[TiGRE] Regulatory Governance and Democratic Qualities: Transparency, Accountability, Participation and Inclusiveness

Abstract

The delegation of regulatory tasks to specialized autonomous administrations has proliferated around the globe. Yet, the role that regulatory bodies have in advancing democratic governance is still understudied. On one hand, it has been acknowledged that regulatory agencies challenge the notion of representative democracy due to their detachment from political control (specially, from representative politicians). On the other hand, some institutional mechanisms have been suggested as enhancing the democratic legitimacy of regulatory agencies: (i) transparency, which focuses on the disclosure of information by agencies about their characteristics, operational processes, and decisions they make to external actors.; (ii) accountability, that is focused on the mechanisms of reporting and justification to political actors with the ability to sanction agencies; (iii) participation, which refers to procedures aimed for external actors to become involved within agency’s decisional, deliberative, or consultative processes related to agency’s responsibilities; and (iv) inclusiveness, that concerns how various social and business groups are represented in agencies (market oriented and societal oriented). This panel will devote special attention to the examination of the role that regulatory governance plays within democracy focusing on the following research questions: · What are the drivers that lead to the constitution of new democratic practices in regulatory governance, such as participatory procedures and enhancement of transparency? · How does the accountability fit within the concept of democracy in the context of regulatory governance? · Are there other practices, besides transparency, participation and accountability, that enhance democracy that regulatory administration can do? · Do regulatory institutions change in light of recent trends of democratic backsliding?

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