Vera Karam de Chueiri

e-government and performance management in Colombia

Improvement of e-government services in Colombia over the past years is due to implementation of important reforms on public administration based on Performance Management and e-government policies at different levels of State. Hence, this paper describes the process of adopting e-government in Colombia over the last four presidential terms (1998 to 2014), in order to show importance of integrated PM mechanism with e-government public policies, with the aim of transforming hierarchical and bureaucratic structures into horizontal integrated systems. For this primary research, we used qualitative research methods through analyzing of institutions, several official documents, laws and web portals.

Constitucionalismo e democracia: soberania e poder constituinte

To conciliate democracy and constitutionalism is a complex and problematic task. There is the paradox: Democracy means the people deciding relevant political issues of their community including the contents of their constitution. Constitutionalism, on its side, means to limit popular sovereignty. Constitution imposes itself as the manifestation of popular sovereignty and constituent power linking both. Thus, the conjugation of constitutionalism and democracy leads to another which is in its origin, i.e., sovereignty and constituent power. This article aims at discussing these two relations, i.e., constituent power and sovereignty and constitutionalism and democracy showing their constituting tensions in order to affirm ninos and gargarellas conception of deliberative democracy.

Is There Such Thing as a Radical Constitution

A radical Constitution is at the same time promise and effectiveness. It retains the constituent impulse, which reappears each time it is enforced. As such, the Constitution is a possible mediation to political action. The tension between constituent power and constituted powers or between potentiality and actuality plays a fundamental role for contemporary constitutionalism and democracy. Then, constitutionalism is that which exhibits and reaffirms – instead of annihilating- constituent power, as far as it ensures and renews democratic politics and its commitments. Past events such as protests that happened in Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Spain, United States, Brazil, etc. must be understood not as pure political action but as grounded either in the achievements of democracy or in the achievements of constitutionalism, i.e., there is a right to protest (even against the Constitution). A radical Constitution is that which retains the radical impulse of constituent power in the constituted community aiming at a provisory yet necessary agreement between promise and effectiveness; between people’s absolute power and its restraints; between political action and the law; between democracy and constitutionalism. Constitution as promise is what makes one act politically, i.e., it is no longer a simple radical impulse but the realization of something, like the enforcement of rights by means of the Constitution. Then, promise soon becomes effectiveness. The recent events I mentioned above are noteworthy as far as they are not an exception to the possibilities of a constitutional democracy but exactly what it is about: potentiality and actuality; promise and effectiveness; stabilization and crisis, not against the Constitution but because of the radicalization of it.

(Des)ordem constitucional: engrenagens da máquina ditatorial no Brasil pós-64

To have a narrative on Brazils democracy necessarily implies to know authoritarian constitutional practices after 1964. This apparent paradox is soon solved as far as authoritarian constitutional practices discloses the framework of an arbitrary time, which, somehow remains in Brazil. It is from the identification of dictatorships gears that one is able to verify the biggest challenges and risks to Brazilian democratic constitutionalism and its consolidation. This article analyzes Brazilian constitutional (dis)order engendered by the military regime - and its legal scholars - in order to understand in which measure this (dis)order has been meaningful in post authoritarian transition.

DESCENTRALIZAÇÃO E RECENTRALIZAÇÃO DO PODER NA COLÔMBIA: A BUSCA DE EQUILÍBRIOS ENTRE A NAÇÃO E AS ENTIDADES TERRITORIAIS

A unitary and centralized state has been the preferred model of government in Colombia since the Constitution of 1886. This partly explains the difficulties encountered by the state from the beginning in terms of decentralizing its power. The authors believe the decentralization process that began in the 1980s was mainly the result of two conflicting situations. To begin with, decentralization was an attempt, in theory, to respond to the community on the crisis of legitimacy of the state, since a large portion of the Colombian population did not feel represented by the national government. however, in practice, the decentralization process was a strategy the national government used to formalize the discourse on decentralization, so as to relieve unwanted political pressure in this respect. Yet, in fact, there were no policies or effective mechanisms to give local authorities greater power for decision-making or management.

DECENTRALIZATION AND RE-CENTRALIZATION OF POWER IN COLOMBIA: THE SEARCH FOR A BALANCE BETWEEN THE NATION AND TERRITORIAL AGENCIES

A unitary and centralized state has been the preferred model of government in Colombia since the Constitution of 1886. This partly explains the difficulties encountered by the state from the beginning in terms of decentralizing its power. The authors believe the decentralization process that began in the 1980s was mainly the result of two conflicting situations. To begin with, decentralization was an attempt, in theory, to respond to the community on the crisis of legitimacy of the state, since a large portion of the Colombian population did not feel represented by the national government. however, in practice, the decentralization process was a strategy the national government used to formalize the discourse on decentralization, so as to relieve unwanted political pressure in this respect. Yet, in fact, there were no policies or effective mechanisms to give local authorities greater power for decision-making or management.

DESCENTRALIZACIÓN Y RE-CENTRALIZACIÓN DEL PODER EN COLOMBIA: LA BÚSQUEDA DE EQUILIBRIOS ENTRE LA NACIÓN Y LAS ENTIDADES TERRITORIALES

A unitary and centralized state has been the preferred model of government in Colombia since the Constitution of 1886. This partly explains the difficulties encountered by the state from the beginning in terms of decentralizing its power. The authors believe the decentralization process that began in the 1980s was mainly the result of two conflicting situations. To begin with, decentralization was an attempt, in theory, to respond to the community on the crisis of legitimacy of the state, since a large portion of the Colombian population did not feel represented by the national government. however, in practice, the decentralization process was a strategy the national government used to formalize the discourse on decentralization, so as to relieve unwanted political pressure in this respect. Yet, in fact, there were no policies or effective mechanisms to give local authorities greater power for decision-making or management.

Agamben e Derrida: A Escrita Da Lei (sem Forma). Doi: 10.5020/2317-2150.2011.v16n2p795

O presente artigo parte da ideia de aporia que e uma categoria presente tanto nos escritos de Jacques Derrida quanto nos de Giorgio Agamben, a partir da qual se enfrentam questoes relativas ao direito, a politica e a justica. Os limiares que marcam a relacao entre direito e politica, e direito e justica expoem e depoem a violencia que lhes e constitutiva. Neste sentido, os autores recorrem aos trabalhos de Carl Schmitt e Walter Benjamin, sobretudo a ideia de excecao soberana e a aporia atraves da qual ela se revela. Entretanto, o fato de o direito, a politica e a justica serem marcados pela violencia e por uma relacao sempre aporetica nao alivia a responsabilidade de se decidir nestas instâncias, mas, ao contrario, exige a decisao. Tal fato e discutido neste artigo nas consideracoes que se faz sobre estado de excecao, forca de lei, fundamento da autoridade e messianismo.