Evaluating the Democratic Accountability of Governance Networks: Analysing Two Nordic Megaprojects

Abstract

There is currently a need to analyse and measure the democratic accountability of governance networks. This kind of analysis and measurement calls for the development of an interactive conceptualisation of democratic accountability that makes it possible to measure the level of democratic accountability of concrete governance networks with reference to the extent to which they interact with (1) relevant politicians appointed through the institutions of representative democracy, (2) the relevant and affected stakeholders, and (3) the wider citizenry. A case study of two governance networks involved in two Nordic megaprojects illustrates how this measurement device can be brought into use and what the insights are that can be gained from it.

Key Words:

• Network governance
• evaluation criteria
• accountability
• megaprojects

Notes

Both case studies are based on interviews with various stakeholders, politicians, journalists and citizens as well as detailed observations of meetings, conferences and so forth during the period 2006–08. Empirical material such as policy documents, media reports and various evaluations of the two projects stems from a much longer period of time.

During the writing of this article, the Norwegian Olympic Committee withdrew its support for the Troms⊘2018 project. This decision was made only five days after a governmental report on the expenses related to the project estimated the costs to be a net minimum of [euro]2.5 billion, to be paid by the state. The corresponding budget estimate in the Troms⊘2018 proposal was [euro]1.2 billion.