Department of Political Science Seminar - presented by Sir Paul Tucker
07 February 2019, 6:15 pm–7:45 pm
Have central banks and the regulatory state displaced constitutional democracy?
Event Information
Open to
- All | UCL staff | UCL students
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
UCL Department of Political Science
Location
-
A V Hill Lecture TheatreMedical Sciences BuildingGower StreetLondonWC1E 6BT
Over the past quarter century, more and more big public policy decisions have been delegated by legislative assemblies to agencies insulated from day-to-day politics. While the most obvious examples are the super-powerful central banks, many of our laws are now made by independent regulators and the judicial tribunals that oversee them. It matters whether this form of governance squares with our deep political values: democracy, the rule of law, and constitutionalism. Paul Tucker argues in Unelected Power that the problem is serious, and has contributed to a creeping sense of alienation from our system of government. While defending the idea that independent agencies can help political communities commit to the public good, he advocates that constitutional democracies should adopt clearer principles on the delegation of power to unelected technocrats.
About the Speaker
Sir Paul Tucker
Chair at Systemic Risk Council
Sir Paul Tucker is chair of the Systemic Risk Council, a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, and a research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. From 2009 to late 2013 he was Deputy Governor at the Bank of England, having joined the Bank in 1980. He was a member of all of the Bank of England's statutory policy committees: the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee (vice chair), Prudential Regulatory Authority Board (vice chair), as well as of the Court of Directors. Internationally, he was a member of the steering committee of the G20 Financial Stability Board, and chaired its Committee on the Resolution of Cross-Border Banks in order to solve the “too big to fail” problem. He was a member of the board of directors of the Bank for International Settlements, and was chair of the Basel Committee for Payment and Settlement Systems from April 2012. He is a member of the Board of the Financial Services Volunteer Corps, a director at Swiss Re, a Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College Oxford, a member of the Advisory Council of the AQR Asset Management Institute at the London Business School, and a Governor of the Ditchley Foundation.
More about Sir Paul Tucker