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ChristopherLord
Unionitselfdemocraticenoughtoenjoytherighttoassessthequalityofdemocracy
inotherpoliticalsystems?IstheUnionanygoodatassessingthequalityofdemoc-
racyinanycase?
Itseemstomethesearecontroversiesofpoliticalphilosophybeforetheyaredisa-
greementsofpoliticalscience.Inotherwords,therearelimitstohowfaranyofthem
canbesolvedempirically.
Take,forexample,thequestionofwhethertheUnionisitselfdemocraticenough
tojudgeothers.Muchofthatdemocraticdebateinrecentyearshasbeeninthrall
toacontroversybetweenAndrewMoravcsik(2002)ontheonehandandAndreas
FøllesdalandSimonHix(2006)ontheother.Note,though,thatthoseauthorsstart
outfromdifferentphilosophicalassumptionsaboutdemocracyitself.ForMoravcsik,
thelimitationofpowerandnon-arbitrarinessarecentral.FøllesdalandHix,onthe
otherhand,givemoreemphasistocompetitionforthepeople’svote.Tomymindthis
differenceinphilosophicalstartingpointsmeansthatneithersideinthisparticular
exchangeisquiteabletoadministeraknock-outblowtotheother.Butthatisanother
storyforanothertime.Forthemomentitisenoughtonotethatinsofarasdemocracy
isunderstoodasasystemofpubliclymandatedconstraintsontheexerciseofpower,
ratherthanacompetitionforpowermediatedbythepeople’svote,theUnionisprac-
ticallyandnormativelybetterplacedtotutorothersindemocracy.
Thegeneralquestionofhowtoevaluatethequalityofdemocracyislikewise
inescapablyphilosophical.RobertDahlprobablymadethefirstattempttoformulate
indicatorsofdemocracy(Dahl1971).Sincethenanumberofdifferentindicators
havebeenproposed.MyfavouriteisthesetofindicatorsproposedbyDavidBeetham
andhisassociates.Thereadercandownloadtheirpaper"Do-it-yourselfDemocratic
Auditing”atwww.democraticaudit.com.ForsomeyearsnowIhavebeenworkingon
myownDemocraticAuditoftheEuropeanUnion(Lord2004).Theexperiencehas
leftmewithsomestrongviewsonwhatIthinkhaslargelygonewrongintheevalu-
ationofdemocracy.Considerthreeexamples.Ononeoccasionajournalistaskedme
toscorethedemocraticperformanceoftheUnionusingpointsoutoften.Onanother
occasionaleadingpoliticalscientistquestionedwhyIwasattemptingtousesomany
criteria.Inhisview,democracyisaboutelections.Justmeasurewhetherthepeople
getwhattheywantfromelectionsandwehave,inhisview,measureddemocracy.On
athirdoccasionanotherleadingpoliticalscientistsuggestedthatthereisnowaywe
canmeasuredemocracyitself.Yet,inhisview,allwasnotlost,sinceitispossibleto
measuredemocracyindirectly.Justthinkofallthenicethingsthatareassociatedwith
democracy–higheconomicgrowthandhighlevelsofhumandevelopment–anduse
thosethingsasindirectmeasuresofdemocracy.
Ofcourse,thecommonerrorhereistoassumethatwecansaynothingabout
asubjectunlesswecanmeasureit.Yet,inreality,thingsareexactlytheotherway
round.Wecanmeasurenothing–wecanmakenoempiricalstatementofanykind–
unlesswefirstmakenormativeassumptions(Putnam2002;Brandom2008).
Thefourchaptersthatfollowprovethepoint.Wetrivialiseargumentsaboutthe
Uniondemocraticconditionalitywhereweassumethattheymainlyfocusontheex-
tenttowhichanysetofconditionscanbemeasuredoroperationalised.Rather,those