An extended separation of powers model as the theoretical basis for the representation of future generations Professor Joerg Chet Tremmel, PhD, PhD
[email protected] Version 26 July 20131 forthcoming in: Birnbacher, Dieter / Thorseth, May (ed.) (2014): Roads to Sustainability. London: Earthscan Abstract The growing library on the representation of future generations provides the interested reader with more and more examples of institutions for intergenerational justice, e.g. the Commission for Future Generations in Israel, the Ombudsman for Future Generations in Hungary or the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Sustainable Development in Germany. However, the long-term success of this institutionalisation remains fragile as long as the classical separation of powers model dividing political power into legislative, executive and judicial branches is not called into question. This article argues that the theoretical starting point for any attempts to institutionalise sustainability should be an extension of the ruling model. The century-old separation of powers into three branches as designed by Montesquieu in 1748 is not fitting for modern times. A new four-powers model must include an institutional level that would bring the interests of posterity into the decision-making processes of today. The present demos of the 21st century can negatively affect the living conditions of future demos much more than in earlier times. In the 18th century in the course of the first introduction of democracy in a country in the modern sense of the word (i.e. a country other than an antique polis) the concept of ‘checks and balances’ evolved in the Federalist Papers. It was designed to protect parts of the population against the “tyranny of the majority”.