There has been a longstanding
relationship between Directorate General
Development of the European Commission and those Non Governmental Developmental Organisations (NGDOs) who are active at the European Union level. NGDOs have become increasingly active in their dual roles of participating in policy
making along with DG Development and also by ensuring that development co-operation policies and programmes are both relevant and properly implemented by the EC.The relationship raises the question of
democratic legitimacy – are NGDOs used by the Commission to increase their own legitimacy in policy making and also to increase
input legitimacy?There is ongoing debate between input legitimacy and
output legitimacy and their respective contributions to democratic development. The argument in this thesis being that the development of democratic legitimacy within the EU has been addressed at two different levels by the relationship between NGDOs and DG Development – the participation of NGDOs in policy making produces ‘input legitimacy', while the effective outcome of those policies produces, ‘output legitimacy.' This thesis looks at whether issues of ‘input legitimacy' and issues of ‘output legitimacy ‘ within a participatory democracy can help to overcome the charge of democratic deficit at the heart of the European Union and so enhance democratic development. The thesis concluded that the significance of the relationship between Non Governmental Developmental Organisations and DG Development is that the development of democratic legitimacy within the EU has been progressed at two different levels by the relationship between Non Governmental Developmental Organisations and DG Development. Representativeness is an important factor but efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability are of equal importance. It is also concluded that the presence of both input legitimacy and output legitimacy in this type of participatory democracy helps to enhance democratic development and overcome the charge of democratic deficit at the heart of the European Union.
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