Governing at arm’s length: eroding or enhancing democracy?
本文探讨了保持距离的治理对民主的影响，挑战了其必然损害民主的普遍观点，并分析了多中心视角下增强民主的可能性及公民参与的条件。
This review article debates the democratic consequences of arm’s length governance challenging the prevailing view that its use is necessarily counter-democratic and a poor substitute for direct control by elected politicians. The article explores the roots of the dominant ‘democratic deficit’ perspective on arm’s length bodies in the agency problems generated by political delegation, but also addresses the potential for democratic enhancement posed by the different theoretical lens of polycentrism. The article considers the conditions that are necessary to activate citizens to engage with arm’s length governance. Our conclusion develops the normative implications for the design of public governance.