Having discussed the technical process behind electing the cabinet of experts, we must now move on to the powers of this cabinet of experts.
The role of the cabinet under the model of technocracy is both legislative and executive. This strongly resembles the role the current system attributes to the government. The cabinet represents the country at the EU conferences, makes out legislation, drafts out the budget etc. However the cabinet must adhere to the Government program that was passed in the Dáil and work towards fulfilling each point of the program. This means that any legislation or steps taken by the government must correspond with its stance as stated in the Government program.
Once the government, however, touches upon an agenda that is not included in the Government program, it has free hands. The government's stance will be simply be decided by the government itself on the issues not included in the Government program. This can lead to bills drafted that the government agrees on but are not supported by the Dáil majority. Thus it is up to the minister to defend the legislation introduced in the Dáil and address the issues raised by the TDs. The convincing process is designed to make the minister's role more active in the Dáil.
Thus as we can see the powers of the cabinet remain the same, the only difference is that the government is strongly tied to the Government program and the ministers are required to take a more active part in the Dáil debate.
The powers of the TDs are also an essential part of technocracy. The Dáil serves as a balancing body to the apolitical cabinet. The role and powers of the TDs will be explained in the next post, which will bring us close to the end of this simple process of explaining the model of technocracy. Please look forward to it.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Technocracy and the Cabinet Election
After the Taoiseach has been selected by both the Dáil and the President, his job concentrates at creating his own cabinet. This cabinet, just like the Taoiseach, is apolitical and composed from experts in their field. Since the definition of 'expert' has already been established allow me to proceed straight into the process of selection.
The Taoiseach's job is to shortlist candidates for each job. There are several way he/she can go about this, really, based on the agreement with the Dáil majority. We have to remember still that the Taoiseach still needs to get his cabinet approved of by the Dáil so the selection process should, ideally, be consulted with the Dáil majority.
The shortlisted candidates that are selected by the Taoiseach are then consulted with the Dáil majority and the leaders of this majority agree with the Taoiseach which of these shortlisted candidates would be most acceptable by the Dáil majority. The Taoiseach can ignore these consultations with the leaders of the Dáil majority, of course, these talks are not legally binding. However, should he completely ignore any recommendations he faces the threat that the cabinet of experts will not be passed by the Dáil.
Having selected the ministers, the job of the cabinet is now to create the Government program. The government program would, one must imagine, reflect the main agendas of the parties forming the Dáil majority. Once again the leaders of the Dáil majority would give suggestions to the cabinet and it is up to the cabinet to consider putting them into the Government program or leaving them out. Yet again, these suggestions are not legally binding, the government has a lot of freedom in this process. However, should the recommendations be largely ignored the government faces a backlash when the program will be voted on in the Dáil.
With the full program drafted and all cabinet positions filled, the cabinet seeks its mandate from the Dáil. The Dáil votes, while having two things in mind:
1. Are the candidates truly experts? Are they any suggestions that they would not be up to the job of a minister? Will they pursue along the lines of the party's agenda?
2. Is the Government program reasonable? Does it reflect the party's agenda? Are there points in the program with which the party strongly disagrees?
When the above questions are favorably answered, the Dáil passes the confidence vote to the cabinet and its program giving them their mandate. The cabinet assumes its role and works along the lines of the Government program . However, the work of the cabinet proper is a topic for tomorrow's post. Look forward to it
The Taoiseach's job is to shortlist candidates for each job. There are several way he/she can go about this, really, based on the agreement with the Dáil majority. We have to remember still that the Taoiseach still needs to get his cabinet approved of by the Dáil so the selection process should, ideally, be consulted with the Dáil majority.
The shortlisted candidates that are selected by the Taoiseach are then consulted with the Dáil majority and the leaders of this majority agree with the Taoiseach which of these shortlisted candidates would be most acceptable by the Dáil majority. The Taoiseach can ignore these consultations with the leaders of the Dáil majority, of course, these talks are not legally binding. However, should he completely ignore any recommendations he faces the threat that the cabinet of experts will not be passed by the Dáil.
Having selected the ministers, the job of the cabinet is now to create the Government program. The government program would, one must imagine, reflect the main agendas of the parties forming the Dáil majority. Once again the leaders of the Dáil majority would give suggestions to the cabinet and it is up to the cabinet to consider putting them into the Government program or leaving them out. Yet again, these suggestions are not legally binding, the government has a lot of freedom in this process. However, should the recommendations be largely ignored the government faces a backlash when the program will be voted on in the Dáil.
With the full program drafted and all cabinet positions filled, the cabinet seeks its mandate from the Dáil. The Dáil votes, while having two things in mind:
1. Are the candidates truly experts? Are they any suggestions that they would not be up to the job of a minister? Will they pursue along the lines of the party's agenda?
2. Is the Government program reasonable? Does it reflect the party's agenda? Are there points in the program with which the party strongly disagrees?
When the above questions are favorably answered, the Dáil passes the confidence vote to the cabinet and its program giving them their mandate. The cabinet assumes its role and works along the lines of the Government program . However, the work of the cabinet proper is a topic for tomorrow's post. Look forward to it
Monday, July 13, 2009
Technocracy and the Taoiseach
Having established the fact that there is indeed a great government confidence crisis and ineffective model of government prohibits many times for the right decisions to be taken, let us now take a look and how to create a cabinet of experts to tackle this crisis. (Knowing that this system is quite complicated, allow me to split it into a number of posts that will be posted over the next couple of days).
In today's post we will look at how the cabinet of experts would be voted in and function.
The Taoiseach under the current system is elected by the majority in the Dáil. The TD who gains these votes becomes the Taoiseach and is untrusted to from the government. Each minister is, in fact, a TD and doesn't stop being a TD even after their appointment to the various department.
If we look at the technocracy model (government of experts) as proposed by Breakthrough we will see that the model is not remotely different. After the elections the Dáil majority coalition will be formed as a result of the talks between the party leaders. This Dáil majority then agrees on appointing an expert, an apolitical nominee, to become a Taoiseach and proposes this nomination to the Dáil. This model is, in fact, matching the model in work right now. It ensures that the will of the people, as proclaimed in the elections, is listened to and respect by letting the Dáil majority to pass the given candidate for the Taoiseach. The only difference so far is that the Taoiseach nominee is an apolitical figure, one that does not have any ties to any party but rather is an expert.
Now we come to the most important thing about this model, the definition of 'an expert'. An expert is a person who has an expertise in a specific field and experience with interaction in this field to which they are nominated. Alongside that the expert needs to have a proven track record in that field and show that he has been successful. For example if we take Colm McCarthy as an expert on finance, or Brian Mooney as an expert on education (please take these two names with a grain of salt, though, they are just examples thrown in to illustrate the point).
Seeing that we now know what an expert is, we can proceed with the explanation of the establishing of the cabinet of experts. After the Taoiseach nominee gains the approval of the Dáil he/she then most be approved off by the president (more on presidential powers under technocracy in further posts).
After these conditions are met the new Taoiseach is faced with the task of picking his cabinet. How this process should work, shall be discussed in the post tomorrow. Please look forward to it.
In today's post we will look at how the cabinet of experts would be voted in and function.
The Taoiseach under the current system is elected by the majority in the Dáil. The TD who gains these votes becomes the Taoiseach and is untrusted to from the government. Each minister is, in fact, a TD and doesn't stop being a TD even after their appointment to the various department.
If we look at the technocracy model (government of experts) as proposed by Breakthrough we will see that the model is not remotely different. After the elections the Dáil majority coalition will be formed as a result of the talks between the party leaders. This Dáil majority then agrees on appointing an expert, an apolitical nominee, to become a Taoiseach and proposes this nomination to the Dáil. This model is, in fact, matching the model in work right now. It ensures that the will of the people, as proclaimed in the elections, is listened to and respect by letting the Dáil majority to pass the given candidate for the Taoiseach. The only difference so far is that the Taoiseach nominee is an apolitical figure, one that does not have any ties to any party but rather is an expert.
Now we come to the most important thing about this model, the definition of 'an expert'. An expert is a person who has an expertise in a specific field and experience with interaction in this field to which they are nominated. Alongside that the expert needs to have a proven track record in that field and show that he has been successful. For example if we take Colm McCarthy as an expert on finance, or Brian Mooney as an expert on education (please take these two names with a grain of salt, though, they are just examples thrown in to illustrate the point).
Seeing that we now know what an expert is, we can proceed with the explanation of the establishing of the cabinet of experts. After the Taoiseach nominee gains the approval of the Dáil he/she then most be approved off by the president (more on presidential powers under technocracy in further posts).
After these conditions are met the new Taoiseach is faced with the task of picking his cabinet. How this process should work, shall be discussed in the post tomorrow. Please look forward to it.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Government Confidence Crisis
The first and most important idea of Breakthrough is to have a cabinet of experts. Before I venture to how this can be achieved and what would it involve I plan to explain for such a reform in our political scene. For explaining this reason, I plan to use this post today.
Before the Local and European elections a number of opinion polls was conducted to allow for a better approximation of the election results. Irish Times published a Red C poll which particularly struck me. The poll reflected that Fine Gael was far ahead at around 36%, Fianna Fail followed at 24% and Labour was third at 18% with Sinn Fein at 9% and Greens at 4%. The poll also showed the belief of the public for the leaders of the political parties. Leading was Eamon Gilmore with 51%, second was Edna Kenny with 33% and Brian Cowen followed with around 20%.
Now why I am putting forward results from an opinion poll that was conducted more than a month ago? Because this poll also showed one significant finding: the belief of public in the government was record low at 11%! Some attributed this finding to the fact that our government right now was deeply unpopular. However, working the numbers it is clear to see that Fianna Fail and the Green Party in this poll had 28%, which is significantly higher than the 10% confidence in the government. Even if we take into account the leadership of the party leaders and add Eamon Gilmore's and Edna Kenny's leadership points we get 84% opposition which still leaves 14% for the government!
It is not hard to figure out that the 10% does not only reflect the unpopularity of the government we have in power but also the disbelief among the public to the political system we have right now. This, however, is nothing that would be significantly different from the rest of Europe. When surveys are carried out the governments generally score low points in confidence from the people. In some countries even the fire brigade has more public confidence than the government. Therefore the question arises, where is the main source of problem?
In the Czech republic a recents survey has shown that 51% of people support the new government led by Jan Fischer. This government has been in power for only two months, so the findings may not truly reflect anything yet, but the government has already had to face with the problems of economic crisis, salvaging the Czech presidency of the EU and the massive floods. Thus we can deduce that the government has been put under considerable pressure already and take the 51% as a reasonable figure. In comparison the previous governments managed to score 20% at the peak of their popularity during the term in office. So why has Jan Fisher's government so much support? How is it different?
Firstly to answer the latter question. The government in the Czech republic is an government of experts. Each cabinet member is a person with proven track record in his/her field. Jan Fischer himself was a head of the Czech Central Statistic Office. The minister for foreign affairs, Jan Kohout, is a career diplomat, while the minster for finance, Eduard Janota was a minister of state in the ministry of finance for past number of years and I could go on. As you can see all the members of this cabinet are true experts in their field and that is the most significant difference between this cabinet and the previous ones.
However does this still explain the huge popularity? Yes! Not only people recognize that true experts are leading their country but also these experts take decisions that merit the Czech republic and its people, without thinking of political capital. The Czech presidency under Fischer's government was highly praised, the budget in making is set to be prudent to avoid extra borrowing and bringing the state to its knees in future, and the floods were quickly dealt with thanks for fast deployment of army and allowing money to pour into the regions as soon as possible.
This shows the great ability of a cabinet of expert to deal with situations without taking into account the political capital but rather making the correct choices based on their expert judgment. This kind of thinking is what we need, to get people's confidence in the government to rise, because this kind of thinking will benefit the country and the people as it did whenever and wherever it was applied.
Please come back to read tomorrow's post for more information on how this proposed system should work.
Before the Local and European elections a number of opinion polls was conducted to allow for a better approximation of the election results. Irish Times published a Red C poll which particularly struck me. The poll reflected that Fine Gael was far ahead at around 36%, Fianna Fail followed at 24% and Labour was third at 18% with Sinn Fein at 9% and Greens at 4%. The poll also showed the belief of the public for the leaders of the political parties. Leading was Eamon Gilmore with 51%, second was Edna Kenny with 33% and Brian Cowen followed with around 20%.
Now why I am putting forward results from an opinion poll that was conducted more than a month ago? Because this poll also showed one significant finding: the belief of public in the government was record low at 11%! Some attributed this finding to the fact that our government right now was deeply unpopular. However, working the numbers it is clear to see that Fianna Fail and the Green Party in this poll had 28%, which is significantly higher than the 10% confidence in the government. Even if we take into account the leadership of the party leaders and add Eamon Gilmore's and Edna Kenny's leadership points we get 84% opposition which still leaves 14% for the government!
It is not hard to figure out that the 10% does not only reflect the unpopularity of the government we have in power but also the disbelief among the public to the political system we have right now. This, however, is nothing that would be significantly different from the rest of Europe. When surveys are carried out the governments generally score low points in confidence from the people. In some countries even the fire brigade has more public confidence than the government. Therefore the question arises, where is the main source of problem?
In the Czech republic a recents survey has shown that 51% of people support the new government led by Jan Fischer. This government has been in power for only two months, so the findings may not truly reflect anything yet, but the government has already had to face with the problems of economic crisis, salvaging the Czech presidency of the EU and the massive floods. Thus we can deduce that the government has been put under considerable pressure already and take the 51% as a reasonable figure. In comparison the previous governments managed to score 20% at the peak of their popularity during the term in office. So why has Jan Fisher's government so much support? How is it different?
Firstly to answer the latter question. The government in the Czech republic is an government of experts. Each cabinet member is a person with proven track record in his/her field. Jan Fischer himself was a head of the Czech Central Statistic Office. The minister for foreign affairs, Jan Kohout, is a career diplomat, while the minster for finance, Eduard Janota was a minister of state in the ministry of finance for past number of years and I could go on. As you can see all the members of this cabinet are true experts in their field and that is the most significant difference between this cabinet and the previous ones.
However does this still explain the huge popularity? Yes! Not only people recognize that true experts are leading their country but also these experts take decisions that merit the Czech republic and its people, without thinking of political capital. The Czech presidency under Fischer's government was highly praised, the budget in making is set to be prudent to avoid extra borrowing and bringing the state to its knees in future, and the floods were quickly dealt with thanks for fast deployment of army and allowing money to pour into the regions as soon as possible.
This shows the great ability of a cabinet of expert to deal with situations without taking into account the political capital but rather making the correct choices based on their expert judgment. This kind of thinking is what we need, to get people's confidence in the government to rise, because this kind of thinking will benefit the country and the people as it did whenever and wherever it was applied.
Please come back to read tomorrow's post for more information on how this proposed system should work.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Welcome Everyone!
Hello everybody who happened to stumble upon this blog, be it by accident or by intention. My name is Mario and this blog is means for me to publish and depict my political ideas and policies, which are the basis of a political movement Breakthrough, which I am hoping to establish soon. These depictions will cover all topics regarding the given policy ranging from the purpose of such a policy in Ireland to how it should be implemented. I do hope to see you commenting on these post and providing constructive discussions to the post so that you can point out any mistakes that I should make along the way.
Just to give a quick tour of the blog, on the side you can vote whether you support Breakthrough's policies, the blog will be open for one year, starting today. Further there is a shoutbox to which you engage in a discussion regarding topics that are not related to the post. You can also search the blog thanks to google and add to be its followers, yet again thanks to google. On the bottom of the screen current affairs are shown regarding Ireland, the EU and politics in general.
That is all for now, I will start with a first post directly regarding Breakthrough's policies tommorow. I hope I'll see you there.
Just to give a quick tour of the blog, on the side you can vote whether you support Breakthrough's policies, the blog will be open for one year, starting today. Further there is a shoutbox to which you engage in a discussion regarding topics that are not related to the post. You can also search the blog thanks to google and add to be its followers, yet again thanks to google. On the bottom of the screen current affairs are shown regarding Ireland, the EU and politics in general.
That is all for now, I will start with a first post directly regarding Breakthrough's policies tommorow. I hope I'll see you there.
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