Democracy paradoxes in multi-level governance: theorising on structural fund system research

Article abstract:

This article examines the EU structural fund system from a democratic point of view and starts theorising on the nature of basic democracy problems. The analysis is guided by a parliamentary, a pluralistic and an élite-democratic model. None of these models seems to fit well with how the system works in practice, summarised as top-down and technocratic with important vertical co-ordination between administrative levels, which tends to marginalise the role of democratic institutions. Five types of fundamental problem are identified and analysed in terms of democracy paradoxes (multi-level, vertical, economic, horizontal, multi-demos). It is difficult to dissolve these paradoxes because they reflect existing structural fund institutions. In order to democratise, they need to be challenged, either by regulating partnerships in a more democratic way or by challenging the partnership principle with the parliamentary principle.