facing removal from office due to political conflicts between the legislative and executive branches. These cases highlight the use of impeachment as a tool of lawfare, undermining democratic stability and raising concerns about the transparency and impartiality of the process, as well as the erosion of democratic principles.

The concept of impeachment has its origins in the history of political and legal thought as a constitutional mechanism to remove public officials for serious violations of the law or abuse of power. Originating from England, it has influenced the constitutions of the United States and the countries of Latin America. In addition to concrete grounds for impeachment, constitutions also allow for impeachment based on abstract grounds, designed for cases where no specific offence can be proven, but the abuse of power is so obvious that the people must be guaranteed the right to recall their elected leader. In Latin America, military coups have been replaced by so-called “soft coups”, which abuse various legal instruments. The abstract nature of the grounds for impeachment contributes to the potential misuse of this mechanism as a tool of lawfare, as many cases demonstrate. During the past decade, Peru has experienced a series of impeachments, with three presidents facing removal from office due to political conflicts between the legislative and executive branches. These cases highlight the use of impeachment as a tool of lawfare, undermining democratic stability and raising concerns about the transparency and impartiality of the process, as well as the erosion of democratic principles.

El Manglito was a community in Baja California Sur, Mexico, that was turning into a cesspool for all the communities surrounding it. About 15 years ago, an NGO NOS brought in biologists and environmental scientists to work with the community. NOS took steps to clean up community by removing waste and and implementing sustainable fishing practices. 15 years later, a sharp increase in cartel violence was reported. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, cartel violence inward into Mexico has both increased and diversified. With border closures negatively affecting the cartel’s economy, they have turned to different forms of income generation, including extortion of local communities. The Corioli Institute team approached the El Manglito community to explore a potential collaboration that took shape as a trust building exercise. We went in with an open and participatory approach to engage with the community, informing them of our research capabilities, understanding their needs and desires, and asking what would be most useful for them. The community were keen on building intergenerational cohesion, with the older generation expressing a desire to foster a sense of belonging for the young people within the community. One of the primary drivers of youth participation in cartels within the community was a lack of belonging within the community, which children and yoth sought within the cartels. Engaging with children and youth, we elected to produce a coffee table book. Our team led a series of workshops, brought in consultants, and funded the production of the coffee table book for the community. The final book was a resounding success and is being put into libraries across Mexico. The novel participatory, receptive, collaborative approach to trust building and social cohesion within the El Manglito community resulted in a strong sense of identity, efficacy, and pride among the youth of the community.

When Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast as a category 4 hurricane on August 25, 2017, it resulted in $125 billion in damage, rivaling only Hurricane Katrina in the amount of damage caused. It also resulted in the deaths of 88 people and destroyed or damaged 135,000 homes. Much of that devastation was the result of flooding. The storm dumped over 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas in a matter of days. Some parts of Houston received over 50 inches of rainfall. The potential liability that dam and reservoir operators may face for decisions they make during storm and flooding events has now become a major concern for Texas citizens and its elected officials. Law suits have now been instituted against the federal government for its operation of two flood control reservoirs, as well as against the San Jacinto River Authority for its operation of a water supply reservoir. Moreover, the issues and concerns have been placed on the agenda of a number of committees preparing for the 2019 Texas legislative session. This report reviews current dam and reservoir operations in Texas and examines the potential liability that such operators may face for actions and decisions taken in response to storm and flooding events. In Section III, the report reviews dam gate operations and differentiates between water supply reservoirs and flood control reservoirs. It also considers pre-release options and explains why such actions are disfavored and not recommended. In Section IV, the report evaluates liabilities and defenses applicable to dam and reservoir operators. It explains how governmental immunity can limit the exposure of state and federally-run facilities to claims seeking monetary damages. It also discusses how such entities could be subject to claims of inverse condemnation, which generally are not subject to governmental immunity, under Texas law as well as under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the Section discusses negligence and nuisance claims and concludes that plaintiffs asserting either or both of these claims will have difficulty presenting successful arguments for flooding-related damage and harm against operators who act reasonably in the face of storm-related precipitation. Finally, Section V offers recommendations that dam and reservoir operators might pursue in order to engage and educate the public and thereby reduce the potential for disputes and litigation. Specifically, the report highlights the need for expanded community outreach efforts to engage with municipalities, private land owners, and the business community in flood-prone neighborhoods both below and above a dam. It also recommends implementation of proactive flood notification procedures as a way of reaching and alerting as many people as possible of potential and imminent flooding events. Finally, the report proposes implementation of a dispute prevention and minimization mechanism and offers recommendations for the design and execution of such a program.

Observers widely acknowledged the lack of divisive Islamist populism in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Elections. This was in stark contrast to the 2019 elections in which Prabowo Subianto, the case study of this article and new leader of Indonesia, led a campaign that overtly supported Islamist interests and actors, and deepened religio-ethnic tensions in society. Despite this acknowledgement, it remains unclear if religion was still operationalized – albeit differently – in his most recent campaigning efforts. This article therefore seeks to examine if religion was politicized and performed by Prabowo in 2024 and contrast the findings with 2019 to address how and why his instrumentalization of religion varied significantly. Applying a discursive-performative lens, discourse analysis will be used to determine if and how religion featured in a sample of Prabowo Subianto’s speeches (six speeches in total, three from each election campaign). Specifically, this analysis will explore how references to religion and a religious community reflect a) his political goals and b) the political community he is attempting to engage. It will also discuss these findings in the context of contemporary populism studies.

For years, Estonia was an outlier in the European populist Radical Right scene, with no party being elected to parliament. This changed with the electoral breakthrough of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) in 2015. Currently, EKRE is the second-most popular party in Estonia, with roughly 20% support and is expected to achieve a record result in the general election in March 2023. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created opportunities and challenges for EKRE to increase its support. The war has offered EKRE fresh opportunities on several fronts. First, it has amped up its nativist agenda with claims that “mass immigration” of Ukrainian refugees will make ethnic Estonians a minority in their own land. Second, it has found fertile soil for populist messaging, given voters’ economic insecurities, accusing the establishment of incompetence in managing the high inflation and energy prices. EKRE is in the paradoxical situation of being an Estonian nationalist party attempting to appeal to Estonia’s sizeable Russian minority, which shares its “traditional family values”, Euroscepticism, anti-establishment grievances, and resentment of Ukrainian refugees. Several factors could explain the party’s current positioning, including EKRE’s interest in blaming the war’s economic effects on the government’s incompetence, the party’s anti-establishment inclination in a context of a broad foreign policy consensus, and its interest in courting Russian-speaking voters.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3