Democratic accountability, political order, and change : exploring accountability processes in an era of European transformation PDF
Preview Democratic accountability, political order, and change : exploring accountability processes in an era of European transformation
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi Democratic Accountability, Political Order, and Change OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi Democratic Accountability, Political Order, and Change Exploring Accountability Processes in an Era of European Transformation Johan P. Olsen 1 OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©JohanP.Olsen2017 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2017 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016954544 ISBN 978–0–19–880060–6 PrintedinGreatBritainby ClaysLtd,StIvesplc LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi ForJamesG.March agreatfriend,teacher,colleague,andco-author throughouthalfacentury OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi Preface and Acknowledgments Accountabilityregimesarecrucialforthelegitimacyofapolityandthisbook examines democratic accountability as a mechanism by which citizens are supposed to influence and control their elected representatives, non-elected officials,andotherpowerholders.Moreprecisely,Ifocusontheinterrelations between democratic accountability, political order, and orderly change, that is,howdemocraticaccountabilityprocessesareaffectedbyandaffectpolitical association and the social basis of political order, political organization and theinstitutionalbasisoforder,andpoliticalagencyandthebehavioralbasis oforder. Iseethegrowingnumberofaccountabilitydemandsincontemporaryrepre- sentative democracies as part of a legitimacy crisis, a loss of confidence in institutionsandleaders,andastruggleoverthetermsofpoliticalorder.Ihold thataccountabilitytheoryisonlylikelytobeusefulformakingsenseofthose accountability processes if there is a re-examination and reassessment of the possibilities and limitations of the key ideas and assumptions of mainstream rationalchoice,principal–agentapproachestodemocraticaccountability. Aspiring to make a modest contribution to such a development I offer an institutional approach that assumes that political orders can be more or less settled. Accountability processes can be order transforming as well as order maintaining.Eventsarenotnecessarilyaproductofthedeliberatechoicesof identifiable actors, it is not always easy to conclude who is responsible and should be held to account, and rational adaptation based on experiential learning is not guaranteed. Representative democracies struggle to reconcile a culture assuming human control and accountable actors with the observa- tionthatitisnotoriouslydifficulttoidentifyobjectivelywhoisresponsiblefor specificeventsinapoliticalworldofinterdependency,interaction,andcom- promises. A possible consequence of this tension is that political talk and political action are separated and inconsistent, sometimes creating demands forreducingthegapbetweentalkandactionandsometimesnot.Massmobil- izationrelatedtothetermsofpoliticalorderisrareandtakesplaceonlyunder specificconditions,ratherthanbeingcommonplace. Based upon these assumptions I argue that we can learn two things from accountability processes, especially in an era of major changes in terms of OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi PrefaceandAcknowledgments political order. First, our understanding of the interrelationship between accountability,politicalorder,andorderlychangecanbeimproved.Second, I claim that accountability processes can teach us something about political life in general. New insight invites reconsideration of standard understand- ingsandthevocabularyofdemocraticorganizationandgovernance,includ- ing what terms such as accountability, democracy, politics, the sovereign state, and constitutional choice come to mean and imply under different andshiftingcircumstances. Thisbook,then,canbereadinrelationtotwodifferentaimsandtimeand spaceframes.Thefirst,reflectedinthesubtitleofthebook,istoshedlighton thepoliticsofaccountabilityinaspecificeraofEuropeaninstitutionaltrans- formation. The second isto explore what studies of accountability processes cantellusmoregenerallyaboutpoliticalorderandorderlychange,andhow they bring up enduring and foundational democratic challenges: how and why humans constitute themselves in political communities; how peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and conflict resolution can be secured among people with competing conceptions of good society and good governance; howsharedpurposes,trust,solidarity,deservedlegitimacy,andallegiancefor the political order can be built and maintained; how different institutional arrangementscontributetodemocraticpoliticsasawaytoruledividedsoci- etieswithoutundueviolenceoreliminationofdiversity,individualfreedom, andinfluence;andhowaheterogeneousandpluralisticsocietycanbetrans- formed into a viable political community constituted on principles and rulesthathavenormativevalidityinthemselves,beyondtheirspecificpolicy outcomes. Although this book is centered on Europe, worries about the health of representative democracy and its key institutions and leadership are not limited to Europe. For instance, the US Social Science Research Council’s program “Anxieties of Democracy,” launched in June 2015, is motivated by aconcernaboutwhetherthecoreinstitutionsofestablisheddemocraciesthat connect citizens and civil society to the political system—elections, mass media,politicalparties,interestgroups,socialmovements,andlegislatures— can capably address large problems in the public interest (<http:/www.ssrc. org/programs/view/anxieties-of-democracy/>). And, of course, the need to rethink and reassess the actual organization, working, and change of formal legalinstitutionalarrangementslabeled“democracy”isevengreaterinother partsoftheworld. This is my third book with Oxford University Press in the last decade and therearebothcontinuitiesandchangesbetweenthebooks.Allofthemstart out from an organization theory-based institutional perspective on political organizationandorganizing.TheytrytomakesenseoftheEuropeanUnionas a grand-scale experiment in political organization, while also aiming to viii OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,24/1/2017,SPi PrefaceandAcknowledgments explore some general theoretical and conceptual issues in an empirically informedwayonthebasisoflessonsfromtheEuropeanUnionasanunsettled anddynamicpolity. Thefirstbook,EuropeinSearchofPoliticalOrder(2007),providedadiscussion ofhowdemocraticpolitiestrytocopewithavarietyoftensionsthatdonot haveanyuniversallyacceptedandenduringsolutions,yethavethepotential to change the political organization of Europe. These include tensions between unity and diversity, citizens and their helpers, democratic design andhistoricaldrift,andbetweendifferenttypesofcoexistingpoliticalorders. Inthesecondbook,GoverningthroughInstitutionBuilding(2010),Iarguedthat if the future of democracies depends on the quality of their political institu- tions,improvedunderstandingofhowinstitutionsofgovernmentareorgan- ized,work,andchangemaybeachievedbystudyinglarge-scaleinstitutional designsandreforms.Thisthirdbookbuildsonthetwoothers,buthereIgive prioritytounderstandingtheinteractionbetweendemocraticaccountability, politicalorder,andorderlychange. Amajordifferencebetweenthetwofirstbooksandthisoneisrelatedtothe changingpoliticalclimateintheWesternworld.Thevisionofliberalconsti- tutionaldemocracyandacapitalistmarketeconomyastheendofhistoryhas been replaced by disillusion with representative democracy and pessimism aboutthefuture.Overthelastdecade,publicopinioninEuropehas,duetoa variety of crises, changed from fairly widespread optimism about the Euro- pean project to an atmosphere characterized by indifference, or discontent andprotest.Ashasoftenbeenthecase,therehasbeennolackofbigwordsto describetheproblemsfacingtheEuropeanUnion.Thereisperceiveddisinte- gration, a systemic crisis of confidence in political institutions and leaders, renewednationalism,increasingsocioeconomicinequality,growingpolariza- tion,andextremism.Thereishatespeech,violence,half-truths,andliesrather than honest and fair debate. Most recently, the Brexit referendum has been interpretedasaturningpointinthehistoryofEuropeanintegrationandeven inthehistoryofWesterndemocracy. Whilethereisfairlybroadagreementthatsomethinghasgonewronginthe union, opinions differ as to where the problems are located, what caused them,andhowtheycanbemended.MostEuropeansreportthattheybelieve in “democracy,” but they disagree about what the term means and implies andthereislimitedtrustintheinstitutionsandleadersofpolitiesthataspire todemocraticlegitimacy.Forexample,forsomeBrexitrepresentsaverdicton the elites both in Brussels and Westminster. Leaders are divorced from the everydaylifeofordinarypeopleandinparticularfromthesituationofpeople struggling with unemployment, poverty, and insecurity. It is dangerous to continue to ignore or explain away their discontent, anger, distrust, and protests.Thevisionofanevercloserunionhastobeburied.Forothers,Brexit ix
Description:The list of books you might like
