Toward Subnational Democracies of Scale

Tensions between Democratic Legitimacy, Legality, and Effective Governance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3948641
AutoresAdam Grydehøj (0000-0002-9149-9497, Ilisimatusarfik, autor de correspondencia)
Año2016
Volumen21
Número1
Páginas22-42
Fecha de publicación2016-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2015.1114918
OpenAlexW2322156219
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16

Although democracy is often discussed as a universally applicable ideology, the liberal democratic state tends to assess democracy on the basis of government institutions. This paper argues that democratic institutionalism favours national governments and makes it difficult for subnational governments to expand their governance capacity and exercise additional powers. Greenland, Shetland, and Tresco (Isles of Scilly) serve as case studies of different subnational strategies for exercising greater governance capacity: 1) Actual adherence to democratic form (Greenland), 2) Symbolic adherence to democratic form (Shetland), and 3) Operating external to democratic form (Tresco). Despite the efforts of local governance actors, governance in these three island communities has proved problematic in terms of democratic legitimacy, legality, and/or effectiveness. It is argued that pressure toward the development of liberal democratic government institutions can in fact decrease the quality of subnational democracy. This requires a reassessment of definitions of democracy and authoritarianism. It is necessary to pursue place-specific and community-sensitive democracies of scale if we wish to democratically empower local communities

Authoritarianism · Corporate governance · Democracy · Economics · Ideology · Legitimacy · Liberal democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Principle of legality · Rule of law · Sociology · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · European and International Law Studies · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration