In Search of Legitimacy: Policy Making in Europe and the Challenge of Complexity

In European societies, social differentiation, value pluralism, and international integration have brought about a condition of previously unknown complexity. Citizen expectations are rising with regard to political participation and the legitimization of government policy, yet the capacities for social integration and political consensus formation may be in decline. This volume investigates how political actors and institutions in established European democracies are seeking to manage this condition of complexity and how it reconfigures the foundations of democratic politics. Contents include: Legitimacy Crises, Efficiency Gaps, Democratic Deficits • Efficiency Versus Democracy: Conceptual Reconciliation of a Troubled Relationship? • Citizens' Expectations: Is What Matters Only What Works? • Re-Engaging Citizens: Institutional Responses to Political Disengagement • Informal Government: Complexity, Transparency and Accountability • Delegated Authority: Legitimizing Independent Regulatory Agencies • Delegation to the EU: Participation Versus Efficiency in German EU-Policy • The Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) and The European Employment Strategy • Committee Governance in EU Agricultural Policy • Efficiency Versus Legitimacy: The Governance of Technology • The Post-Democratic Turn: Complexity and the Reconfiguration of Democratic Politics.