RECON Online Working Paper 2007/18

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Assessing Democratic Legitimacy from a Deliberative Perspective

An Analytical Framework for Evaluating the EU’s Second Pillar Decision-Making System

Anne Elizabeth Stie (ARENA, University of Oslo) 

Abstract

In this article, I outline an analytical framework allowing for an assessment of the democratic legitimacy of the decision-making system of the EU’s second pillar with reference to five criteria. The criteria are developed on the basis of a discourse-theoretical reading of a deliberative perspective on democracy. Empirical indicators for each criterion are specified and discussed. With this analytical framework the institutional and procedural aspects of the second pillar decision-making system can be evaluated for its democratic qualities or lack thereof.

Access to Documents – Accountability – Common Foreign and Security Policy – Deliberative Democracy – European Security and Defense Policy – Institutions – Legitimacy – Majority Voting – MEPs – National Parliaments – Normative Political Theory

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