Friday, March 14, 2014
Diplomat (Omni Shoreham)
The crisis of the Eurozone has epitomized a twofold failure of financial markets and of democratic states, both always less able to restrict public overspending, on the one hand, and to boost economic convergence and sustainable growth, on the other. Exposed as they are to global competitiveness and financial risks, can states steer clear of mutations towards post-democracy, counter-democracy or even democratic self-destruction? How can national democracy possibly restore citizens’ trust in their representatives and the (regional and international) contracts these enter with external others? I propose rethinking “democratic governance” in the context of EMU as a conceptual and normative framework for bringing citizens and civil society back in, along three dimensions: First, conceptually, the democratic state is framed as a “dual track” blend of majoritarian governments that are balanced by non-majoritarian institutions, including impartial agencies (ECB, courts) as well as organisations more proximate to the plurality of citizens’ values and identities, including those of external “demoi”: transnational civil society. Then, as regards justifications for “demoicratic governance" beyond the state, social accountability is foregrounded as a precondition of effective problem-solving and reflexive learning from failures under conditions of global uncertainties and high risks. Finally, institutional innovations for bringing citizens and civil society into democratic governance are explored as to their potentials for reducing the gaps between high-speed global economic and slow political and societal decision-making, possibly in democratically legitimate and viable ways.
