Die demokratische Legitimation unabhängiger Institutionen

The assertion of general interests by independent institutions such as central banks, constitutional courts or the EU Commission does not lead to a democratic deficit in general. Traditional theories of democracy, which are based on Montesquieu's tripartite division of powers, do in principle recognize a lack of democracy in independent institutions. They do not however take into consideration the fact that varying interests have different ways of asserting themselves. By combining the new institutional economics and the classic theory of democracy, Stephan Bredt incorporates the connection between the structure of an institution and its influence on the political decision-making process as a decisive criterion for the evaluation of its democratic legitimacy. In doing so, he justifies the democratic legitimacy of independent institutions in certain policy fields.