Critically consider Thomas Franck’s argument about an emerging right to democratic governance in international law with particular reference to the recent Palestinian elections returning a Hamas governing authority

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

8 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

01/15/2009

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

Political science

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Summary :

Introduction.
Emergence of a right to democratic governance.
1. Franck's argument.
2. Focus on electoral rights.
The issue raised by the Palestinian elections returning a Hamas governing authority.
1. The Palestinian election was perfectly valid.
2. Incoherence of the right to democratic governance as a right to 'free and fair' elections.
3. Franck's right to democratic governance as 'Low-intensity democracy'.
The emerging right to democratic governance: Anything but value-free.
1. Far too much embedded in its normative underpinnings.
2. Confusion of international law with politics.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

Abstract

"democratic tradition involves a richly evolving collection of diverse beliefs, processes and structures that are neither easily characterized in concise terms nor summarized in a single systematic philosophy of governance" . The complexity of democratic governance could not be better put in plain words. Indeed, as the term of democracy is nowadays broadly employed, its meaning is still far less than unequivocal. While its etymology clearly implies that the governed should decide who is to govern them, its carrying out is subject to interpretation, and sometimes controversy. When thomas franck argued, in 1992, that a right to democratic governance was emerging, his argument was built upon a study of states' practice and of legal documents that were purporting the idea of such an evolution . However, it must not be left aside that democracy is never value-free as soon as it is proposed to be implemented in a very particular way. It is even less neutral when this particular way is presented as a Human-right-to-be. Indeed, if such a right was to be a legal norm applicable to all, as franck suggests it, then the notion of state's sovereignty, which is paramount, would be totally re-shaped. State recognition is based on criteria of statehood (territory, government, etc.), and internal government nomination-process is of domestic concern.