Research projects
The Democratic Audit of the United Kingdom
The Democratic Audit
was set up in 1993 to assess the quality of democracy and political freedom
in the United Kingdom. Until recently it was a research unit of the Centre
and is now an independent research organisation under a board on which
Essex academics play a significant role.
To date, three audits of the United Kingdom have
been carried out:
- The Three Pillars of Liberty by Francesca Klug, Keir
Starmer and Stuart Weir (Routledge, 1997), audits
Britain's arrangements for protecting political rights
and civil freedoms.
- Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain by
Stuart Weir and David Beetham (Routledge, 1999),
analyses the extensive and flexible powers of the UK
executive.
- Democracy Under Blair by David Beetham,
Ian Byrne, Pauline Ngan and Stuart Weir (Politico's, 2002),
examines whether Britain has become more or less
democratic under the premiership of Tony Blair. It finds
that while the Blair Government has introduced major
reforms, like devolution and the Human Rights Act, it
has also employed the overweening powers of the British
executive to make central government even more powerful.
Further papers and publications
Democratic Audit also carries out research into topical
democratic and human rights issues. Its latest work,
Unequal Britain: the Human Rights Route to Social Justice,
was published by Politicos on 4 September 2006. This book
argues the case for introducing economic, social and
cultural rights into the UK.
In 2005, we collaborated with the Federal and One World
Trusts on a pioneering study of the lack of accountability
in the making of the UKs foreign, trade and aid policies
(Not in Our Name, Donnelly, D, et al, Politicos, 2005). The
Audit has also published two reports on the British National
Party assessing its electoral appeal and exposing its racist
and fascist tendencies. The Audit published The Rules of the
Game, a scoping report on the UKs counter terrorist laws in
2005, and will publish a second full report in autumn 2006.
Since 1992, the Audit has published 16 reports on other
democratic matters, including path-breaking studies of the
quango state and the UK electoral system. Audit publications
have been widely acclaimed and used by policy-makers and
others.
Professor Weir, the Audit Director,
and Professor Beetham, the Associate Director, developed its pioneering
methodology for democracy assessment for use universally
with the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the Human Rights Centre,
under Dr Todd Landman, has now entered into partnership with
IDEA to bring this work up to date and spread its use around
the world. The Audit draws not only on scholars from the
University of Essex in its researches, but also academics
from other universities, lawyers and journalists.