Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic?

Scharpf, Fritz W.

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295457.001.0001

Cited by 2,689 publications

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“…Equally, these can be described as the economic model of local government and the political model of local government. Scharpf (1970Scharpf ( , 1999 argues that democratic legitimacy is a two-dimensional concept which refers to both the inputs and outputs of a political system. The two dimensions are not mutually exclusive, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scharpf (1999) contends that input-side democratic legitimacy requires mechanisms or procedures to link political decisions with citizens' preferences. To some extent, it can be argued that elections themselves are such mechanisms to the degree that they give people influence in policymaking.…”

Section: Democratic Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Kersting & Vetter (2003), local government reform should be judged in terms of the maintenance of local democracy -in other words, sustaining and strengthening local legitimacy. Scharpf (1970Scharpf ( , 1997Scharpf ( , 1999 argues that there are two fundamental dimensions to democratic legitimacy -input legitimacy and output legitimacyand both have to be taken into account when evaluating reform strategies (see Figure 1). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reforming local government: Must it always be democracy versus efficiency?

Quinlivan

2017

Administration

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The financial crisis from 2008 has had a profound impact on Irish local government. Councils were faced with a disastrous combination of factorsdeclining funding from central government, difficulties in collecting commercial rates as businesses struggled, and a drastic fall in revenue from development levies. Staffing levels in the local government sector were reduced by over 20 per cent, significantly more than the losses suffered by central government ministries and departments. Yet the financial crisis also offered an opportunity for reform and a fundamental reappraisal of subnational government in Ireland. A reform strategy produced in 2012 paved the way for the Local Government Reform Act, 2014. As a result of this legislation, the number of local authorities was reduced from 114 to 31 with the complete abolition of all town councils. The number of council seats also fell from 1,627 to 949. Using Scharpf's dimensions of democratic legitimacy, this article assesses whether the focus of the 2014 reforms was on output legitimacy (efficiency and effectiveness) as opposed to input legitimacy (citizen integration and participation).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Democratic Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reforming local government: Must it always be democracy versus efficiency?

Quinlivan

2017

Administration

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“…The concept of legitimacy and its meaning have been subject to a number of studies concerning democracy, justice, policy making, and governance more generally (Brown, 2016;Héritier, 1999;Kohler-Koch, 2000;Magnette, 2003;Scharpf, 1999;Suchman, 1995); in relation to water governance (OECD 2015); and more specifically in relation to flood risk governance (Alexander et al, 2017;Johnson, C., Penning-Rowsell, E., Parker, D, 2007;Mees et al, 2014;Mees, Suykens, & Crabbé, 2017;Van Buuren et al, 2014). The term 'legitimacy' has been defined in different ways by different scholars (Bäckstrand, Khan, Kronsell, & Lövbrand, 2010;Suchman, 1995) and can, in short, be explained as the extent to which an institution is perceived as having the right to rule and doing so in a way that it is accepted by society.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of hydrological changes on cooperation in transnational catchments: the case of the Syr Darya

Bocchiola

Pelosi

Soncini

2017

Water International

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Legitimacy has received comparatively less attention than societal resilience in the context of flooding, thus methods for assessing and monitoring the legitimacy of flood risk governance arrangements are noticeably lacking. This study attempts to address this gap by assessing the legitimacy of flood risk governance arrangements in six European countries through cross-disciplinary and comparative research methods. On the basis of this assessment, recommendations to enhance the legitimacy of flood risk governance in Europe are presented. ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…The EU, as the most economically integrated regional entity in the world, is a privileged place for such fierce competition. As a supranational democratic structure, it could potentially help balance and regulate the asymmetry of power between labour and capital, but so far it has essentially favoured competition and more open markets (Scharpf 1999). Partly challenging this view, Roland Erne's book explores the prospects of transnational collective action by trade unions within the EU.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%