essay on democracy
ROUGH OUTLINE FOR A PAPER. COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.
Powers behind control: An essay on democracy
Peter L. Hupe
Department of Public Administration
Erasmus University Rotterdam hupe@fsw.eur.nl To be presented at the Annual Work Conference of the
Netherlands Institute of Government, held at Erasmus University Rotterdam, October 29, 2004
Workshop 3: Institutional Rearrangement of the Public Domain
1
Abstract
In contemporary Western democracies the role of government is not what it used to be. In the public discourse some authors claim to observe a ‘relocation of politics’, while others speak of a ‘democratic deficit’ in general. In this essay the relationship between democracy and governance is explored on a macro-level. The argument is that performance in the public domain and the decisions underlying it no longer in a direct way can be traced down to expressions of societal demands. This is because both the relationships between society and democracy and between politics and performance have become looser. In particular, the hierarchical relation between democracy and government has been replaced by a more horizontal pairing of democracy and governance. As the latter has multiple dimensions, entailing a range of activities performed at various spots by a variety of actors, it appears that democracy, as well, cannot appropriately get substance and form in a singular way anymore.
Enhancing the visibility of who is involved in the processes leading to public decisions, combined with enlarging possibilities for accountability, ‘multilocalisation’ provides a conceptual perspective for rethinking contemporary democracy. 2
1. Introduction
There once was a time in which the representative organs of democracy were seen as firmly anchored in society. In and around these organs, politics functioned as the intermediary process between society and government. The realisation of the collective goals agreed upon was taken care of by
Powers behind control: An essay on democracy
Peter L. Hupe
Department of Public Administration
Erasmus University Rotterdam hupe@fsw.eur.nl To be presented at the Annual Work Conference of the
Netherlands Institute of Government, held at Erasmus University Rotterdam, October 29, 2004
Workshop 3: Institutional Rearrangement of the Public Domain
1
Abstract
In contemporary Western democracies the role of government is not what it used to be. In the public discourse some authors claim to observe a ‘relocation of politics’, while others speak of a ‘democratic deficit’ in general. In this essay the relationship between democracy and governance is explored on a macro-level. The argument is that performance in the public domain and the decisions underlying it no longer in a direct way can be traced down to expressions of societal demands. This is because both the relationships between society and democracy and between politics and performance have become looser. In particular, the hierarchical relation between democracy and government has been replaced by a more horizontal pairing of democracy and governance. As the latter has multiple dimensions, entailing a range of activities performed at various spots by a variety of actors, it appears that democracy, as well, cannot appropriately get substance and form in a singular way anymore.
Enhancing the visibility of who is involved in the processes leading to public decisions, combined with enlarging possibilities for accountability, ‘multilocalisation’ provides a conceptual perspective for rethinking contemporary democracy. 2
1. Introduction
There once was a time in which the representative organs of democracy were seen as firmly anchored in society. In and around these organs, politics functioned as the intermediary process between society and government. The realisation of the collective goals agreed upon was taken care of by
References: Bauman, Z. (1998), Globalization, Columbia University Press, New York. Boorstin, D. (1962), The Image. Boutellier, H. (2002), De Veiligheidsutopie. Hedendaags onbehagen en verlangen rond misdaad en straf, Boom Juridische Uitgevers , The Hague. Stichting, Amsterdam, 1995. Bovens, M.A.P. and K. Yesilkagit (2004) Brooks, D Castells, M. (1998) The Information Age: Economy, society and culture, vols I/III, Blackwell, Oxford. Creveld, M. (1996) The fate of the state. Fortuin, A., Shoppend door het leven, in: NRC Handelsblad, March 24, 2000. Frederickson, H.G. and K.B. Smith (2003), The Public Administration Primer, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. Frissen, P.H.A., (1996) De virtuele staat. Politiek, bestuur, technologie: Een postmodern verhaal, Academic Service, Schoonhoven. Frissen, P.H.A., (1999a) Politics, governance, and technology: A postmodern narrative on the virtual state, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, etc. Frissen, P.H.A. (1999b) De lege staat, Uitgeverij Nieuwezijds, Amsterdam. Fukuyama, F. (1992), The end of history and the last man, The Free Press, New York, etc. Gitlin, T. (2002), Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms our lives, Henry Holt and Company, New York. Guehenno, J.M. (1993), La fin de la democratie, Editions Flammarion, Paris. Held, D. (2002), Models of democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, second edition. Hill, M.J. and P.L. Hupe (2002), Implementing public policy: Governance in theory and practice, Sage Publications, London, etc. Jong, P.O. de and M. Herweijer (2004), PM in: Beleidswetenschap. Kiser, L.L. and E. Ostrom (1982), The three worlds of action: A metatheoretical synthesis of institutional approaches, in: E Kohnstamm-Report (2004), Working group Verzelfstandigde organisaties op rijksniveau, Een herkenbare staat: Investeren in de overheid, The Hague. McLuhan, M. (1962) The medium is the message. Meer J. and M. Ham (2001), De verplaatsing van de democratie, De Balie, Amsterdam. Naisbitt, J. and P. Aburdene (1990), Megatrends 2000: Ten new directions for the 1990s, William Morrow and Co., Inc., New York. O’Brien (1992) The end of geography. Ohmae, (1995) The end of the nation state: the rise of regional economies. O’Toole, L.J., Jr (2000) Research on policy implementation: Assessment and prospects, in: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10 (2), pp Rosecrance, (1996) The rise of the virtual state. Schendelen, M.C.P.M. (2004), Stop de mythes over Brusselse invloed op wetten, in: NRC Handelsblad, October 21. Vanheste, J. (2004), De Googlificatie van het onderwijs leidt tot de Googlificatie van de kennis, in: NRC Handelsblad, October 16. Velden, I. Van der (2004), 15 – 19 Wat wil de copy-paste generatie? In: VPRO-Gids, nr 35. Weiss, L. (1998), The myth of the powerless state, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. Wilson, W. (1941), The study of Public Adminsitration, in: Political Science Quarterly 56 (December), pp Wolf, M.J. (1999), The entertainment economy: How mega-media forces are transforming our lives, Three Rivers Press, New York.