Governance and democracy – The Jerusalem Post mobile website
A general view shows the plenum during the swearing-in ceremony of the 20th Knesset, the new Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem March 31, 2015.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
The idea that the lone citizens choice at the ballot box makes a difference stands at the heart of democracy. A politician receives the backing of a group of like-minded constituents to implement a given policy. The politician is voted into office and proceeds to pass laws that advance a specific agenda. The laws are then implemented and have a direct impact on our lives. There is, in this democratic process, a direct link between the people and the government.
Unfortunately, it does not always work this way. In Israel, and in other democracies, governance is weak, which is another way of saying that laws passed in the Knesset or decisions made by the cabinet do not always get implemented. As a result, our politicians do not solve long-standing market failures, such as Israels housing shortage and related exorbitant housing prices; and preparedness for catastrophes remains unsatisfactory, as witnessed during the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire.
A 2005 study by Doron Navot and Eli Reches found that in Israel, 70% of government decisions ranging from public housing to privatization of the sea ports, from reforms in the Israel Electric Corporation to the construction of a light rail in Tel Aviv are left unimplemented. There are no signs that the situation has improved in the past decade.
The result of this disconnect is not only a failure on the part of consecutive governments to govern. The impact is much more pernicious and debilitating to the democratic process.
Unimplemented legislation and cabinet decisions tend to undermine the publics faith in democracy. Many citizens will ask themselves: If politicians and ministers do not follow through with the decisions they make, why bother to vote?
In an attempt to restore faith in the democratic process, the Knesset this week decided to form a new professional department to combat the phenomenon by which ministers do not implement laws passed by the legislature. Assuming the Knesset actually follows through on this initiative, it could improve Israeli governance.
The new body would focus on ensuring that ministers do not bury laws passed by the Knesset by failing to prepare the necessary secondary legislation needed for working out the technical details to implement the laws. There are 51 laws awaiting such secondary legislation, according to the Knesset research department.
These include a law regulating the way rabbinical courts work, which was supposed to be addressed by the Justice Ministry by 2004; and a law requiring the Defense Ministry to arrange for the operation of the Fund to Clear Mines by July 2011 neither of which has been implemented.
But creating a regulatory body might not be enough. Many ministers resist implementation of laws passed by previous governments either because they opposed these laws on ideological grounds or because they do not want to allocate part of their limited budget for it, or a combination of both.
Also, ministers are replaced at a dizzying speed. Even if they want to implement legislation they are unable to, because they do not stay in office long enough. Since the present government was created a year and a half ago, five ministers left and seven have been appointed. Ten portfolios including defense and interior have switched hands. The Economy portfolio has been held by four ministers.
Our short-lived governments are another factor that hurts governance. Since 1996, a finance minister or an interior minister has served on average 18 months. Eli Cohen is the 14th economy minister during this period; Yoav Gallant is the 13th construction minister.
Under these circumstances, it is unrealistic to expect a coherent policy as articulated in legislation to be implemented, no matter how many regulatory bodies are created by the Knesset.
The real solution to the problem of governance is taking steps to ensure that governments last longer and that ministers remain in their positions for an entire term, perhaps through electoral reform.
The lifeblood of democracy is the citizens conviction that they can bring about change with a vote. Without effective governance, democracy is seriously compromised.
Share on facebook
See the rest here:
Governance and democracy - The Jerusalem Post mobile website
- Whats wrong with democracy in Europe? - The Economist - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- What Greek tragedy could teach us about the decline of our democracy - The Boston Globe - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- What the Trump assault on American democracy has taught us - The Globe and Mail - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Lowering the voting age will benefit democracy | Letters - The Guardian - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Trump calls Harvard a threat to Democracy amid executive orders targeting higher education - NBC News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Democracy on the Brink: Scholars Warn of Americas Authoritarian Turn - The Fulcrum - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Editorial: Dont Let Trump Kill News and Democracy - InDepthNH.org - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- When White House begins to embrace conservative influencers, where will 'American democracy' head? - Global Times - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Judge Halts Trumps Anti-Voting Executive Order - Democracy Docket - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- The State of Democracy Requires Us to Expand the Map - Democracy Docket - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- A threat to Democracy: Trump continues bashing Harvard amid attacks on major institutions - Politico - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Democracy is hard; freedom is worth all the inconveniences: Arvelo - Seacoastonline.com - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Bookstores are arsenals of democracy - Princeton University Press - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Courts Handed Trump A Slew of Legal Losses This Week - Democracy Docket - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Poll: 61% of Israelis fear for democracy, 66% say internal rift is greatest threat - The Times of Israel - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- In praise of a democracy on paper - The Globe and Mail - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Opinion | When governors sabotage democracy just because they feel like it - The Washington Post - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Reuters: Trump Will Offer $100+ Billion Arms Deal to Saudi Arabia - Democracy Now! - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- DRC Agrees to Ceasefire with Rwanda-Backed M23 Rebels - Democracy Now! - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Don Wooten: Pope Francis, Trump and the tension between capitalism and democracy - Dispatch Argus - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Gen Z Has a Complex Relationship with Democracy, Survey Reveals - The 74 - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Tunisian Authorities Raze Refugee Camps That Housed 7,000 - Democracy Now! - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Rock This Democracy To Hold Next Street Protest, Rally On May Day - The Newtown Bee - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Opinion: We shouldnt forget those who helped democracy come into being - Anchorage Daily News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- The Trump Administration Is Not Just Erasing History, They're Rewriting the Future and Attacking Democracy | Opinion - Newsweek - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- The New Far-Right Coalition Thats Out to Destroy American Democracy - The New Republic - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Thailands fragile democracy takes another hit with arrest of US academic - The Conversation - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- An existential threat to democracy: the US judge facing a challenge to her election victory - The Guardian - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Is Trump about to end democracy in the USA? - Funding the Future - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- President Trump Is Not the Only Threat to Our Democracy - The Regulatory Review - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Key Federal Elections Agency Moving Forward With Trumps Anti-Voting Order - Democracy Docket - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Simple hope alone wont protect democracy and the rule of law - Colorado Newsline - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Op-ed: Why we need human factors to save democracy - The Tufts Daily - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Bad for democracy: North Carolina could throw out valid ballots in tight election - The Guardian - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Debt, development, and democracy: Prospects for meeting the SDGs in Africa - Brookings - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- SIUs Paul Simon Institute hosts Kettering Foundation CEO to discuss future of democracy - WSIU NEWS - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Introducing The Expand Democracy 5 - The Fulcrum - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Your womens, gender and sexuality studies degree isnt useless its essential to maintaining democracy - The Tufts Daily - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- New political party seeking expanded democracy and a return to the center launches in New Mexico - Source New Mexico - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- In Promising News for Riggs, North Carolina Cuts Number of Ballots at Risk of Rejection - Democracy Docket - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- American Revolution: Paul Revere rides again, this time in a democracy coming apart - The Baltimore Banner - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- There is No Democracy Without Direct Democracy - resilience.org - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- When the Fight for Democracy Is Personal - The Atlantic - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Churches to ring bells for democracy: 6 p.m., April 18, commemorate ride of Paul Revere - PenBay Pilot - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Ukraines Democracy Still Works Without Elections - Foreign Policy - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Social Democracy isnt Going to Save the West - Counterpunch - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Trumps not hurting democracy. Hes blowing up their oligarchy, which is why theyre so mad - The Hill - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- New Fund Seeks $20 Million to Aid Nonprofits Standing Up to Democracy Threats - The Chronicle of Philanthropy - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Sinister SAVE Act will do the opposite for democracy | Letter - centralmaine.com - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- We've reached a critical turning point in our democracy - Columbia Missourian - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- A Democracy of Convenience Is No Democracy at All: A Letter from Mahmoud Khalil on His Ongoing Detention - Left Voice - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- DOJ Sues Maine for Refusing to Comply with Anti-Trans Order - Democracy Now! - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Riggs Will Fight as Long as it Takes to Ensure Votes Are Counted in North Carolina - Democracy Docket - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- OPINION: Are Conservatives trying to destroy democracy as we know it? - Sault Star - April 18th, 2025 [April 18th, 2025]
- Protests are the last thing keeping Turkeys democracy alive - The Economist - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Ive never seen such clampdowns in Istanbul. Turkeys democracy is fighting for its life | Orhan Pamuk - The Guardian - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Democracy is more than rules and institutions, its a way of life - The Conversation - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Voters Need to Know What Redboxing Is and How It Undermines Democracy - Campaign Legal Center - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Trumps Latest Executive Order is a Shamand a Warning - Democracy Docket - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- How the Fight for American Democracy Can Start with Unions - Progressive.org - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- US swing toward autocracy doesnt have to be permanent but swinging back to democracy requires vigilance, stamina and elections - The Conversation - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Donald Trumps chilling effect on free speech and dissent is threatening US democracy - The Conversation - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes - Paul Krugman and Zachary D. Carter in Conversation - CUNY Graduate Center - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Hip-Hop Star Macklemore on New Film The Encampments & Why He Speaks Out Against Israels War on Gaza - Democracy Now! - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Why Elon Musk, GOP Are Trying to Buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election - Democracy Docket - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series Continues March 27 - Stetson University - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Arkansas AG rejects proposed ballot measure to amend states direct democracy process - Arkansas Advocate - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Our Voice: Threats to Democracy, From Oopsie Too late, to Ignoring Classified Communications - The Ark Valley Voice - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- For the sake of US democracy, its time for Chuck Schumer to step down | Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin - The Guardian - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- To Build a Better Democracy, Start by Rethinking Your Relationship to the Internet - Tech Policy Press - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Duluth Residents Share Concerns at a Town Hall Hosted by Practicing Democracy - FOX 21 Online - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- GOP Slammed Bidens Voting Order as Federal Overreach But Praised Trumps - Democracy Docket - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Democracy in Action group to host Hixson town hall for lawmakers Blackburn, Fleischmann and Hagerty - Chattanooga Times Free Press - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Pro-Beijing Chinese Influencers Kicked Out in Test for Small Democracy - Newsweek - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Comments - This Week in Democracy Week 10: Trump Brags About Institutions 'Bending' to His Will - Zeteo - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- The frog of democracy is nearly boiled. We can still jump out of the pot - The Philadelphia Inquirer - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Fear and anger as 'battle for the soul of Romanian democracy' looms - BBC.com - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Erdogans crackdown: Turkey and the fight for democracy - European Council on Foreign Relations - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- ICYMI: Democracy Forward Challenges Trumps Executive Overreach and Attacks on Legal System - Democracy Forward - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Mourning Democracy, Professors Lambast Columbia Administrators for Submitting to Trump - The Chronicle of Higher Education - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]