Metagovernance

TLDR

Governance in liberal democracies is shifting from sovereign rule to metagovernance, transforming politicians’ roles and potentially threatening representative democracy. The study proposes that to prevent democratic weakening, politicians should expand their metagovernance roles by adopting framing, storytelling, support, facilitation, and participation. Case studies in four Danish municipalities show that network governance marginalizes politicians, thereby weakening representative democracy.

Abstract

Current changes in governing tasks that face the political systems in liberal democracies require governance to be performed in new ways. Governance can no longer take the form of sovereign rule but must be performed through various forms of metagovernance, regulation of self-regulation. The consequence is a transformation of the role that politicians play in the governance of society that endangers representative democracy aswe knowit but does not necessarily endanger representative democracy as such. A case study of the specific, narrow way in which the newmetagoverning politician role is interpreted and institutionalized in four Danish municipalities suggests that network governance marginalizes politicians and consequently weakens representative democracy. If this weakening of democracy is to be avoided, politicians must strengthen their roles in metagovernance by broadening their leadership repertoire to include framing through institutional design, storytelling, supporting and facilitating, and participating.