The Efficiency and The Democratic Legitimacy of Commission's Policy Networks
(2005)Department of Law
- Abstract
- The objective of the present work is to study the relationship between the European Commission and the so-called ''civil society'' through policy networks. It is considered whether a fair consultation of specialized partners can increase the level of democratic legitimacy and efficiency in the European Union. This hypothesis is considered in the light of the assumption that risk management and risk regulation should be dealt by specialized bodies and partners placed at an arms length from political interference. Policy networks are defined as an interaction form between many individuals and/or organisations. When compared to the other two identified forms of interaction, the contract/market and the hierarchy, networks are an intermediate... (More)
- The objective of the present work is to study the relationship between the European Commission and the so-called ''civil society'' through policy networks. It is considered whether a fair consultation of specialized partners can increase the level of democratic legitimacy and efficiency in the European Union. This hypothesis is considered in the light of the assumption that risk management and risk regulation should be dealt by specialized bodies and partners placed at an arms length from political interference. Policy networks are defined as an interaction form between many individuals and/or organisations. When compared to the other two identified forms of interaction, the contract/market and the hierarchy, networks are an intermediate form, which associates in a structured but loose way independent parties each of which controls part of the resources and skills needed by all to achieve a common objective. With regard to the efficiency part of the work, game theory is used as a substitutive of empirical research to evaluate the efficiency of policy networks. Our findings show that policy networks offer a solution to problems of collective action by enabling non-strategic action based on communication and mutual trust. Communication and trust distinguish policy networks from other forms of non-hierarchical coordination and render them more efficient than those. It is a fairly accepted fact in the literature of policy networks that those organisational structures are more effective than markets and hierarchies, but permanent concerns arise to avoid that efficiency is achieved at the expenses of democratic control. The idea behind networks is that democracy needs to be depoliticized because it is a system for the people and not by the people. In a Union where systems of democratic legitimization by parliamentarian majority have been proven to be inapplicable (where no demos exist, no democracy can exist), policy networks can provide output legitimacy by delivering efficient policies formulated in conjunction with specialized partners. In addition to output legitimacy, policy networks can provide additional channels of influence of the civil society through grass-roots organisations, therefore increasing legitimacy through participation. Legitimacy through participation is important because some decisions are controversial and the technocratic consensus is not sufficient, demanding value driven opinions. Notwithstanding all those advantages, policy networks are not the panacea as some have suggested. Big efforts have to be made to ensure that they remain open and accountable. In addition to this, they are recognizably efficient for some tasks, but not for all of them. When political decisions on disputable matters have to be made, the administration cannot rely on networks and the Community method or the State of Law cannot be superseded. This is why it can be said that networks should and do function in the shadow of the constituted powers and represent no attempt to the Leviathan. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1554962
- author
- Teixeira, Marcos
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2005
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- European Affairs
- language
- English
- id
- 1554962
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:22:47
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:22:47
@misc{1554962,
abstract = {{The objective of the present work is to study the relationship between the European Commission and the so-called ''civil society'' through policy networks. It is considered whether a fair consultation of specialized partners can increase the level of democratic legitimacy and efficiency in the European Union. This hypothesis is considered in the light of the assumption that risk management and risk regulation should be dealt by specialized bodies and partners placed at an arms length from political interference. Policy networks are defined as an interaction form between many individuals and/or organisations. When compared to the other two identified forms of interaction, the contract/market and the hierarchy, networks are an intermediate form, which associates in a structured but loose way independent parties each of which controls part of the resources and skills needed by all to achieve a common objective. With regard to the efficiency part of the work, game theory is used as a substitutive of empirical research to evaluate the efficiency of policy networks. Our findings show that policy networks offer a solution to problems of collective action by enabling non-strategic action based on communication and mutual trust. Communication and trust distinguish policy networks from other forms of non-hierarchical coordination and render them more efficient than those. It is a fairly accepted fact in the literature of policy networks that those organisational structures are more effective than markets and hierarchies, but permanent concerns arise to avoid that efficiency is achieved at the expenses of democratic control. The idea behind networks is that democracy needs to be depoliticized because it is a system for the people and not by the people. In a Union where systems of democratic legitimization by parliamentarian majority have been proven to be inapplicable (where no demos exist, no democracy can exist), policy networks can provide output legitimacy by delivering efficient policies formulated in conjunction with specialized partners. In addition to output legitimacy, policy networks can provide additional channels of influence of the civil society through grass-roots organisations, therefore increasing legitimacy through participation. Legitimacy through participation is important because some decisions are controversial and the technocratic consensus is not sufficient, demanding value driven opinions. Notwithstanding all those advantages, policy networks are not the panacea as some have suggested. Big efforts have to be made to ensure that they remain open and accountable. In addition to this, they are recognizably efficient for some tasks, but not for all of them. When political decisions on disputable matters have to be made, the administration cannot rely on networks and the Community method or the State of Law cannot be superseded. This is why it can be said that networks should and do function in the shadow of the constituted powers and represent no attempt to the Leviathan.}},
author = {{Teixeira, Marcos}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Efficiency and The Democratic Legitimacy of Commission's Policy Networks}},
year = {{2005}},
}