Is Ambiguity Good or Bad for Democratic Governance?

Abstract

Ambiguity is often a double-edged sword that provides opportunity to further a democratic agenda in the face of institutional barriers, but with that comes a more complicated and unclear causal pathway that connects citizens to decisions that impact public goods and services. Does ambiguity enhance or hinder the ability of public servants to represent the wants and needs of citizens during the course of designing, developing, and implementing public service programs? The authors examine this at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels to understand its cascading impacts across the complex pathways that connect citizens to the sources of power and decision-making in democratic societies. Conclusions indicate that there are both normative and practical trade-offs created by ambiguity at each level, and the question of whether ambiguity enhances or hinders democratic governance comes down to how representation is balanced against coherence and consistency.