Law's Polyarchy: A Comment on Cohen and Sabel

Gerstenberg, Oliver

doi:10.1111/1468-0386.00035

Cited by 21 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This theory, being a normative theory of democracy, has not received a great deal of attention by scholars of EU governance. Application to the EU has focused on whether the theory can provide a model of democracy beyond the boundaries of the nation-state that could serve as an ideal for the European Union (Gerstenberg 1997;Gerstenberg andSabel 2000, Schmalz-Bruns 1999). In the following, we want to show how this theory makes it possible to make sense of the new forms of decisionmaking in the European Union.…”

Section: Theorising the New Modes Of European Union Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Theorising the New Modes of European Union Governance

Eberlein

Kerwer²

2002

SSRN Journal

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Recently, 'new modes of governance' based on voluntary performance standards, rather than compulsory regulation, have gained salience in European Union governance. Can these 'new modes of governance' offer a credible solution to the challenges faced by EU policy making? We argue that a critical appraisal is difficult when it is based a) on the scarce empirical evidence, or b) the programmatic pronouncements of policy makers. We suggest instead c) assessing the potential of new governance in the light of theoretical approaches to the EU polity. While current theories of European governance shed some light on the challenges to be addressed by new governance, we argue that the theory of democratic experimentalism makes it possible to better identify the potential and the problems of new EU governance. This theoretical perspective suggests, first, that coordination by voluntary performance standards can lead to more effective rules and more opportunties for political participation, second, that the scope of this mode of governance in the EU is not confined to cases which are explicitly flagged as 'new governance', and third, that one of the main problems is how a voluntary mode of governance can coexist with compulsory regulation. Kurzfassung Seit einiger Zeit gewinnen in der Europäischen Union neue Formen politischer Regelung ("Governance") an Bedeutung, die nicht mehr auf verbindlicher Regulierung sondern auf freiwilligen Leistungsstandards beruhen. Dieser Aufsatz geht der Frage nach, ob diese neuen Formen politischen Entscheidens sich im Rahmen der EU bewähren können. Gegenwärtig ist eine kritische Bewertung schwierig, wenn diese sich hauptsächlich entweder auf a) die bisher bescheidene empirische Datenbasis, oder b) die programmatischen Verkündungen der politischen Akteure stützt. Als Alternative schlagen wir vor, c) die neuen Formen des Regierens im Lichte der Theorien über europäisches Regieren zu betrachten. Die bisher gängigen Ansätze tragen zwar schon etwas zu einem verbesserten Verständnis bei, aber erst die Theorie des demokratischen Experimentalismus erlaubt es, die Probleme und Lösungspotentiale der neuen Regelungsformen umfassend zu analysieren. Dieser theoretische Ansatz zeigt, dass eine Koordination durch freiwillige Leistungsstandards, erstens, effektivere Regeln und mehr politische Partizipation ermöglicht, zweitens, die Domäne dieser Form der Regulierung nicht auf solche Policies beschränkt sein muss, die als "neue Regelungsform" etikettiert werden, und drittens, dass eines der Hauptprobleme die Koexistenz zwischen den neuen freiwilligen und die den alten formal rechtlichen Regelungsmodi ist.

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Section: Theorising the New Modes Of European Union Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Theorising the New Modes of European Union Governance

Eberlein

Kerwer²

2002

SSRN Journal

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“…These virtues might, to some degree, be realized in emergent schemes, but the critical dimension of the framework is purchased through its capacity to identify breakdowns in experimentalist practices. This perspective thus treats the experimentalist dimension of, for instance, the EU as a latent potential that is only imperfectly realized, or achieved only to certain degrees, in its governance structures (Gerstenberg, 1997, 355–8). The optimal realization of experimentalist values in practice can, furthermore, be seen as an open question, which should be addressed through analysis of apparent successes and failures of emerging schemes (De Búrca 2010, 238).…”

Section: The Theory Of Experimentalist Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Private experiments in global governance: primary commodity roundtables and the politics of deliberation

2012

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Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulatory regimes. These regimes aim to regulate some area of social activity without a mandate from, or participation of, states or international organizations. While there are numerous empirical studies of these regimes, the normative theoretical literature has arguably struggled to keep pace with such developments. This is unfortunate, as the proliferation of private regulatory regimes raises important issues about legitimacy in global governance. The aim of this paper is to address some of these issues by elaborating a theoretical framework that can orientate normative investigation of these schemes. It does this through turning to the idea of experimentalist governance. It is argued that experimentalism can provide an important and provocative set of insights about the processes and logics of emerging governance schemes. The critical purchase of this theory is illustrated through an application to the case of primary commodities roundtables, part of ongoing attempts by NGOs, producers, and buyers to set sustainability criteria for commodity production across a range of sectors. The idea of experimentalist governance, we argue, can lend much needed theoretical structure to debates about the normative legitimacy of private regulatory regimes.

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“…Its application to the EU has so far focused on whether the theory can provide a model of democracy beyond the boundaries of the nation-state (Gerstenberg, 1997;Gerstenberg and Sabel, 2000;Schmalz-Bruns, 1999). We would like to show how this theory makes it possible to make sense of the new forms of decision-making in the European Union.…”

Section: Theorizing the New Modes Of European Union Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A promising perspective for an innovative conceptualization of new governance is offered by the theory of 'democratic experimentalism' (Cohen and Sabel, 1997;Dorf and Sabel, 1998). Its application to the EU has so far focused on whether the theory can provide a model of democracy beyond the boundaries of the nation-state (Gerstenberg, 1997;Gerstenberg and Sabel, 2000;Schmalz-Bruns, 1999). We would like to show how this theory makes it possible to make sense of the new forms of decision-making in the European Union.…”

Section: Theorizing the New Modes Of European Union Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

New Governance in the European Union: A Theoretical Perspective

Eberlein

Kerwer

2004

J of Common Market Studies

207

111

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New modes of governance based on voluntary performance standards, rather than compulsory regulation, have gained salience in the European Union (EU). Can these new modes of governance offer a credible solution to the current challenges faced by EU policy-making? In this article, we assess the potential of new governance in the light of the theory of democratic experimentalism. This theoretical perspective suggests, first, that co-ordination by voluntary performance standards can lead to more effective rules and more opportunities for political participation; second, that the scope of this mode of governance in the EU is not confined to cases which are explicitly flagged as new governance; and third, that one of the main problems is how a voluntary mode of governance can coexist with compulsory regulation. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.

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Law's Polyarchy: A Comment on Cohen and Sabel

Cited by 21 publications

References 3 publications

Theorising the New Modes of European Union Governance

Theorising the New Modes of European Union Governance

Private experiments in global governance: primary commodity roundtables and the politics of deliberation

New Governance in the European Union: A Theoretical Perspective

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