Democracy deficit

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The term democratic deficit describes an alleged or actual lack (deficit) of democracy .

General

When states or other organizations are in principle or in practice not as democratic as they could be, the term democratic deficit is used. These organizations then lack democratic legitimacy , at least in part. In many cases, the term “legitimation deficit” or “legitimation deficits” is used.

Not affected by a lack of democracy is among the various legitimation forms the output legitimacy - act of public authority or a legal system can be used without democracy from them subjugated as legitimate are perceived, if it / they them exploited. In this respect, the democratic deficit and the legitimation deficit are not the same. In addition, a legitimation deficit can be seen in terms of outputs rather than a “democratic deficit ”.

However, there is also the opinion advocated by the constitutional lawyer Hermann Heller (1891–1933): “There is no other legitimation for rule than the democratic one.” For example, one finds that no distinction is made between “democratic deficit” and “legitimation deficit”. The legal scholar Utz Schliesky criticized the fact that "democracy, legitimation or legitimacy deficit is often spoken of in an undifferentiated manner, although the same thing is meant."

A lack of transparency often accompanies the democratic deficit .

Concrete

Germany

In the political discussion in the Federal Republic, the term is mainly used by people who want more direct democracy in Germany . This primarily refers to referendums (→ throughput legitimation ), especially at the federal level . The deficit arises from the fact that the political parties exert an ever greater influence on politics and decision-making and the electorate thus loses influence on the shaping of political life. The proposed solution is to introduce elements of direct democracy.

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany regulates in Art. 20 II that “all state authority emanates from the people” and that this is exercised through elections or votes; In fact, due to the lack of direct democratic elements, the German population has relatively few possibilities of direct influence at national level. On the other hand, direct democratic elements are represented at the state and local levels.

It remains controversial whether referendums are actually more “democratic” than the decisions of parliaments (in a representative democracy ). Depending on the answer to this question, the lack of referendums does not have to be a deficit. The introduction of referendums at federal level was supported by the Bundestag in 2002 with votes from the SPD , Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and PDS . However, the CDU / CSU and FDP see no democratic deficit. The request of the left parties therefore did not find the necessary two-thirds majority.

Another point where a suspected democratic deficit is being discussed in Germany is the election of the Federal President . The idea of ​​having the Federal President elected directly by the people is discussed again and again, but was never seriously pursued (also with regard to the experience with the direct election of the Reich President in the Weimar Republic ).

Some unions see a “democratic deficit” in companies and are calling for participation in decision-making to be expanded . Even within political parties and trade unions, there are sometimes arguments about democratic deficits, both historically and currently.

International politics

As a political slogan , the term is used in Europe, for example, to refer to the European Union and its organs (see: Democratic deficit of the European Union ), but it can also apply to other supranational institutions and transnational organizations with great influence and little access for citizens such as the WTO . According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , the corresponding English term democratic deficit is most often used in the context of supranational institutions and in particular the European Union , although any democratic system can be affected .

The Young European Federalists claim to have provided the first evidence in 1977 with the title The Democratic Deficit of the first chapter of their manifesto. It complained about the citizens' lack of influence on decisions - nationally - by and - at the level of the then European Communities - by governments, caused by the "high degree of industrialization of Western European societies" and the political and economic interdependence . The latter conditions made it necessary to transfer sovereignty from individual states to common organizations, and precisely this creates the risk of a democratic deficit in international politics. The national parliaments can not influence / control decisions in the international multi-level system and supranational decision-makers to the same extent as national decisions or governments ( deparliamentarization ). In the composition of the European Parliament - as a “substitute” - the democratic principle of equal elections is restricted in favor of the international law principle of equality of states .

In the case of the WTO, a democratic deficit was also seen in the lack of resources in individual states to participate in decisions.

literature

  • Stefan Berger : Communists, Social Democrats and the Democratic Deficit in the Labor Movement . in: Yearbook for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume II / 2006.
  • Klaus Dingwerth, Michael Blauberger, Christian Schneider: Postnational Democracy. An introduction using the example of the EU, WTO and UNO (=  basic knowledge of politics . Volume 47 ). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-92099-3 (“One of the main goals of our book is therefore to provide an insight into the current political science debate on the subject of the democratic deficit of international organizations.” [ P. 14 in the Google Book Search]).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dietmar Baetge: Globalization of competition law: an international competition order between antitrust and world trade law (=  contributions to foreign and international private law . Volume 90 ). Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149548-9 , p. 491 ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on April 23, 2019]): “The aspect of democratic legitimation deserves special attention. For some time now, opponents of globalization in particular have been increasingly pointing out an alleged democracy and thus legitimation deficit of the WTO . "
  2. ^ Gesine Fuchs: Europeanization of civil society as a bilateral challenge: the Polish women's movement and the European Union . In: Micháele Knodt, Barbara Finke (eds.): European civil society: concepts, actors, strategies . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-8100-4205-6 , p. 343 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed on April 23, 2019]): "Can the democratic deficit and the resulting legitimation deficit of the European Union be alleviated by the increased involvement of civil society actors in the process of European governance?"
  3. ^ Richard Münch : The process of European socialization. (PDF; 151 kB) Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg , October 2000, p. 17 , accessed on April 29, 2019 (= Bamberg Contributions to European Studies and International Politics No. 1/2000): “How can one get under the so interpret the legitimation of EU politics and EU law and, if necessary, redesign them in order to remedy the "legitimation deficit" associated with the so-called democratic deficit? "
  4. ↑ Marcus Höreth : Why United Europe has difficulties with democracy. Preliminary version. In: International Politics and Society Online . tape January 1 , 1998 ( full text ).
  5. ↑ Thomas Holzner: Consensus in General Administrative Law and in Democratic Theory: Investigations into the phenomenology of group-plural consensus management with special consideration of social law as a reference area (=  Jus Publicum . Volume 254 ). Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154330-2 , p. 129, 467, 545 ( snippet view in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ a b c d e Markus Krajewski : Constitutional Economy of GATT / WTO Law . In: Anne van Aaken , Stefanie Schmid-Lübbert (ed.): Contributions to economic theory in public law . Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag , Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 978-3-322-81480-7 , legitimation deficit of GATT / WTO law, p. 20 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed May 5, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Ragnar Müller: How can you teach complex topics such as globalization or European integration? Dissertation at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen . Tübingen 2006, DNB  990052079 , basic problems of EU mediation (excursus) , urn : nbn: de: bsz: 21-opus-35018 : “As long as the populations in the member states were satisfied with the Brussels decisions, or at least not dissatisfied to a certain extent that they questioned integration as long as community policies could be considered legitimate. Nevertheless, the “democratic deficit” persisted. So you have to differentiate between democracy and legitimation deficit, even if both influence each other. "
  8. ↑ Quoted from Marcus Höreth : Why united Europe has difficulties with democracy. Preliminary version. In: International Politics and Society Online . tape 1 , 1998 ( full text ).
  9. ^ Eva Johanna Schweitzer: The use of the Internet in the European election campaign. Results of a content and structure analysis of national party and campaign websites for the 2004 European elections . In: Christina Holtz-Bacha (ed.): European elections 2004: The mass media in the European election campaign . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 3-531-14595-9 , p. 123 f . ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on April 23, 2019]): "Political and communication scientists therefore also speak of a democracy or legitimation deficit in the European Union"
  10. ↑ Jeanette Hofmann: The Short Dream of Democracy on the Net - Rise and Fall of ICANN's At-Large Membership. (PDF; 91.1 kB) Draft for Dieter Goswinkel et al. (Ed.): Civil society - national and transnational , Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-89404-299-8 . Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung , August 8, 2003, p. 1 , accessed on April 23, 2019 : "The result is a democracy and legitimation deficit that has been stated many times."
  11. ↑ Schäuble calls for clearer decision-making structures for Europe. In: deutschlandfunk.de . June 15, 2001, accessed on April 23, 2019 ( Peter Kapern interviewed Wolfgang Schäuble ): “Kapérn: Let's stay a little longer, Mr Schäuble, with the Irish referendum. The European Union has often been said to have a legitimation deficit or a democratic deficit. "
  12. ↑ Utz Schliesky: Sovereignty and legitimacy of power. The further development of concepts of state theory and state law in the European multilevel system (=  Jus publicum: contributions to public law . Volume 112 ). Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 2004, ISBN 3-16-148121-6 , p. 389 ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on May 2, 2019] " Printed as a habilitation thesis on the recommendation of the Faculty of Law at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel with the support of the German Research Foundation.").
  13. ↑ z. B. Christian Pestalozza : The popular reservation. Direct democracy in Germany . Lecture given to the Berlin Legal Society on January 21, 1981 (=  series of the Legal Society in Berlin . Issue 69). Walter de Gruyter , Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 978-3-11-008630-0 , p. 7 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 26, 2019]).
  14. ↑ Cf. Stefan Berger : Communists, Social Democrats and the Democratic Deficit in the Labor Movement . In: Yearbook for research on the history of the labor movement . Volume II, 2006.
  15. ↑ Democratic deficit . In: EUR-Lex> Glossaries of abstracts. European Union, accessed April 26, 2019 .
  16. ^ Georg Kreis : More Democracy in Europe? In: aargauerzeitung.ch . September 13, 2016, accessed on April 26, 2019 (refers to “democracy deficit” 3 times as a “catchphrase”, “more democracy” here means direct democracy ).
  17. ↑ Michael Latzer , Florian Saurwein: Europeanization through media: approaches and findings of public research . In: Wolfgang R. Langenbucher , Michael Latzer (eds.): European public sphere and media change: A transdisciplinary perspective . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-531-14597-6 , p. 10 ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on April 26, 2019]): "Buzzwords such as democracy, legitimation, public and communication deficit have long been part of the standard repertoire in the European political discussion"
  18. ^ A b Peter Wahl : Between Hegemonic Interests, Global Governance and Democracy. On the crisis of the WTO . In: International Politics and Society . No. 3 , 2000, ZDB -ID 1182797-X , The internal democratic deficit of the WTO, p. 242 f . ( Full text [PDF; 178 kB ; accessed on May 4, 2019]).
  19. ^ Andrew Moravcsik : Is there a 'Democratic Deficit' in World Politics? A Framework for Analysis . In: Government and Opposition . tape 39 , no. 2 , March 17, 2004, p. 336–363 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1477-7053.2004.00126.x (English, full text [PDF; 114 kB ; accessed on May 24, 2019]).
  20. ↑ Democratic deficit . In: Linguee Dictionary German-English. 2019, accessed May 31, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Democratic deficit . In: de. langenscheidt .com German-English dictionary. Accessed May 31, 2019 .
  22. ^ Natalia Letki: Democratic deficit. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed May 27, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Peter Matjašič: Democratic Deficit: A Federalist Perspective. In: thenewfederalist.eu . October 17, 2010, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  24. ^ The first use of the term “democratic deficit”. Federal Union , accessed May 27, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Young European Federalists Manifesto 1977 (Chapter One) at federalunion.org.uk , accessed May 27, 2019.
  26. ↑ Manfred G. Schmidt : Democracy. II. Political science. In: Staatslexikon online, 8th edition . Görres-Gesellschaft , Verlag Herder , May 9, 2018, accessed on May 24, 2019 (“structural deficits” by “relocation” / “transfer of sovereign rights (sovereignty) from the nation state to intergovernmental organizations” “such as the EU and the NATO ").
  27. ↑ Klaus Dingwerth, Michael Blauberger, Christian Schneider: Postnationale Demokratie. An introduction using the example of the EU, WTO and UNO (=  basic knowledge of politics . Volume 47 ). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-92099-3 , p. 73 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed on June 22, 2019] here on the EU).
  28. ↑ Martin Ströder: In Search of the Lost Legitimacy: The Legitimacy Policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) . In: Matthias Lemke, Oliver Schwarz, Toralf Stark, Kristina Weissenbach (eds.): Legitimitätspraxis. Political and sociological perspectives . Springer VS , Wiesbaden 2016, ISBN 978-3-658-05741-1 , p. 77 ff ., doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-05742-8_5 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed on June 22, 2019]).
  29. ↑ Sebastian Wolf: The political system of Germany for dummies . Wiley-VCH Verlag , Weinheim 2018, ISBN 978-3-527-80895-3 ( limited preview in the Google book search [accessed on May 4, 2019]): “The democratic deficit of international politics, which is often mentioned, arises essentially from the fact that the national parliaments can often only react to preliminary decisions made by governments at the intergovernmental level. "
  30. ↑ Ariane Richter: Functional change in the multi-level system? The role of national parliaments in the European Union using the example of the German Bundestag (=  European and International Law . Volume 91 ). Herbert Utz Verlag , Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8316-4580-0 , Section A: The Problem: Democracy Deficit and Deparliamentarization (Dissertation University of Munich 2016; Table of Contents in Google Book Search, p. 51 ff. In Google Book Search on deparliamentarization).