Parliament The Budget And Poverty In South Africa A Shift In Power

Effective and transparent government budgeting is vital to any democracy. In South Africa, massive poverty, inequality and unemployment remain, despite the successful political transformation, citizens and Parliament have a particularly important role to play in shaping budget policy and overseeing its implementation. South Africa reached a crossroads in fiscal governance when it passed the Money Bills Amendment Act in 2009, a law which granted Parliament strong powers to amend the budget prepared by the executive. This publication explores the content of the new law as well as the challenges and opportunities arising from it. It also discusses the role of Parliament in ensuring pro-poor budgeting. Good fiscal governance is too important for the wellbeing of South Africans to not be a part of our public conversations.

Seekings and Nattrass explain why poverty persisted in South Africa after the transition to democracy in 1994. The book examines how public policies both mitigated and reproduced poverty, and explains how and why these policies were adopted. The analysis offers lessons for the study of poverty elsewhere in the world.

This handbook, jointly produced with the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank Institute and the United Nations Fund for Women, was inspired by a series of regional and national seminars on Parliament and the Budgetary Process, Including from a Gender Perspective. Intended as a reference tool, it sets out practical examples of parliament's active engagement in the budgetary process, seeking to advance parliaments' own institutional capacities to make a positive impact on the budget, and to equip parliament, its members and parliamentary staff with the necessary tools to examine the budget from a gender perspective.--Publisher's description.

The book interrogates the relationship between democracy and development and how underdevelopment prevents citizens from participating in democracy. Section One is a collection of experts writing on key issues such as the single-party state; development policy; poverty, inequality and growth; the institutions of governance; the public service; and the role of civil society. Section Two, Idasas Democracy Index 2010, releases Idasas findings on Participation, Elections, Accountability, Political Freedom, Human Dignity and Democracy. The third in Idasas Democracy Index series, this book argues that democracy needs economic development along with an embedded system of institutions, supported by active citizens and a vibrant political culture.

The implementation of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 1999 is reviewed in this book, focussing on the development and reform of financial governance arrangements after 2000. South Africa has a long way to go to ensure that financial reforms are translated into service delivery gains. Implementing reforms and making sure that citizens benefit is proving difficult, yet the convergence of various government agencies in addressing financial governance is beginning to inspire the kind of confidence needed to overcome the country's financial governance challenges. The authors find that, despite the challenges, the PFMA has begun to make a difference and, if properly implemented, may still provide the ground for a fundamental transformation of public-sector service delivery.

What is the role of legislatures in the budget process? Do powerful assemblies give rise to pro-spending bias? This survey of legislative budgeting tackles these questions using cross-national data and case studies. It highlights the tension between legislative authority and prudent fiscal policy, exploring strategies for reconciliation.

By whatever name they are known (Parliaments, Legislatures, or Assemblies, to name but three) legislative assemblies in democratic societies face the twin challenges of institutional capacity and accountability to their citizens. In addressing these challenges, assemblies vary in the extent to which they serve the respective interests of three critical sets of actors: their members, party leaders, and voters. In this book, Shane Martin and Kaare W. Strøm identify three ideal types of democratic assemblies - the members' assembly, the leaders' assembly, and the voters' assembly - and analyze national legislative assemblies in the world's 68 most populous democracies, from Finland to Papua New Guinea, in light of these models. Based on extensive new cross-national data, they trace the implications of the three assembly types for the design, internal organization, resources, and powers of democratic national assemblies, develop indices of each assembly type, and score each of the 68 legislative assemblies on these indices. The analysis of legislative re-election rates in these countries reveals that the fate of incumbents depends on member resources as well as on leadership control, but is ultimately constrained by voter confidence. In conclusion, the authors discuss the past and future trajectories of legislative assemblies, including their susceptibility to democratic backsliding.

Offers a look at the causes and effects of poverty and inequality, as well as the possible solutions. This title features research, human stories, statistics, and compelling arguments. It discusses about the world we live in and how we can make it a better place.

The Convention was adopted by the UN's General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. It amplifies some of the existing provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its provisions include obligations for states to pursue policies for eliminating discrimination against women in the areas of government, nationality, access to education and employment opportunities, health care and equality before the law. As of December 2002, the Convention had 170 ratifications.

This analysis of budgetary systems and policies across the world examines how politics, culture, and economics influence public finance.