ABSTRACT
In most models of democracy (Held 2006) the actions of government are legitimated through the electoral mandate they have received from the voters. The policy choices of government are further legitimated by the constitutional and legal processes through which they are made, so that even if decision-making is delegated, there is a clear legal basis for the delegation and substantial oversight of the actions of the agents by legislatures or ministers. The argument of this chapter is that this neat model of democratic governance is becoming somewhat suspect, and that increasingly governments are legitimating their existence through their outputs. This shift in legitimation, in turn, places the public bureaucracy at the center not only of delivering services but also of political legitimation.
