Samenvatting
Alle voorbereidingen TRV
Voorbereiding TRV HC 1 & 2
The federalist 51
The structure of the government must furnish proper checks and balances between the different
departments
To the People of the State of New York:
TO WHAT expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition
of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can
be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be
supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent
parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.
Without presuming to undertake a full development of this important idea, I will hazard a few
general observations, which may perhaps place it in a clearer light, and enable us to form a more
correct judgment of the principles and structure of the government planned by the convention. In
order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of
government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of
liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be
so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment
of the members of the others. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the
appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn
from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication
whatever with one another.
Perhaps such a plan of constructing the several departments would be less difficult in practice than it
may in contemplation appear. Some difficulties, however, and some additional expense would
attend the execution of it. Some deviations, therefore, from the principle must be admitted. In the
constitution of the judiciary department in particular, it might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on
the principle: first, because peculiar qualifications being essential in the members, the primary
consideration ought to be to select that mode of choice which best secures these qualifications;
secondly, because the permanent tenure by which the appointments are held in that department,
must soon destroy all sense of dependence on the authority conferring them. It is equally evident,
that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the
others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is
to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the
government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence
on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught
mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival
interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs,
private as well as public. We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power,
where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each
may be a check on the other that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the
public rights.
1
,As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the
executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified. An absolute negative on the
legislature appears, at first view, to be the natural defense with which the executive magistrate
should be armed. But perhaps it would be neither altogether safe nor alone sufficient. On ordinary
occasions it might not be exerted with the requisite firmness, and on extraordinary occasions it might
be perfidiously abused.
If the principles on which these observations are founded be just, as I persuade myself they are, and
they be applied as a criterion to the several State constitutions, and to the federal Constitution it will
be found that if the latter does not perfectly correspond with them, the former are infinitely less able
to bear such a test. There are, moreover, two considerations particularly applicable to the federal
system of America, which place that system in a very interesting point of view. First. In a single
republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single
government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct
and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the
people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each
subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of
the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be
controlled by itself.
Second. It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of
its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different
interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common
interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against
this evil: the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority that is, of the
society itself; the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as
will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable.
The first method prevails in all governments possessing an hereditary or self-appointed authority.
This, at best, is but a precarious security; because a power independent of the society may as well
espouse the unjust views of the major, as the rightful interests of the minor party, and may possibly
be turned against both parties. The second method will be exemplified in the federal republic of the
United States. Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society
itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of
individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.
The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may
be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the
same government. This view of the subject must particularly recommend a proper federal system to
all the sincere and considerate friends of republican government, since it shows that in exact
proportion as the territory of the Union may be formed into more circumscribed Confederacies, or
States oppressive combinations of a majority will be facilitated: the best security, under the
republican forms, for the rights of every class of citizens, will be diminished: and consequently the
stability and independence of some member of the government, the only other security, must be
proportionately increased. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has
been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society
under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy
may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured
against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are
prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the
weak as well as themselves; so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions or parties be
gradnally induced, by a like motive, to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the
weaker as well as the more powerful.
2
,In the extended republic of the United States, and among the great variety of interests, parties, and
sects which it embraces, a coalition of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place on any
other principles than those of justice and the general good; whilst there being thus less danger to a
minor from the will of a major party, there must be less pretext, also, to provide for the security of
the former, by introducing into the government a will not dependent on the latter, or, in other
words, a will independent of the society itself. It is no less certain than it is important,
notwithstanding the contrary opinions which have been entertained, that the larger the society,
provided it lie within a practical sphere, the more duly capable it will be of self-government. And
happily for the republican cause, the practicable sphere may be carried to a very great extent, by a
judicious modification and mixture of the federal principle.
Hoofdstuk 1
Publieke verantwoording: een handboek
Ondanks de kritiek dat de verantwoordingslast groot is, lijkt de roep om permanente
publieke verantwoording alleen maar toe te nemen. Politieke bestuurders hebben te maken
met zeer kritische burgers, die geen genoegen meer nemen met een passieve rol in het
stemhokje. Het vertrouwen in overheid en kabinet is wankel en de meeste politieke partijen
kunnen van de ene verkiezing op de andere grote verliezen lijden. Actiegroepen en
lobbyisten zijn erop gespitst dat hun deelbelang niet in de knel komt en aarzelen niet om, in
een driehoekje met journalisten en kamerleden, de vakministers om verantwoording te
vragen. De publieke sector bevindt zich daardoor in een permanente staat van publieke
verantwoording.
Hoofdstuk 2
Begrippen, vormen en beoordelingskaders
Verantwoording is een centraal begrip in de democratische rechtsstaat en is ook een begrip
dat regelmatig valt in meer alledaagse conversaties. Ondanks het brede gebruik ervan is er
geen sprake van een eenduidige betekenis. Verantwoording is bij uitstek een ontwijkende
categorie.
Verantwoording
Verantwoordelijkheid is een stand van zaken; verantwoording is een proces.
Verantwoordelijkheid in de zin van taken, bevoegdheden en plichten, gaat vaak voorag aan
verantwoording; wie bepaalde verantwoordelijkheden heeft, moet daar veelal
verantwoording over afleggen.
Definitie van verantwoording: er is sprake van verantwoording wanneer er een relatie is
tussen een actor en een forum, waarbij de actor zich verplicht voelt om informatie en uitleg
te geven over zijn optreden, het forum nadere vragen kan stellen, een oordeel uit kan
spreken en dit oordeel consequenties kan hebben voor de actor.
De actor kan een individu zijn of een organisatie. Bij publieke verantwoording zal de actor
vaak een publieke organisatie of semipublieke instelling zijn, maar het kan ook gaan om
individuele politieke bestuurders of ambtenaren.
Ook het forum, degene aan wie verantwoording wordt afgelegd, zal bij publieke
verantwoording meestal een specifieke institutie zijn. Maar het kan ook een meer virtuele
entiteit zijn, zoals de publieke opinie.
3
, Verantwoording kan in drie analytisch onderscheiden fasen worden ingedeeld. Er is in de
eerste plaats sprake van een informatiefase. Cruciaal is hier dat de actor zich verplicht voelt
om het forum informatie te verstrekken over zijn optreden.
Vervolgens kan de informatie ertoe leiden dat het forum de actor nadere vragen stelt en
met hem debatteert over de aard van de informatie en over de waardering van het
optreden. Dit is de debatfase, waarin sprake is van een vraag en antwoord.
Ten slotte is er veelal sprake van een oordeel van het forum. Het forum kan een jaarrekening
goedkeuren, een beschikking vernietigen, of het gevoerde beleid afkeuren.
Verantwoordingsarrangementen kunnen worden onderscheiden naar de zwaarte van de
sancties waarover verantwoordingsfora beschikken. De lichtste vorm van verantwoording
doet zich voor wanneer een actor verplicht is, of zich verplicht voelt, om prestatiegegevens
te openbaren aan een algemeen publiek dat verder niet of nauwelijks de mogelijkheid heeft
om nadere vragen te stellen en een oordeel uit te spreken.
De verantwoording wordt zwaarder wanneer het forum nadere vragen kan stellen, met de
actor in debat kan gaan en een oordeel kan uitspreken over het optreden van de actor.
De zwaarste vorm van verantwoording doet zich voor wanneer het forum zelf formele
consequenties kan verbinden aan zijn oordeel.
Veel vormen van verantwoording bevinden zich tussen de uitersten in. Zij vormen als het
ware een ladder van verantwoording van lichte naar zware vormen.
Elementen van verantwoording
Er is sprake van verantwoording wanneer:
Informatiefase 1. Er een relatie is tussen een actor en
een forum
2. Waarbij de actor zich verplicht voelt
3. Om informatie en uitleg te
verstrekken
4. Over zijn eigen optreden
Debatfase 5. Het forum nadere vragen kan stellen
Consequenties 6. En een oordeel uit kan spreken
7. Dat formele of informele
consequenties kan hebben voor de
actor
Verantwoording versus controle en toezicht?
In de bestuurlijke praktijk wordt het begrip verantwoording geregeld afgewisseld met de
vergelijkbare begrippen controle en toezicht. Controleren verwijst op het meest beperkte
niveau naar een concrete handeling van een persoon of instantie. Dit is controle in de
betekenis die accountants eraan geven: verifiëren.
De definities van verantwoording, toezicht en controle liggen dicht bij elkaar. Het verschil
ertussen is dat controle en toezicht het handelingsperspectief van de controleur en
4