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Institutions For Future Generations$
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Institutions For Future Generations

Iñigo González-Ricoy and Axel Gosseries

Print publication date: 2016

Print ISBN-13: 9780198746959

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2017

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198746959.001.0001

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An Ombudsman for Future Generations

An Ombudsman for Future Generations

Legitimate and Effective?

Chapter:
(p.117) 7 An Ombudsman for Future Generations
Source:
Institutions For Future Generations
Author(s):

Ludvig Beckman

Fredrik Uggla

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198746959.003.0007

This chapter examines the possibility to establish ombudsmen as instruments for the protection of the interests of future generations. We argue that such an institution would be advantageous on grounds of feasibility and democratic legitimacy. As an ombudsman does not have the power to sanction or compel, such an institution would be both more acceptable to parliaments and governments and more consistent with various conceptions of democratic legitimacy. However, this does not mean that the institution would be inconsequential. Drawing on examples of ombudsmen in other contexts, we argue that such institutions can in some cases make a political difference despite its lack of powers to sanction or compel. In sum, we argue that an ombudsman for future generations could turn out to be a solution that is feasible, democratically acceptable, and potentially effective.

Keywords:   ombudsman for future generations, ombudsman, democratic legitimacy, constitutionalism, feasibility, effectiveness

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