Democratic Accountability in a Globalized Confederation

• Author: Craig Forcese - Aaron Freeman
• Pages: 529-543

529

10

Democratic Accountability in

a Globalized Confederation

This book has described in detail the many rules designed to render federal

governance in Canada “democratically accountable.” As we have def‌ined it,

democratic accountability at the federal level depends on the fair election

of representatives, the primacy of these representatives over unelected of-

f‌icials, judicial review and oversight of both unelected and elected off‌icials,

and a series of detailed rules concerning government ethics, lobbying, and

transparency.

Canada’s federal government does not, however, operate in splendid iso-

lation. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on the implications of a changing

national and international environment for democratic accountability.

Specif‌ically, as policy-making inf‌luence and power are globalized in inter-

national venues and at the same time decentralized in Canada’s increasing-

ly diffuse federation, what are the consequences for democratic governance

in Canada?

A. THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC POLICY

Modern international policy-making involves an alphabet soup of inter-

national institutions. By the end of the last century, there were about 250

intergovernmental organizations, almost double the number that existed in

the period immediately after the Second World War.1 In this environment, a

1 Eric Stein, “International Integration and Democracy: No Love at First Sight” (2001) 95

Am. J. Int’l L. 489 [Stein, “International Integration and Democracy”].