The role of checks & balances in democracy

BRLSI’s Democracy Under Threat series invites you to pause and take stock by surveying the wealth of history and political thinking which underpins our long-held democratic systems and institutions. It explores the laying down of democratic principles from Ancient Athens to the present day, and takes in current scenarios in international geopolitics, while considering Britain as its own small island with its own set of political traditions.

And what of the democratic health of Britain? There are two common views on how the UK’s political system functions. One sees power as dangerously concentrated, and supports reforms designed to strengthen checks and balances. For the other, those in positions of nominal power are prevented from acting decisively by innumerable constraints, and reforms need to cut these fetters away. Partisans of these different views do not always listen sufficiently to each other.

In this talk, Professor Alan Renwick will examine the arguments on both sides and assess what conclusions we can reasonably draw about how checks and balances ought to function in the political system. He will then explore implications particularly for debates around electoral reform and ways of deepening public participation in the democratic process.Politics

Professor Alan Renwick (University College London)

A discount of 20% is on offer to all those purchasing five tickets or more from the series, excluding the conference on the 4th of July.

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