The Democratic Quality of Soft Governance in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy: A Deliberative Deficit

Abstract

The EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) has taken on an Open Method of Coordination (OMC)‐like style. This soft mode of governance entails an interpretation, specification and substantiation of social values and norms. Therefore, the democratic quality of this style of governance needs to be examined. While a shift to an OMC‐like style of policy creation usually implies the retreat of the Community method and thereby a weakening of the European Parliament’s (EP) political power, this style has established counterbalancing institutional arrangements of a democratic nature, such as the involvement of the EP, societal input by stakeholder consultations and transparency. However, a discourse analysis reveals an important deliberative deficit of the EU SDS. This article argues that the OMC‐like style of the EU SDS lacks mechanisms of deliberative control over discourse formation and contestation on the meaning of sustainable development.