Abstract
AbstractDespite that independent agencies are typically justified in terms of technical efficiency, they inevitably have to make political judgments. How can political reasoning be legitimate in such institutions? This paper starts by investigating the merits of two prominent models. The “avoidance model” asks agency reasoning to stick to empirical facts and as far as possible stay clear of political values. By contrast, the “specification model” recognizes the need for constructive normative work, but confines it to the refinement of given statutes. This paper challenges both models and defends a third alternative. The “public reason model” requires agencies to ground their value judgments in a publicly accessible framework of reasoning, which is here interpreted as their overarching mandate. The paper argues that agency mandates should be conceived as distinct domains of reasoning, and it delineates three institutional virtues that enable agencies to track this domain.
Highlights
Independent agencies are paradigm institutions of expert authority; the basis of their public power is founded on appeals to technical competence rather than on direct democratic responsiveness
What should public-oriented expert agencies strive to achieve in their interpretation of political values? That is, how can expert agencies be political in the right way?
On the face of it, the idea of agencies engaging with political values has the smack of illegitimacy
Summary
Independent agencies are paradigm institutions of expert authority; the basis of their public power is founded on appeals to technical competence rather than on direct democratic responsiveness. This paper seeks a model that captures the conditions of normative or political reasoning in independent agencies. What should public-oriented expert agencies strive to achieve in their interpretation of political values? Stability, and fairness are shaped by risk assessments and cost–benefit analyses conducted by agencies. Such analyses are not governed by mechanical procedures; they involve interpretive decisions on what should matter to the public
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