Abstract

By and large, it is argued that political decisions in a democracy derive their legitimacy from the _demos_, the democratic people, through a qualified and fair procedure. However, the _demos_ cannot be seen as a natural given and its legitimate delimitation has recently become an issue of much debate. This essay supports and defends the view that a _demos_ cannot be 'generally legitimate,' but only with regard to a specific issue. In consequence, the appropriate allocation of authority will be shown to constitute a necessary precondition of democratically legitimate decisions and should thus be seriously considered in a democracy. As a pragmatic approach, this article introduces subsidiarity as a general principle to guide the appropriate allocation of authority in the real world, be it within, between or beyond states