Erik de Groot’s Post

I’m excited to share that my essay for the John Locke Essay Global Prize received a commendation. I began with light research about the question prompt, collecting concepts and refining my thoughts on the issue. Then I started writing in May. The experience was rewarding and made all the effort worthwhile. About My Essay: My essay, titled "Excess Democracy: Paradigms of Suffrage and Weighted Voting," explored what I believe could contribute to an ideal and healthy democracy. I focused on the concept of universal suffrage, emphasizing its importance in empowering citizens and ensuring that every voice is heard. At the same time, I presented the idea of weighted voting as a theoretical alternative that might enhance democratic participation. In my conclusion, I suggested that while universal suffrage is a commendable ideal, there are ways to refine this concept to better suit the needs of a diverse society. My aim was to share my thoughts on how we can think critically about democracy without evoking sentiments toward systems that might undermine these ideals. I believe that a balanced approach could lead to more effective and inclusive democratic practices. Final Thoughts: Being recognized as a finalist in the John Locke Essay Global Prize was a significant achievement for me. It showed that my analysis resonated with contemporary discussions about democracy. The commendation I received underscored the quality of my work and motivated me to continue exploring political theory. Overall, the journey from May to September was challenging but deeply fulfilling. This experience has strengthened my commitment to further research in political thought, and I look forward to applying what I’ve learned to my future academic pursuits.

In his new book, Professor Jonathan White explores how ideas of the future are integral to politics and democracy. We need to retain our commitment to longer-term thinking to counter the sense that time is running out, he argues. Read now in the latest issue of the #LSEResearchForTheWorld Magazine👇

I'm happy to announce that my article "All (economic) politics is local: Voting responses to localized price shocks during the Great Recession" has been published in the Journal of Regional Science! Follow the link for the paper. https://lnkd.in/eVAX8iuZ

Himalayan Politics is accepting research articles based on original thoughts on politics. Submit your research article via email at [email protected]

It is abundantly clear that we, as a nation, by the influence of inexperienced leaders and others who wear many hats of responsibility, reflect upon the disharmonies that persist within our nation's socioeconomic system of governance, weighing interpretations of facts on societal injustice by our experiences of extreme indifference, in comportment to each individual's moral compass in matters regarding the rule of law. The precision of one's knowledge presents the impact and consequences that can heal societal divides. As such, equitable pathways to promote prosocial behavior and criminal justice reform within our American criminal justice system require a plurality of expertise to balance systems toward constitutional governance. As a nation, we must continue to improve the social fabric and balance of our great American social contract for ALL of its people. E Pluribus Unum. “Out of many, one.” If not, we will continue to suffer from those who participate within our democratic republic that wilfully or unwillfully obstruct and degrade the rule of law due to their lack of knowledge and proneness to tribalistic bias, with the absence of qualitative metrics to facilitate efficacious change. Actions that impose undue harm against the plurality of citizens in our nation that are guaranteed constitutional protections within. "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." -Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum address, January 27, 1838, titled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions" https://lnkd.in/gA2qVYuq

Strengthen your capacity as a policymaker by cultivating a practical grasp of the tools, methodologies, and strategies essential for proficient program and policy evaluation within the public sector.     During the ‘Application of Program Evaluation’ program, Dr Rodrigo Praino, Associate Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Flinders University, will delve into the intricacies of collecting and articulating results in a compelling and informative manner.     Register your place now. https://lnkd.in/d-KSrZd8    #PublicPolicy #EvaluationMethods #DecisionMaking #FlindersUniversity" 

A sound recording of my book launch (opening talk and discussant contributions) is now available via the following page: Book title: 'Effective Governance and the Political Economy of Coordination' (Palgrave 2023) https://lnkd.in/eduwH3VM

A long time ago, a great teacher recommended this Kroening's text as a personal reading. Since then, I have questioned the theoretical and structural criteria developed in modern democratic systems. In this fight, of course, there is a strong winner. Democracy made it easier to live with the difficulties and faults of the human race, while autocracies are more rigorous with the internal character that a society must assume as a culture or as a community project, so that it becomes more difficult to live together with any idea about the human nature and his experience of freedom. Interestingly, the author carries out a rigorous analysis of the difficulties inherent in democratic systems. Although it emphasizes the advantages they have over autocratic regimes. Democratic Advantages: More likely to win the wars they fight, have better decision-making, and more effective officers. More innovative for operational concepts and developing strategic technologies. Larger, more enduring, and more reliable alliances More likely to keep international commitments Greater “soft power” resources Less likely to generate counter-balancing coalitions. Better foreign policy decision-making. Autocracy Advantages: Autocracies can make bold and rapid decisions. Autocracies can engage in long-run strategic planning. Autocracies are not constrained by legal or normative concerns. They can maintain secrecy and better engage in deception. Autocratic politics are clean and efficient I encourage you to read this study so that, as social scientists, we can design questions about the tendency in developing countries to defend democracy at all costs, even if this involves accepting any choice of government. Social democrats, realists, liberals, or radical parties coexist better in these systems. It is not in our interest to say that autocracy is necessary or desirable in any scenario. However, there is a need to examine the advantages of autocratic governments based on aristocratic models of government. And by the aristocracy, one should not consider the ordinary ability to use their influence or money to develop themselves in the country's political life but to be virtuous. To demand virtues in the project of society is, above all in politics, to have autonomy and a spiritual horizon. I suggest this reading to you to consider contrasting, not only with the historical and geopolitical examples used by the author but to shift the analysis to the fragmentation of the Roman empire into monarchies, then review functional aristocratic models in the Hispanic monarchies, look with different eyes the deep Hispano-America, alma mater of our past; consider the advantages that exist in integrating some of that demand of autocracies in functional models of government for contemporary democratic societies. AB Download: https://lnkd.in/e-9YjMPw

Exploring the concept of government A government is a structure that is both complex and critically important to its inhabitants. It seems that every social science has a concept of government that underwrites its theories or is explicitly analyzed. Sociologists emphasize the concepts of social power and patterns of domination, while political scientists concentrate on political power and political authority. Economists describe markets and political institutions as intermingled. Social psychologists conceptualize leaders who can shape the group norms and activities of others, while political philosophers and legal scholars treat government as organs of the state, which is territorially defined and possesses a legal monopoly over violence. There is much debate over what the concepts of government and the state mean. Author Mohameddeq Ali Abdi

Lincoln University of Missouri’s Dr. Elizabeth Dorssom, assistant professor of political science, recently published a new book — Missouri State Politics: Government in the Show-Me State. ⚖️ In the book, Dr. Dorssom delves into the political status of Missouri in the United States, offering a comprehensive exploration of its rich political tradition through a comparative approach. Within these pages, readers gain insight into Missouri’s political system and traditions, contextualized alongside other states’ constitutions, policymaking and institutions. Click the link to learn more. #PoliticalScience #MissouriPolitics #LUMO