Co-Regulation and the Concept of Democracy

Dispositions of co-regulation are applied in order to enable the involvement of non-governmental protagonists. This can be observed particularly in areas where the government reaches its limitations. Be it the State not possessing the knowledge required for regulation or because it is obligated to restraint – in the area of media law, for example, by the command for the state not to intervene. On a European level, co-regulation is understood as an instrument for modern and, moreover. citizen-oriented governance.

A unified definition of co-regulation does not yet exist. It is agreed upon insofar as it means a cooperation of governmental and non-governmental protagonists. In the area of legal protection of minors, for example, the State Media Authorities cooperate with institutions for voluntary self-control.

The basic notion of co-regulation, that is, the use of synergies of society and government, however, leads to unclear responsibilities, to which the democratic legitimisation is linked. Furthermore, the network structure of co-regulation conflicts with the hierarchy within the administration, which is supposed to enable organisational legitimisation as well as that of personnel, of factual information and content.

The PhD project calculates the frictions between requirements of dispositions in co-regulation and administration. Proposals for new elements of legitimisation, as developed in the literature, will be explored. Finally, particular suggestions from the project will be submitted.