Reasoned Administration and Democratic Legitimacy
Reasoned Administration and Democratic Legitimacy

Author: Jerry L. Mashaw

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-09-27

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1108368891

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Reasoned Administration and Democratic Legitimacy: How Administrative Law Supports Democratic Government explores the fundamental bases for the legitimacy of the modern administrative state. While some have argued that modern administrative states are a threat to liberty and at war with democratic governance, Jerry L. Mashaw demonstrates that in fact reasoned administration is more respectful of rights and equal citizenship and truer to democratic values than lawmaking by either courts or legislatures. His account features the law's demand for reason giving and reasonableness as the crucial criterion for the legality of administrative action. In an argument combining history, sociology, political theory and law, this book demonstrates how administrative law's demand for reasoned administration structures administrative decision-making, empowers actors within and outside the government, and supports a complex vision of democratic self-rule.

Democratic Legitimacy
Democratic Legitimacy

Author: Pierre Rosanvallon

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-07-05

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1400838746

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It's a commonplace that citizens in Western democracies are disaffected with their political leaders and traditional democratic institutions. But in Democratic Legitimacy, Pierre Rosanvallon, one of today's leading political thinkers, argues that this crisis of confidence is partly a crisis of understanding. He makes the case that the sources of democratic legitimacy have shifted and multiplied over the past thirty years and that we need to comprehend and make better use of these new sources of legitimacy in order to strengthen our political self-belief and commitment to democracy. Drawing on examples from France and the United States, Rosanvallon notes that there has been a major expansion of independent commissions, NGOs, regulatory authorities, and watchdogs in recent decades. At the same time, constitutional courts have become more willing and able to challenge legislatures. These institutional developments, which serve the democratic values of impartiality and reflexivity, have been accompanied by a new attentiveness to what Rosanvallon calls the value of proximity, as governing structures have sought to find new spaces for minorities, the particular, and the local. To improve our democracies, we need to use these new sources of legitimacy more effectively and we need to incorporate them into our accounts of democratic government. An original contribution to the vigorous international debate about democratic authority and legitimacy, this promises to be one of Rosanvallon's most important books.

The Accountability of Expertise
The Accountability of Expertise

Author: Erik O. Eriksen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-26

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1000409546

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Based on in-depth studies of the relationship between expertise and democracy in Europe, this book presents a new approach to how the un-elected can be made safe for democracy. It addresses the challenge of reconciling modern governments’ need for knowledge with the demand for democratic legitimacy. Knowledge-based decision-making is indispensable to modern democracies. This book establishes a public reason model of legitimacy and clarifies the conditions under which unelected bodies can be deemed legitimate as they are called upon to handle pandemics, financial crises, climate change and migration flows. Expert bodies are seeking neither re-election nor popularity, they can speak truth to power as well as to the citizenry at large. They are unelected, yet they wield power. How could they possibly be legitimate? This book is of key interest to scholars and students of democracy, governance, and more broadly to political and administrative science as well as the Science Technology Studies (STS).

The Best Results Argument for Democracy
The Best Results Argument for Democracy

Author: Nanhee Byrnes

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation examines the foundations of democratic legitimacy. That is, what should be the reason for us to believe that democracy is legitimate? The traditional answer, held from Aristotle to Mill, is that democracy produces the best results. Many modern theorists object to this consequentialist reason for democratic legitimacy. They argue that democracy cannot produce the best outcome. More importantly, according to them, a polity justified consequentially cannot be legitimate. To follow the consequentialist logic, objectors maintain, even slavery should be legitimate if it benefits slaves. Democracy, when justified consequentially, then would be a morally ambiguous polity. To the objectors, democracy is unique since its procedure is fair and this should be the reason for democratic legitimacy. Objectors disagree among themselves how fair procedure founds democratic legitimacy. This dissertation aims to show that all the objectors are wrong. It argues that procedural fairness can legitimatize a morally wrong coin-toss government. When two people are dying, one for the reason of hunger and the other for the reason of boredom, tossing a coin to decide who should be saved is morally wrong. The morally correct procedure must be the one that produces fair outcome. In light of the reason for the good governance, the dissertation argues that the consequentialist government is the most morally justifiable form. Once justified consequentially, the government commands the right to obeisance from its citizens since its distribution of benefits and burdens is the most fair. Thus must true be the statement that consequentialism is the source for legitimacy. The dissertation also shows that the democratic procedure is the most likely to produce the best outcome. Thus follows the conclusion that democracy is the most legitimate for the reason of its outcome. This is the best results argument for democracy.

Democratic Legitimacy
Democratic Legitimacy

Author: Frederick M. Barnard

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780773522770

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Barnard demonstrates that in a democracy accountability is more than damage control and must be part of considerations in the political forum before decisions are made, not just after the fact when trying to assign blame.".

Consent of The Governed
Consent of The Governed

Author: Fouad Sabry

Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable

Published: 2024-09-04

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13:

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In modern governance, "Consent of The Governed" is a cornerstone of democracy and political philosophy. This book explores how governments derive their authority from the people's will, impacting governance, accountability, and political participation. It’s crucial for understanding democratic theory and its practical applications. 1-Consent of the Governed-The foundation of government legitimacy through people's consent. 2-John Locke-Locke’s theories on government and natural rights that shaped democratic thought. 3-Political Philosophy-Insights into political philosophy and its impact on democratic principles. 4-Sovereignty-The concept of sovereignty and its relation to consent in governance. 5-Social Contract-How social contract theory defines the relationship between the governed and rulers. 6-U.S. Constitution-The Constitution as a reflection of consent and democratic governance. 7-Declaration of Independence-The Declaration’s role in articulating consent and self-governance principles. 8-Authority-The nature of political authority and its legitimacy through consent. 9-Natural vs. Legal Rights-Differentiating natural and legal rights within democratic theory. 10-Popular Sovereignty-The concept of popular sovereignty and its modern democratic application. 11-Divine Right vs. Democratic Consent-Evolving notions of political legitimacy. 12-Virginia Declaration of Rights-Its influence on American political thought and consent principles. 13-State of Nature-Implications of the state of nature for consensual governments. 14-Political Legitimacy-Dependence on the consent of the governed. 15-Two Treatises of Government-Locke’s impact on political philosophy and democratic theory. 16-Limited Government-Alignment of limited government with the concept of consent. 17-Compact Theory-Emphasis on voluntary agreements among the governed. 18-Right of Revolution-Its implications for political change in response to breaches of consent. 19-Voluntary Taxation-Role of voluntary taxation in democratic governance. 20-Popular Sovereignty in the U.S.-Manifestation in U.S. political practices and institutions. 21-Philosophy of Human Rights-Connection between human rights philosophy and the principle of consent. This book offers valuable insights into democratic principles and political philosophy, making it a vital addition to any political science library.

The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism
The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism

Author: Ron Levy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-04-19

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1108307795

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Deliberative democratic theory emphasises the importance of informed and reflective discussion and persuasion in political decision-making. The theory has important implications for constitutionalism - and vice versa - as constitutional laws increasingly shape and constrain political decisions. The full range of these implications has not been explored in the political and constitutional literatures to date. This unique Handbook establishes the parameters of the field of deliberative constitutionalism, which bridges deliberative democracy with constitutional theory and practice. Drawing on contributions from world-leading authors, this volume will serve as the international reference point on deliberation as a foundational value in constitutional law, and will be an indispensable resource for scholars, students and practitioners interested in the vital and complex links between democratic deliberation and constitutionalism.

Fabricating the People
Fabricating the People

Author: Thomas J. Catlaw

Publisher: University Alabama Press

Published: 2015-12-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780817358150

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Since the 1960s, hostility and mistrust toward the U.S. government has risen precipitously. At the same time, the field of public administration has wrestled with its own crisis of legitimacy. What is at the root of current antigovernment sentiment? Conventionally, two explanations for this problem persist. Some see it primarily in moral terms, a deficit of Constitutional or democratic values in government. Others emphasize government’s performance failures and managerial inefficiency. Thomas J. Catlaw departs from both explanations in this groundbreaking study and demonstrates that the current crisis of government originates in the uncritical manner in which we have accepted the idea of “the People.” He contends that this unifying, foundational concept—and the notion of political representation it entails—have failed. While illuminating some of our most pressing social and political problems, Catlaw shows how the idea of the People, far from serving to unify, relies in fact on a distinctive logic of exclusion. True political power is the power to determine what constitutes the normal, natural life of the electorate. Today, the exclusionary practices that once made up or fabricated the People are increasingly contested. In turn, government and political power now appear more invasive, less legitimate, and our shared reality appears more fragmented and disconnected. In order to address this crisis and reinvigorate democracy, Catlaw argues, we must accept as bankrupt the premise of the People and the idea of representation itself. Fabricating the People boldly proposes post-representational governance that reframes the practice of modern democracy and reinvents the role of public administration.

The Submerged State
The Submerged State

Author: Suzanne Mettler

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2011-08-31

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0226521664

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“Keep your government hands off my Medicare!” Such comments spotlight a central question animating Suzanne Mettler’s provocative and timely book: why are many Americans unaware of government social benefits and so hostile to them in principle, even though they receive them? The Obama administration has been roundly criticized for its inability to convey how much it has accomplished for ordinary citizens. Mettler argues that this difficulty is not merely a failure of communication; rather it is endemic to the formidable presence of the “submerged state.” In recent decades, federal policymakers have increasingly shunned the outright disbursing of benefits to individuals and families and favored instead less visible and more indirect incentives and subsidies, from tax breaks to payments for services to private companies. These submerged policies, Mettler shows, obscure the role of government and exaggerate that of the market. As a result, citizens are unaware not only of the benefits they receive, but of the massive advantages given to powerful interests, such as insurance companies and the financial industry. Neither do they realize that the policies of the submerged state shower their largest benefits on the most affluent Americans, exacerbating inequality. Mettler analyzes three Obama reforms—student aid, tax relief, and health care—to reveal the submerged state and its consequences, demonstrating how structurally difficult it is to enact policy reforms and even to obtain public recognition for achieving them. She concludes with recommendations for reform to help make hidden policies more visible and governance more comprehensible to all Americans. The sad truth is that many American citizens do not know how major social programs work—or even whether they benefit from them. Suzanne Mettler’s important new book will bring government policies back to the surface and encourage citizens to reclaim their voice in the political process.