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'International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment' by David Beetham, Sarah Bracking, Ian Kearton and Stuart Weir is reviewed.

Why democracy? Institutions of government and others must meet conditions of legitimacy. Why? and what are they? what are principles of legitimacy, like the principle of subsidiarity? and how does democracy fit in a theory of legitimacy? The paper surveys what it takes to be the seven most important advantages of democratic government: civil and political rights, more extensive opportunities for people to engage in public affairs, responsiveness to the expressed preferences of the people, stability, peaceful transfer of power, loyalty and solidarity. It then considers the role of legitimation in securing these advantages. These reflection lead to the question whether other regimes can secure the same advantages? And more importantly: given that all democratic regime rely also on non-democratic institutions, how are we to debate questions like how much democracy is needed? A question which arises within a single regime and in the interaction between several, say national and international, regimes.

Because they have failed to address the fundamental economic imbalances within Europe obscured by the single currency, each effort by European leaders so far to resolve the euro crisis has only deepened it. Without a decisive move toward fiscal and political union, accompanied by policies that push productivity and competitiveness toward convergence while closing the democratic deficit, the Eurozone will disintegrate.To discuss the way forward, the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's Council on the Future of Europe met in Rome on May 28 with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. In this section we publish the contributions from that meeting by the former European leaders, scholars and Nobel laureates who are members of the Council.

IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU), POWER HAS CLEARLY PASSED FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE EU. THIS IS A CONSEQUENCE OF MEMBERSHIP AND HAS BEEN EXACERBATED BY THE PROVISIONS OF THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT AND THE MAASTRICHT TREATY. AS POLICY-MAKING POWER HAS PASSED TO BRUSSELS, SO THOSE SEEKING TO INFLUENCE POLICY HAVE SHIFTED THEIR ATTENTION THERE AS WELL. NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO FORMAL ROLE IN EU POLICY MAKING, EXCEPT INDIRECTLY THROUGH NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS OR IN A SPORADIC, ADVISORY FORM THROUGH THE CONFERENCE OF PARLIAMENTS. ATTEMPTS TO DEVELOP THE MEANS OF EXERTING INFLUENCE HAVE BEEN LIMITED AND LARGELY UNPRODUCTIVE. MANY NATIONAL EUROPEAN COMMITTEES HAVE HAD DIFFICULTY COPING WITH THE BURDEN OF EU DOCUMENTS, AND SOME HAVE BEEN HAMPERED BY JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES. THE SHIFT OF POLITICAL POWER UPWARDS TO THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE EU HAS NOT BEEN MATCHED BY A SHIFT IN DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY, EITHER THROUGH NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS OR AT THE LEVEL OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (EP). THE EP HAS INCREASED ITS POWERS ENORMOUSLY BUT IS STILL ONLY ON THE EDGE OF CONSTITUTING A LEGISLATURE. UNTIL POPULAR PERCEPTIONS CHANGE AND THE EP ACQUIRES THE STATUS IT SEEKS, THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT NOT ONLY WILL REMAIN BUT MAY BECOME MORE, RATHER THAN LESS, PRONOUNCED.

Konstatiert wird eine anomische Tendenz in der amerikanischen Demokratie. Dafür werden "demokratische Defizite" verantwortlich gemacht und in ihren Ursachen und Folgen untersucht. Populistisch-plebiszitäre Ansprüche rühren an das Fundament der repräsentativen amerikanischen Demokratie und stürzen das System in eine Legitimationskrise. Am Beispiel der Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) und ihrer Definition von Gesundheits-, Sicherheits- und Umweltrisiken wird aufgezeigt, zu welch paradoxen Folgen das demokratische Defizit und die Spannungen zwischen Bürgern und Experten führen können. Ein Ausweg könnte im Konzept einer "tutelary democracy" zu finden sein. (SWP-Smr)

"Democratic Deficit in the European Union" published on by Oxford University Press.