This blog was first published by PSA Parliaments: The UK Political Studies Association Specialist Group on Parliaments. Read the full report by Professor Nina Caspersen and Dr Gyda Sindre at the University of York. Since 1992, Westminster Foundation for Democracy has supported democratic systems as they emerge out of conflict and into peace and stability. Currently, we [...]
A healthy democracy needs to include everyone in decision-making processes and structures of governance. However, in many parts of the world young people, women, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) have often been relegated to the side-lines. At WFD, we believe that there are endless possibilities and opportunities that can be realized when all people are [...]
If COVID-19 hit some of the world’s ‘old democracies’ hard, how about its impact on a fledgling, transitional authority emerging from decades of violent conflict? The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the Muslim Mindanao, a new devolved administration in the Southern Philippines, was one year into a complex transition period when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Following [...]
How governments spend taxpayers' money is too important to be left unchecked. Elected representatives, especially at a time of great pressure on state budgets, must be empowered to scrutinise and control spending decisions. To help them do this, Westminster Foundation for Democracy is launching a new series of policy briefs on parliaments and managing public [...]
COVID-19 emergency legislation is often fast-tracked, approved without much parliamentary scrutiny, expanding executive powers while limiting individual rights. Can sunset clauses provide a counterbalance by guaranteeing the temporary nature of the COVID-19 emergency legislation? Experience from anti-terrorism legislation suggests that sunset clauses may reinject democratic accountability, but only if there is a high quality and [...]
To declare an emergency or not to declare an emergency is not the question. Whether or not democracy is safeguarded during the pandemic depends on a separate set of good practices.
This briefing for parliamentarians and policymakers is a resource for informed parliamentary debates on sexual and gender equality. It provides an overview of terminology around LGBT+ persons and their rights. It addresses common myths and arguments used by policymakers and in parliamentary equality debates to maintain the status quo when it comes to criminalisation, access [...]
By Geoff Dubrow, Public Financial Management Expert On July 14th, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) released its new brief, entitled “The Role of Parliament in Public Debt Management Weathering the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond”. Here are five compelling arguments, discussed in the brief, for parliamentary involvement in public debt management. #1: GETTING THE FULL [...]
Risk of debt distress can be analogous to standing too close to the edge of a cliff. Forces beyond out control, such as natural disasters, global economic downturns or falls in commodity prices can push countries right over the edge into debt distress. Indeed, the global economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 has pushed some countries [...]
To break the current trends of shrinking democratic space and increased inequality, it is important to ensure that the emergency powers - although vital in protecting health - are not used to shrink the democratic space.
