2025/05/13 by Nicole Hassoun · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism #Labor Movements and Unions #European Union Policy and Governance
paper · doi:10.1080/13698230.2025.2499359
openalex publication_date 2025/05/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
When is it legitimate for technocrats to make decisions with significant allocative consequences? With the rapid expansion of the administrative state and international organizations, technocratic decisions with significant allocative consequences now affect many people’s basic life prospects and technocrats are not as democratically accountable as most elected officials, so answering this question is incredibly important. This article proposes a necessary condition for legitimate technocratic decisions with significant allocative consequences: Those affected by the decision should have a say in the decision process so that the allocation responds appropriately to their interests, at least whenever aspects of the decision exceed the decision-maker’s expertise. These decisions will be better and fairer than those that do not consider the affected people’s interests. Moreover, this principle might elicit an ‘overlapping consensus’ amongst those with different philosophical views on legitimacy. After all, most competing accounts of legitimacy either strengthen requirements on the decision’s outcome or on the process by which the decision is made.