Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.48548/pubdata-1417
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Resource typeJournal Article
Title(s)Institutional Proxy Representatives of Future Generations: A Comparative Analysis of Types and Design Features
DOI10.48548/pubdata-1417
Handle20.500.14123/1486
CreatorRose, Michael  0000-0001-5812-467X
AbstractFuture generations will be strongly affected by political decisions made today (e.g., by the long-term consequences of climate change). According to the democratic all-affected principle, the interests of everyone affected by political decisions should be considered in the political decision-making process. Future generations cannot influence democratic decision-making, since they do not yet exist. Election-based democratic incentive systems are said to make it difficult to consider the needs of future generations today. Surprisingly, however, since the early 1990s, an increasing number of democracies have established what could be called institutional proxy representatives of future generations (proxies), i.e., public bodies with institutionalized access to government and/or parliament that introduce the construed interests of future generations into the political decision-making process. Proxies help to consider future generations’ interests alongside the interests of current constituencies. After concept building, this comparative study searches all liberal democracies and identifies 25 proxies, with heterogeneous institutional designs. By employing membership criteria, three types are distinguished: (a) expertise-driven independent guardians (type I), (b) political or administrative advisory and coordination bodies (type II), and (c) sustainability stakeholder councils or committees (type III). They vary considerably in their formal capacity to influence political decision-making (i.e., on what legal basis they were provided with what instruments to address which phases of the policy process and which branches of government). Overall, they should not be overburdened with expectations. While they are usually equipped with the tools to voice the (construed) interests of future generations, they often lack the capacity to act as watchdogs with teeth when ignored.
LanguageEnglish
KeywordsAll‐affected Principle; Democracy; Institution; Intergenerational Justice; Political Representation; Sustainability; Sustainable Development
Year of publication in PubData2024
Publishing typeParallel publication
Publication versionPublished version
Date issued2024-03-08
Creation contextResearch
Faculty / departmentFakultät Nachhaltigkeit
NotesThis publication was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Date of Availability2024-11-06T10:33:55Z
Archiving Facility Medien- und Informationszentrum (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg  02w2y2t16)
Published byMedien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
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FieldValue
Resource typeJournal
Title of the resource typePolitics and Governance
IdentifierDOI: 10.17645/pag.7745
Publication year2024
Volume12
Number7745
Number typeArticle
PublisherCogitatio Press
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