Democratic Legitimacy Research Articles

The Euro’s Taxing Path to Political Legitimacy

ABSTRACT In Europe’s Crisis of Legitimacy: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone, Vivien Schmidt authoritatively charts how the European Union weathered the crisis of its single currency in the 2010s, gradually moving from fiscal austerity and structural reform to a more systemic solution and flexible interpretation of the euro’s governing rules. Using a discursive institutionalist approach in combination with a “systems theory” understanding of democratic decision making, Schmidt persuasively argues that we need to look at the euro problem as a fundamentally political problem that lacked democratic legitimacy as long as technocrats were in charge of policy solutions. Schmidt argues that the euro crisis needs to be broached from the point of view of the E.U.’s split-level legitimacy as well as the growing politicization of E.U. governance in an era of increasing populism and rising Euroskepticism. Schmidt’s application of discursive institutionalism allows readers to judge for themselves whose and which ideas mattered, why and in what way they were implemented, and how they gradually evolved over time.

Foreign Influence and the Legitimacy of Constitution Building in South Sudan

AbstractMany countries write their constitutions with some form of international involvement. Internationalized constitutional assistance has been made easier by technology as well as trade and political exigencies. The question, therefore, is: How does this inevitable foreign influence impact constitutional legitimacy? This article discusses this question and asserts that foreign influence interacts with three approaches of constitutional design to shape constitutional legitimacy: (a) popular participation, (b) elites’ contracts, and (c) transnational constitutional implants. Such a transactional relationship is referred to as the “three-stone legitimacy theory”, which implicates both the internal and the external legitimacy of a constitution. The former means citizens’ acceptance that a constitution meets their aspirations, while the latter refers to the international community's satisfaction with the resulting constitution as guaranteeing the universal democratic ethos. The article ends with a proposition conceptualized as a “blueprint” for a democratic constitutional legitimacy in South Sudan.

The democratic legitimacy of the European Union and its laws: theoretical challenges and practical examples

This article discusses the issue of the democratic deficit and the legitimacy of European Union institutions, and, consequently, of the law they create. The text reflects on the EU as a special type of international organization and its related problem of legitimacy. Theoretical issues of the democratic deficit and legitimacy are discussed, enriched with a comparative presentation of the views of two outstanding intellectuals, one from each side of the Atlantic. The following part of the article presents practical attempts to respond to the problem of the democratic deficit and the legitimacy of the EU, undertaken both in the European Parliament and by European institutions and member states, in the form of the recently completed Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).

The birth of modern Norwegian police law


 
 
 In the article ‘Norwegian police law, crime prevention and its (need for more) democratic legitimacy’ John Reidar Nilsen argues that Norwegian police law has lacked democratic legitimacy, and in some respects still does. According to Nilsen the patriarchal form of police law in the Danish-Norwegian absolute monarchy continued to make its mark on police law in the Norwegian constitutional state, resulting in a lack of democratic legitimacy. Although questions concerning the democratic legitimacy and legality of police law should be discussed, and Nilsen on several points makes interesting contributions to such a discussion, his historical narrative does not give an accurate description of the features of police law in the transition from autocracy to the Norwegian constitutional state. Police law and the legal understanding of it changed throughout the autocracy and from the latter part of the 18th century, it was shaped in line with new European ideas about state, popular government, and legal order. Instead of seeing the first understanding of police law in the Norwegian constitutional state as a legacy from the autocracy, it should rather be seen as the birth of modern Norwegian police law.
 
 

Bureaucratic overburdening in advanced democracies

AbstractConstant policy growth can overburden bureaucracies if implementation capacities are not expanded in lockstep with policy production. This development may undermine policy effectiveness and hence the long‐term legitimacy of democracies. This article provides a systematic analysis of this phenomenon. We demonstrate that (i) overburdening is a general trend in advanced democracies; (ii) the extent of overburdening varies by the institutional context in which policy makers operate; and that, in consequence, (iii) countries' bureaucracies differ in their distance (or closeness) to the “tipping point” after which additional policies do more harm than good. We provide information on the ratio between the policies up for implementation and the bureaucratic capacities available for 21 OECD countries over a period of 45 years (1976–2020), focusing on the areas of environmental and social policy as two major areas of governmental intervention. Bayesian analyses and background interviews serve to illuminate the reasons for and consequences of overburdened bureaucracies.

방송통신위원회의 독립성과 중립성에 관한 연구

The Korea Communications Commission was established to deal with new problems occurring in the face of changes in the media environment, specifically the blending of broadcasting and communications, and it can be considered an independent administrative agency. Such organizations characteristically have an autonomous aspect that is distinguishable from the hierarchy of traditional administrative organizations due to the professionalism and the neutrality that is expected in the execution of their respective fields, though the specific forms may not all be the same considering they may be shaped by the historical experience of individual countries in order to meet realistic needs. Regarding policies related to broadcasting and communications, the establishment and operation of the Korea Communications Commission is significant in terms of the guarantee of constitutional freedom of speech and the press. The Korea Communications Commission is expected to perform an autonomous function in its particular business area, but with the establishment of a relationship with the existing administrative system, it will take more than simply emphasizing that independent characteristic to achieve the best results. Although one aspect of this independent characteristic is to keep an already powerful government in check, realizing functional harmony with the government’s organizational system should also be considered given that the smooth execution of the institution’s original duties is also the main purpose of its establishment. The Commission must implement specific measures to strengthen professionalism to enhance its independence and neutrality, along with securing the democratic legitimacy of its institutional composition.

Granting legitimacy from non‐state actor deliberation: An example of women's groups at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

AbstractNon‐state actors (NSAs) have been widely recognized as important participants in the global climate regime. Their participation is considered to have the potential to enhance the democratic legitimacy of global governance institutions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What is the mechanism through which NSAs grant legitimacy to the institution? This study connects NSA legitimation with their deliberation at multilateral venues. I argue that, while NSAs do not have formal voting or decision‐making power, evaluating their participation in deliberation activities, such as the Side Events at the annual Conference of Parties, can shed light on our understanding of whether there is equality in their participation and who gets to contribute to the institutional legitimacy of the UNFCCC. Drawing on the example of women's groups at the UNFCCC, I demonstrate their increasing participation in deliberation. Quantitative analysis and interviews suggest that their participation is relatively inclusive with a diverse range of actors and viewpoints. Although Global Northern NSAs enjoy some advantages in participation, the effect is balanced by NSAs' social embeddedness, especially for the Southern groups, and the robust collaborations between the North and South. These features are likely to enhance the legitimacy of UNFCCC. Future research should consider how to understand and assess legitimacy in global governance regimes and who may be left out in the legitimation process.

Reaping the fruits of co-creation through design experiments

Co-creation has received a growing attention in the public sector as a tool for mobilizing resources, spurring public innovation, and enhancing democratic legitimacy. Reaping the fruits of co-creation largely depends on the attempts made by local leaders to facilitate effective collaboration, overcome emerging problems and obstacles, and cope with the emerging dilemmas and paradoxes. There is limited knowledge about how this is done in practice. Hence, public administration researchers must team up with local leaders of co-creation to jointly test different ways of improving the processes and results of co-creation processes. This endeavour calls for an interactive research strategy where researchers and practitioners work together to conduct design experiments aimed at improving the design of a process by iteratively diagnosing problems and obstacles that prevent goal achievement, seeking to remove the hindrances through targeted interventions, and finally measuring the impact of the interventions vis-à-vis the stated goals. This article serves the dual purpose of producing new context-dependent insights into how leaders of co-creation can tackle emerging problems and obstacles and evaluating the use of design experiments in the field of public administration. It analyses and compares six design experiments conducted in relation to local cases of co-creation that are studied using mixed methods. The main finding is that: (1) the problems emerging in co-creation processes are for the most part manageable; (2) the leadership interventions are relatively undemanding; and (3) the positive impact of most of the interventions finds support in the extant research literature.

Zasada zabudowy planowej jako środek służący realizacji celów państwa autorytarnego na podstawie przepisów ustawy z dnia 12 lipca 1984 roku o planowaniu przestrzennym

The principle of planned spatial development was common in the socialist period. It was both a tool to protect the economic interests of the state, and a legal instrument of the authoritarian state at the time. Its scope and application was general, and as such it resulted a disproportionate restriction of the individual’s ownership rights, far exceeding the needs of public interest. The institutions that applied it, i.e. the state administration authorities, had no democratic legitimacy. The principle of planned spatial development has not connotations with any type of political system, by its very nature. It might as well function as a legal measure in democratic states. In Poland it is currently applied in specific cases. The Swiss legal order assumes general application of this principle by public administration authorities, who have democratic legitimacy.

Ownership of national recovery plans: next generation EU and democratic legitimacy

ABSTRACT The European Union established the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to address the socio-economic impact of Covid-19. The RRF promotes domestic ownership through increased engagement of national authorities with stakeholders. However, empirical manifestations of ownership remain unclear. This study refines the concept of ‘ownership’ and analyses the engagement of social actors in the formulation of National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) in Croatia, the Netherlands and Sweden. The findings indicate that all three countries exhibit limited procedural ownership, while the extent of substantive ownership varies based on pre-existing conditions. Interestingly, higher financial allocation can hinder the ownership of social actors, although low allocations do not necessarily facilitate their involvement. Time pressures and divergent time horizons between EU and national politics further undermine domestic ownership. While the centralised preparation of NRRPs has led to the concentration of ownership primarily in the hands of governments, poor governance of NRRPs could erode legitimacy.

Report on Abusive Judicial Review of Electoral Matters

It is commonplace to state that the borderline courts are the last obstacle in the defense of fundamental rights, the rule of law, the division of powers, and hence, of constitutional democracy. Nevertheless, there are judgments of last resort which are very illustrative examples of argumentative practices used to conceal decisions that may be systematically politicized, and therefore can be detrimental to fundamental electoral rights, to the certainty and legality of electoral acts and resolutions, as well as to the holding of free, authentic, and periodical elections. The practice of using the democratic legitimacy of the judicial function to intentionally undermine the core of democracy is barely theorized. However, it is highly possible that in the future these types of attack will be part of the authoritarian tools used by groups of an anti-democratic nature. That is to say, the circumstance that the courts and not the political actors are the ones that implement undemocratic measures with the advantage of the difficulty for its identification, given the traditional role assigned to the judiciary in the democratic constitutional state of law, makes it essential to review the use of the weighting of the argumentative representation. This, in order to prevent democracy from being damaged by constitutional interpretation and to avoid the tolerance for the absence of a minimum social consensus on the arguments that it intends to sustain with re-lative temporary stability. Even more so, when it comes to those who make up the constitutional jurisdiction specialized in elections and democracy. In Mexico, the Superior Court of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) is the highest electoral court. This body has issued controversial and transcendent decisions for electoral democracy which can be subject to critical legal analysis as an input for legislative activity. This is particularly related to issues concerning citizen participation such as the revocation of mandate and the imposition of sanctions due to its diffusion by public servants, as well as cases of gender-based political violence (VPG, by its acronym in Spanish) and the deprivation of an honest way of living (MHV, by its acronym in Spanish) as a sanction. Another topic worth considering is the rulings on the modification or defective abandonment of the jurisprudence in matters such as the assumption of competence over parliamentary acts in the integration of the administrative or government bodies by the Congress of the Union, and the messages of the legislators, which are not protected by the principle of parliamentary immunity, as has been established.

Separation of powers in a globalized democratic society: Theorizing the human rights treaty organs’ interactions with various state organs

Abstract As part of their continuous effort to enhance the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of human rights treaties, human rights treaty organs have increasingly fostered a direct relationship with various state organs, thereby penetrating the ‘states’ that traditionally have been treated as monolithic legal entities. Treaty organs review the decision-making process of each type of state organ – courts, parliaments and administrative organs – and make remedial orders that are substantially addressed to specific state organs. Such phenomena go hand in hand with the relativization of the distinction between the legal spheres in which human rights treaty organs and state organs operate. This is the first study to address such phenomena as a totality. It constructs the ‘separation of powers in a globalized democratic society’ theory, thereby proposing how each type of state organ and the treaty organs should interact under human rights treaties. Its findings contribute, first, to the harmonious achievement of the effectiveness and democratic legitimacy of human rights treaties; second, to the reform of the classical paradigm of international law, in which monolithic states are the only relevant legal entities; and third, to the long-standing debates on the relationship between international and national laws from a new angle.

International human rights law, devolution and democratic legitimacy: the case study of abortion reform in Northern Ireland

This article uses the case study of abortion law reform to critically assess what is required to secure democratic legitimacy in complying with international human rights law (IHRL) obligations. The case study exposes the inadequacy of the devolution arrangement. The article critiques the methodology through which the views, interests and priorities of the two systems are upheld and protected: a mere bifurcation of competence over law and decision-making. The devolution framework frames democratic legitimacy as requiring the representation of interests of only two governance systems to be balanced – the devolved people of Northern Ireland versus the collective interests of the United Kingdom (UK). Other systems of people with separate interests should be identified and represented. The article assesses the role and challenges that IHRL presents in securing democratic legitimacy. On the one hand, it feeds into an iterative process of ensuring that the voices of those most affected by the law at issue are at the forefront of the law-making process – it facilitates their engagement with the state apparatus. On the other hand, the incorporation of IHRL must be consistent with the aims of the devolution framework: to balance the democratic will of the people of Northern Ireland and the collective will of the UK. If we work from the premise that IHRL is democracy-enhancing in itself, then we need to prioritise inclusive processes for deciding the content of those norms and ensuring they are practically implemented. Devolution politics should not form a barrier to this overall goal.

The Aging Democracy: Demographic Effects, Political Legitimacy, and the Quest for Generational Pluralism

The political implications of population aging for democratic systems are fundamental. Questions of democratic legitimacy are raised as the political equilibrium between the generations is upended. Drawing on evidence from liberal democracies with a focus on Japan, the democracy with the oldest electorate, we identify and analyze three demographic effects on the political system: participation effects deriving from younger voters’ marginalization among the electorate; representation effects demonstrated by the dominance of elderly lawmakers inside the parliament and government; and policy effects manifesting in a preference for policies catering to an aging majority. By breaking down these key effects and contextualizing them in broader debates of political demography, we call attention to the normative repercussions of the interplay between demography and democracy and make a case for enhanced generational pluralism.

Megalopolis bound?

Abstract Since ancient Greece’s “megalopolis,” the concept of vast cities has loomed in the urban discourse. A century ago, English planner Patrick Geddes warned about a growing imbalance between traditional society and ever-larger conurbations, an anxiety that Lewis Mumford later invoked to predict that urban hubris would inevitably collapse of its own weight. In 1961, by contrast, the geographer Jean Gottman surveyed the interconnected agglomeration stretching from Washington, D.C. up the east coast of the United States to the cities of southern New England, and more optimistically highlighted this new urban form’s governance potential. Today, the question is not whether urbanism will arrive at the scale that so concerned Geddes and Mumford yet engaged Gottman—it already has. Commentators and scholars increasingly recognize that vast polycentric urban regions are displacing cities and metropolitan areas as the locus of modern growth and development. Eleven distinct urban-centered megaregions, for example, concentrate the bulk of the population and economic activity in the United States, and similar clusters are coalescing globally, from Greater Tokyo, Beijing, and the Pearl River Delta, to the arc from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, to the European urban spine running from London to Milan. Grappling with the phenomenon’s legal-institutional dimensions—whether and how to formalize governance to match this scale—requires more than transposing the descriptive and normative discourse on metropolitanism. Crosscurrents around fragmentation, efficiency, inequality, and democratic legitimacy refract, but there are distinct arguments for fostering governance—and equally particular concerns to anticipate—with the rise of the megalopolis.

Explaining Partisan Gaps in Satisfaction with Democracy after Contentious Elections: Evidence from a US 2020 Election Panel Survey

ABSTRACTWhat effects do contentious elections have on partisan appraisals of democracy? We consider the case of the November 2020 US election, a highly polarized partisan contest but also an objectively free and fair election by credible accounting. We conducted a panel study embedded within two nationally representative surveys before and after the election. Results indicate a familiar but underexamined partisan gap, in which satisfaction with democracy decreases among Republicans and increases among Democrats relative to nonpartisans. We find that the gap is fully mediated by partisan shifts in satisfaction with elections and the news media that cover them. Our results underscore how eroding institutional confidence can undermine democratic legitimacy in hitherto consolidated democracies. To overcome partisan divisions following contentious elections, we highlight the need to bolster confidence in democratic institutions to reduce partisan fears and uncertainties—both rational and irrational—that electoral losses may trigger.

Saving Popular Sovereignty From a Slow Death in the European Union

AbstractThe European Union (EU) faces a pressing challenge with democratic backsliding potentially resulting in an authoritarian member state. EU institutions have sought to safeguard member state democracy. Most normative studies submit that the EU can legitimately intervene based on either current treaties or the theory of militant democracy, but they leave unanswered the fundamental question of the EU's normative political authority. I argue that shared popular sovereignty, which entails Europe's peoples directly authorizing the EU, is the most appropriate principle to theorize the EU's political authority for the foreseeable future. This principle results in a duty for the EU to protect its democratic peoples from backsliding governments and an account of who can legitimately decide on whether backsliding is taking place. A comprehensive normative assessment follows on the democratic legitimacy of various democracy protection measures. My argument bolsters the normative case for EU democracy protection.

Distributive Justice, Political Legitimacy, and Independent Central Banks

The Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 exacerbated two distinct concerns about the independence of central banks: a concern about legitimacy and a concern about economic justice. This paper explores the legitimacy of independent central banks from the perspective of these two concerns, by presenting two distinct models of central banking and their different claims to political legitimacy and distributive justice. I argue primarily that we should avoid construing central bank independence in binary terms, such that central banks either are, or are not, independent. I will argue that we should instead construe central bank independence in scalar terms, so that independence admits of degree, thus allowing us to develop an account of independence in which central banks can retain it to the extent necessary for economic efficiency, while meeting reasonable concerns regarding democratic legitimacy and economic justice.

Political Parties and Loser’s Consent in American Politics

Social science has established that political parties have been indispensable to American democracy and their most active members as keepers of the democratic flame. The aftermath of the 2020 presidential election raised questions about the role of the parties in protecting democracy, particularly the fundamental democratic norm of “loser’s consent.” We argue that recent political developments—close elections, ideological polarization, participatory party nominations, and changes in campaign finance and media—have worked to undermine the parties’ commitment to loser’s consent. We use recent survey data to show that party activists no longer demonstrate greater commitment than do ordinary citizens to democratic norms—especially to loser’s consent. We also examine how parties and voters responded to the post-2020 crisis of democratic legitimacy, finding that both parties prioritized their political interests over democratic health. However, a small number of voters did deviate from normal partisanship and helped to shore up American democracy in the 2022 elections.

Political Administration VS Political Competition Under Neo-Authoritarian Rule

The article discusses the replacement of political competition with political administration in order to maintain the power of the ruling political actors and ensure the tenure of the ruling regime under neo-authoritarian rule in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The administration of all key arenas of the political sphere is implemented through special political technologies and informal practices of political corruption. A pseudo-multiparty system with a dominating ruling party is being constructed in the party-political arena. In the media arena, the most influential mass media are being “nationalized”. In the arena of personnel, through political nepotism, adherents of the ruling regime are placed in key political and administrative positions of public power. In the electoral arena, the institution of elections is transformed into a procedure for the formation of public authorities by manipulating the voting procedures. In the legislative arena, the ruling party provides political administration of legislative and parliamentary activities in general. In the judicial arena, through the administrative regulation of the judiciary personnel, the judicial system is integrated into a single system of neo-authoritarian rule aimed at providing judicial protection for the ruling regime from the discontent of the citizens and using courts for political purposes. To demonstrate the appearance of democratic legitimacy, all neo-authoritarian regimes imitate the work of the basic institutions of democracy.