Epilogue: toward More Legitimate Multilevel Regulation

Abstract

International regulations are central to the multilevel interdependence often referred to as Globalisation, Europeanization and the like. This chapter surveys the wide ranging discussions on the deficits of the European Union (EU) in order to extrapolate some insights about multilevel governance (MLG). It lays out a particular conception of the contested concept of legitimacy that allows a distinction between a) whether an arrangement is democratic and b) whether it is normatively legitimate. The chapter points to certain areas where multilevel regulation might be modified or supplemented to enhance trust, trustworthiness and hence legitimacy, using the EU as an example. It briefly discusses two forms of multilevel regulation: democratic hierarchical arrangements, and modes of MLG, in the forms of networks, to elaborate the challenges of trustworthiness that each of these face. Keywords:democratic accountability; European Union (EU); deficit; multilevel regulation