Micro Foundations of Democratic Governance
About Us
The micro-foundations of democratic governance refer to the ways in which we, as individuals, engage with the democratic system: how we make sense of decisions and policies that originate within the democratic process, how legitimate we regard them as being, how we position ourselves in relation to authorities with responsibility for their implementation, and how our actions serve to help or hinder democratic governance.
Our work spans a range of institutional settings: families, schools, workplaces, tax authorities, welfare agencies, and law enforcement agencies. When we focus on the implementation of a set of policies in one of these areas, we begin by asking the following three questions: (a) Are these policies fair, reasonable and respectful of individual rights and freedoms? (b) Do we perceive them to be of benefit to self, others or the community at large? and (c) Do we feel any kind of obligation to cooperate in the implementation of the policies?
We argue that effective democratic governance comes about when there is alignment of the three issues of justice, benefits and obligation within the community. No assumption is made that there needs to be consensus or that the process of finding a best possible alignment is simple. Alignment more often than not is an ideal rather than an outcome. But one of the aims of our research is to demonstrate how institutional spaces can be created for listening to different voices in the community and creating the best alignments possible.
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Page last updated 2 January 2007
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Valerie.Braithwaite@anu.edu.au