Mohammad Jalali; Rezvan Ziaei
Volume 15, Issue 39 , July 2013, , Pages 129-166
Abstract
In every society, power is deemed as an essential element for securing andmaintaining sovereign governments worldwide; however, human history showswhere it is not laid under control and supervision, in the absence of unaccountabilityto members of society, there is a likelihood of its inclination towards ...
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In every society, power is deemed as an essential element for securing andmaintaining sovereign governments worldwide; however, human history showswhere it is not laid under control and supervision, in the absence of unaccountabilityto members of society, there is a likelihood of its inclination towards abuse of powerand corruption. Meanwhile, even so the government structure may well be assumedas democratic, maintaining constant supervision over its various constituentelements and divisions is a prime objective destined, within a legal framework, to beachieved and that it requires efficient supervisory vehicles in place as to carry outduties of such grave importance. Notwithstanding that, it is a duty assumedprimarily on judicial bodies to fulfill, prevalent complexity and bureaucracy in mazyaisles of courts coupled with lengthy proceedings therein, compelled some statesestablish organizations delegated to deal with complaints brought by people throughnon-judicial fast and brief process. These organizations were termed “Ombudsman”or non-judicial supervisory institutions.Nowadays, Ombudsman-providing the public with convenient non-judicialmechanism, through which their complaints against government are heard - isconsidered as an indication of political development and an inalienable part ofeffectively protecting basic rights of citizens living in democratic societies, to suchextend that one may argue that the notion of a democratic and developed nation maynot realize without independent and efficient Ombudsman in place. Indeed, bystriking a balance between the interests of the people and the government to whichthey are nationals, Ombudsman function as powerful mean laying down thenecessary foundation for realization of a favorable democracy. Accordingly, giventheir superb functionality and potentials, Ombudsmen may well serve the vitalpurpose of developing and institutionalizing a democracy by reinforcing itsfundamental principles and satisfactory addressing of citizens grievances or petitionswhich may arise as a result of government wrongdoing.Adopting a question-oriented approach and through a descriptive-analytic method, thispaper attempts to examine the relationship between democracy and Ombudsman as anon-judicial supervisory establishment; and respond to the questions of how and bywhat means may it globally contribute to development of democracy.
