A Divided-Executive Model for African Democracy is Overdue!

ISBN-13: 9783659831195 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 60 str.

Jeffrey Todd Fernandez

Opis

The success of democracy in the United States is based on the "divided-executive" model created post colonialism which separately elects various roles within the executive branch. The founders of democracy decided to separately elect - apart from the President - the Attorney General (rule of law), the Treasurer (distribution of funds), the Secretary of State (elections), and often, a State Auditor, each office intended to divide up, and thus lessen, the power of the head of state to reduce the risk of tyranny. Electing the Attorney General in particular, is vital to ensuring that state constitutions and laws are applied vis-a-vis elected officials. If Africa were to adopt this model, much progress could be made toward enforcing the rule of law, having legitimate elections, and stemming government corruption. Colonial powers in Europe didn't teach Africa about this system, which created the longest running democracies in the world - the individual states of the United States - because the unitary-executive enabled them to maintain their puppet regimes. If Africa seeks to break free from colonialism and modern despots, it will explore this model.

O autorze

J. Todd Fernandez is a human rights activist with a Masters of Law in Human Rights & Democratization from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. As General Counsel for Economic Affairs, he interfaced with the elected Attorney General in Massachusetts. Here he explains the divided-executive model of U.S. states that separately elect the A.G.