Introduction

Democracy not only promises egalitarian self-government, but also collective decisions that we are less likely to regret than those taken by non-democratic regimes. The two promises associated with the idea of democracy are intricately linked, but the means to fulfil them can be at odds. For example, political equality and self-government seem to require majoritarian procedures (Dahl 1989), while expert decision-making and technocratic forms of government seem to promise more rational decisions. In any case, however, fulfilling the egalitarian and epistemic promises of democracy requires that the interests of all affected groups are adequately considered in the decision-making-process and brought to bear on decisions (e.g., Warren, Chapter 1, this volume). The fact that some groups are notoriously easier to organise and have better access to negotiations and decision-making processes than others therefore constitutes a serious challenge to democracy's promises. In most societies, groups that lack financial resources, are internally heterogeneous and have diffuse rather than concentrated interests, are under-organised and typically under-represented in politics (Olson 1965, 1982). In addition, democratic theory and practice are confronted with intricate boundary problems: it is difficult to give everyone affected by political decisions, in particular future generations, citizen status, and it remains impossible to define the boundaries of the demos democratically (Arrhenius 2005).

This chapter discusses types of groups that systematically lack voice in political decision-making processes and that are therefore likely to become victims of public policy. They become victims either of political programmes that deprive them of opportunities and resources, or they become victims of political failures to prevent damage to their interests and eventually, their lives. While solutions to the under-representation of all these groups are sorely needed, I want to focus on only one of them that is particularly relevant in the context of this volume: statistical victims. These are policy victims that have not yet materialised and therefore have not been negatively affected yet, but will suffer damages in the near or far future due to decisions not to protect their interests. All statistical victims are thus future victims, although some of them are already born and will suffer damages in the near future, while others have not yet been born and will suffer damages only in the more distant future.