Deliberative Democratic Governance

Recent interest in governance networks comprising actors outside traditional governmental hierarchies has reinforced the issue of efficiency vs. democracy. Are the efficiency gains of this mode of governing won at the expense of democracy? This essay shows a way out of the alleged trade-off by combining two theoretical perspectives: a deliberative theory of democracy and a systems theory account of modern society. It argues that the benefits of the social division of labor, and in particular of governance networks, need not be undemocratic per se—as they would be according to aggregative and participatory ideals of democracy—but can be democratically legitimate to the extent that they lend themselves to effective public scrutiny. This mode of deliberative democracy may even increase the efficiency of governance networks.