Focusing on the EU, this volume, with a combination of theoretical perspectives and empirical research, examines the problems multilevel governance causes for democratic legitimacy by placing it in a comparative and theoretical context, and explore how challenges faced by the EU compare with those faced by traditional federal systems worldwide.

Effective governance is vital for all nations and can be made easier with advanced technology and communication. Through various collaborative efforts and processes, developing nations can enhance their economies with multi-level governance. Multi-Level Governance in Developing Economies is a collection of innovative research on the applications and theories of multi-level governance in the developing world. It illustrates the practical side of multi-level governance by emphasizing special policies such as immigration, innovation, climate, local government, and construction. While highlighting topics including Europeanization, politics of the developing world, and immigration policies, this book is ideally designed for academicians, policymakers, government officials, and individuals seeking current research on the usage and impact of multi-level governance in emerging economies.

This book explores the theoretical issues, empirical evidence, and normative debates elicited by the concept of multi-level governance (MLG). The concept is a useful descriptor of decision-making processes that involve the simultaneous mobilization of public authorities at different jurisdictional levels as well as that of non-governmental organizations and social movements. It has become increasingly relevant with the weakening of territorial state power and effectiveness and the increase in international interdependencies which serve to undermine conventional governmental processes. This book moves towards the construction of a theory of multi-level governance by defining the analytical contours of this concept, identifying the processes that can uniquely be denoted by it, and discussing the normative issues that are raised by its diffusion, particularly in the European Union. It is divided into three parts, each meeting a specific challenge - theoretical, empirical, normative. It focuses on three analytical dimensions: multi-level governance as political mobilization (politics), as authoritative decision-making (policy), and as state restructuring (polity). Three policy areas are investigated in vindicating the usefulness of MLG as a theoretical and empirical concept - cohesion, environment, higher education - with particular reference to two member-states: the UK and Germany. Finally, both the input and output legitimacy of multi-level governance decisions and arrangements and its contribution to EU democracy are discussed. As a loosely-coupled policy-making arrangement, MLG is sufficiently structured to secure coordination among public and private actors at different jurisdictional levels, yet sufficiently flexible to avoid "joint decision traps". This balance is obtained at the cost of increasingly blurred boundaries between public and private actors and a change in the established hierarchies between territorial jurisdictions.

The power and future role of nation states are a topic of increasing importance. The dispersion of authority both vertically to supranational and subnational institutions and horizontally to non-state actors has challenged the structure and capacity of national governments. Multi-level governance has emerged as an important concept for understanding the dynamic relationships between state and non-state actors within territorially overarching networks. Multi-level Governance explores definitions and applications of the concept by drawing on contributions from scholars with different concerns within the broad discipline of Political Studies. It contends that new analytical frameworks that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and epistemological positions are essential for comprehending the changing nature of governance. In this context, this volume undertakes a critical assessment of both the potentialities and the limitations of multi-level governance.

The European Union's growing accountability deficit threatens to undermine its legitimacy; accordingly, member states have agreed to negotiate a new set of Treaty changes in 2004. These essays consider various aspects of accountability and legitimacy in the European Union.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the models of contemporary democracy; its social, cultural, economic and political prerequisites; its empirically existing varieties and its two major challenges - globalization and mediatization. The book also covers the global spread of democracy and its spread into supranational democracies.

For the first time, this new collection brings together country specialists, researchers on the European Union, and leading international relations scholars to tackle a crucial question: how compatible are today’s new patterns of ‘policy networks’ and ‘multi-level’ governance with democratic standards? This important question is attracting attention both in political science and in political practices. In political science, the question is mainly dealt with in separated sub-disciplines, which focus on different levels of politics. So far, no serious exchange has actually taken place between authors working on these different levels. The editors of this book – both specialists of network and multi-level governance – show that although the issue is raised differently in the institutional settings of the national state, the European Union, or transnational governance, excellent insights can be gained by comparison across these settings. This major new contribution includes cutting edge work from junior scholars alongside chapters by leading specialists of governance such as Guy Peters, Jon Pierre, Philippe C. Schmitter and Thomas Risse. It also contains a collection of new case studies, theoretical conceptualisations and normative proposals for solutions dealing with the issue of democratic deficits, which all give the reader a better understanding of the most crucial problems and perspectives of democracy in different patterns of "governance" beyond conventional ‘government’ approaches. This is a valuable book for policy analysts, students of the European Union and international relations, and all students in social and political science.

Local governments serve their communities in many diversified ways as they increasingly engage in multiple connections: international, regional, regional-local, with nongovernmental organizations and through external nongovernmental services county actors. The book discusses how the shift in emphasis from government to governance has raised many management challenges, along with shifting expectations and demands.

The process used to select judges of the Supreme Court of Canada has provoked criticism from the start. Some observers argue the process - where the prime minister has unfettered discretion - suffers from a democratic deficit, but there is also disagreement regarding alternative methods of selection. The Democratic Dilemma: Reforming Canada's Supreme Court explores the institutional features of the Court, whether the existing process used to select judges ought to be reformed, the overall legitimacy of the Court, as well as the selection and appointment processes of Supreme Court justices in other liberal democracies. This book will be of special interest to students and scholars of Canadian federalism, the judiciary, and comparative supreme courts. The Democratic Dilemma: Reforming Canada's Supreme Court is the second volume in the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations' Democratic Dilemma series. The first, The Democratic Dilemma: Reforming the Canadian Senate is edited by Jennifer Smith. Contributors include Arthur Benz (Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany), Jorge O. Bercholc (Institute of Social and Legal Research Ambrosio L. Gioja), Eugénie Brouillet (Université Laval), Erin Crandall (McGill University), Neil Cruickshank (Algoma University), F.C. DeCoste (University of Alberta), Yonatan Fessha (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), Peter W. Hogg (Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP), Eike-Christian Hornig (Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany), Allan C. Hutchinson York University), Achim Hurrelmann (Carleton University), Andrée Lajoie (Université de Montréal), Martin Manolov (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada), Aman McLeod (Rutgers University), Peter McCormick (University of Lethbridge), Peter Oliver (University of Ottawa), Yves Tanguay (CRIDAQ), Alan Trench (solicitor, England and Wales), and Nadia Verrelli (Algoma University and Queen's University).

The state-centred 'Westphalian model' of international law has failed to protect human rights and other international public goods effectively. Most international trade, financial and environmental agreements do not even refer to human rights, consumer welfare, democratic citizen participation and transnational rule of law for the benefit of citizens. This book argues that these 'multilevel governance failures' are largely due to inadequate regulation of the 'collective action problems' in the supply of international public goods, such as inadequate legal, judicial and democratic accountability of governments vis-a-vis citizens. Rather than treating citizens as mere objects of intergovernmental economic and environmental regulation and leaving multilevel governance of international public goods to discretionary 'foreign policy', human rights and constitutional democracy call for 'civilizing' and 'constitutionalizing' international economic and environmental cooperation by stronger legal and judicial protection of citizens and their constitutional rights in international economic law. Moreover intergovernmental regulation of transnational cooperation among citizens must be justified by 'principles of justice' and 'multilevel constitutional restraints' protecting rights of citizens and their 'public reason'. The reality of 'constitutional pluralism' requires respecting legitimately diverse conceptions of human rights and democratic constitutionalism. The obvious failures in the governance of interrelated trading, financial and environmental systems must be restrained by cosmopolitan, constitutional conceptions of international law protecting the transnational rule of law and participatory democracy for the benefit of citizens.