Ανάρτηση Ερευνητικού Δοκιμίου no 08/26

Ερευνητικό Δοκίμιο no 08/26 με τίτλο "Overhauling Democracy: Layered State Authority, Corporate-Style Accountability, and the Free Market Economy”

του Γεώργιου Κ. Μπήτρου και του Steve Bakalis

Περίληψη

In the contemporary era of executive aggrandizement and crisis-driven governance, traditional representative democracy faces structural challenges that procedural reforms cannot resolve. Drawing on the institutional analysis of Bitros (2022) and infused with constitutional political economy, this article proposes a theory of layered state authority as architecture of democratic restraint. It argues that the incorporation of corporate-style functionality and accountability mechanisms—if integrated with constitutional design—can counterbalance the dominance of the state with citizens' power. Through a comparative analysis of a small sample of democracies—including the United States, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan, and Australia—the article shows that countries characterized by stronger property rights protection, higher levels of human and economic freedom, and more effective governance tend to exhibit higher per capita income, lower unemployment, and greater competitiveness. It concludes that democratic overhaul must move beyond electoralism and symbolism toward structural constraints capable of resisting the asymmetries first diagnosed by Thucydides.

O Γεώργιος Κ. Μπήτρος είναι Ομότιμος Καθηγητής Πολιτικής Οικονομίας του τμήματος Οικονομικής Επιστήμης του Οικονομικό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών και ο Steve Bakalis είναι Retired Professor of Economics, University of Victoria, Victoria, Australia.