The Advantages of Charter Change

A charter is a highly significant instrument for any democratic setup. The sovereign power of a country or a state presents the charter to the people and corporations in the form of a written document. This document embodies privileges and rights, along with the applicable boundaries to the grantee. As times change, the boundaries of such rights pertinent in any democratic setup need to be revisited and redefined. A charter change basically means amending certain parts of the constitution. A change in a charter sounds theoretically simple, but in reality, it is much more difficult.

Efficiency

• Only those provisions that need to be changed will be followed up and worked on. The problem posed by opening up a charter to changes is the level of control provided. Since the charter is vast, it's unwise and impractical to ratify every wording in it. Hence, the efficient method of charter change enables a more pragmatic approach to changing only the required fields while leaving other fields untouched. This saves time and effort.

Economical Viability

• The economical viability of the approach must be appreciated. In building up to amend the charter, a delegates' convention is necessary. The open-ended nature of this convention will mean that it can go on for years, eating into the taxpayers' money. Therefore, selecting particular areas for change rather than opening up the entire charter to ratification proves to be more economical.

Higher Transparency

• The change will do away with the enforcement balance gridlock experienced in a presidential system. This change would mean higher transparency, less corruption and a more efficient, pro-people governance.

Resolution

• In the American system as well as most European democracies, archaic land-related laws bring about a disparity with the changing demographics of the nation. Here, amendments to the respective land- and trade-related laws become a necessity.

Example of Charter Change

• A prime example of charter change can be seen in the Philippines, a country that has attempted to amend its 1986 constitution three times as of March 2010. The most recent attempt happened under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. After coming to power in 2004, the president formed a Consultative Commission whose sole task was to propose necessary changes to the constitution after consulting various social sectors. The significant proposals included shifting from the existent bicameralism to unicameralism, changing to a federal government system to empower local governments and instituting economic liberalization.