This paper applies to democracy Max Weber's classic theory of the instrumental legitimation of authority. It develops a model that takes into account the stimulus of institutional context and the influence on responses of individual perceptions of institutions, the experience of contacting...

In the EU's system of multi-level governance, decisions are normally taken by consensus following deliberations among 28 national governments in which both large and small states participate. However, they must also be co-ordinated with politics and policies in 28 separate national systems of...