This paper considers the role that election commissions may play in facilitating or resisting democratic decline. Common across cases of decline are attempts by regimes to capture or eliminate independent institutions that have the capacity to check political power. Capture of the judiciary is a well-recognized tool of would-be authoritarians. This paper argues that similar...
Tag: <span>Michael Pal</span>
The Democratic Resilience of the Canadian Constitution
We advance three categories of institutional explanations for the resilience of Canadian constitutional democracy. First, we show that Canada‘s choice to chart its own unique course in the debate pitting presidentialism and parliamentarism has borne the fruits of democracy. Second, we demonstrate that Canada‘s robust “democracy branch“ has been both a source and driver of...