"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.
[...] C Hobson considers it as the abandonment of the pluralism of domestic societies that existed during the Cold War. The amalgam between democratic governance and free and fair elections has to be undone, as it gives way to different interpretations. Does Franck's argument still hold if we go back to a broader notion? III. The Emerging Right to Democratic Governance: anything but value-free Far too much embedded in its normative underpinnings As soon as his thesis was published, Franck was addressed many critics with regards to the supposedly neutral conception of democracy he stands for. [...]
[...] Finally, this thesis is anything but empirically unquestionable: statistically, it is rare for all states, liberal or not, to be at war; moreover, Imperial Germany was just as ‘liberal' as Great- Britain when WWI began and it is dubious to assert that France and the US were liberal[36] after their respective revolutions, as none they had no universal suffrage and slavery was encouraged. From a normative point of view, it seems obvious that no consensus can be reached on a right to democratic governance which refers to liberal values. [...]
[...] This essay aims at assessing Franck's argument about the emergence of a right to democratic governance in several respects. Hence, I shall establish how this concept he described in 1992 has been developed and declined into a right to electoral rights over the past fifteen years. The weaknesses of the thesis as it evolved will be emphasised with respects to the 2006 Palestinian elections, in order to show how thin and fragile the supposedly emerging norm has become. Finally, I shall consider why such a right can't be more than what it has become a right to free and fair elections; and yet how much it need be. [...]
[...] Franck's argument about emerging right to democratic governance' is entailed by its normative and political underpinnings. It need be distinguished from the right to free and fair elections, that is not sufficient to validate and legitimate a government. The current situation where both rights are amalgamated leads to incoherencies that undermine the strength of international law and results in the ‘indeterminacy' of the notion of democratic governance. By Franck's own criteria, such a right is not fully legitimate. “National guarantees of [Human Rights] are not sufficient”, former Soviet Foreign Minister Boris D. [...]
[...] It became more and more frequent to witness election monitoring processes, and the result of such an international supervising was generally a validation of the outcome. Governments elected through a ballot that had been approved by the international community gained in legitimacy, as it was considered that such elections clearly reflected the “consent of the governed”. In December 1988, UN GA resolution 157 required the UN Commission on Human Rights consider appropriate ways and means of enhancing the effectiveness of the principle of periodic and genuine elections”. [...]
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