Habermas and European integration

Social and cultural modernity beyond the nation-state

Author:
Shivdeep Grewal
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From its conception to the referenda of 2005 where it met its end, German philosopher Jürgen Habermas wrote in support of the European Constitution. This book is the first in-depth account of his project. Emphasis is placed on the conception of the European Union (EU) that informed his political prescriptions. This study engages with Habermas's thought as a totality, though attention is focussed on themes such as communicative rationality that began to surface in the 1970s. The first part of the book considers the unfolding of 'social modernity' at the level of the EU. Among the subjects covered are Habermas's concept of juridification, the latter's affinities with integration theories such as neofunctionalism and the application of Habermas's democratic theory to the EU. The second part addresses 'cultural modernity' in Europe - 'Europessimism' is argued to be a subset of the broader cultural pessimism that has assailed the project of modernity in recent decades with renewed intensity in the wake of 9/11. The final section looks at the conceptual landscape of the Constitutional Convention. The groundbreaking work of E. O. Eriksen, E. F. Fossum and others provides the most developed Habermasian account of the EU to date. Juridification is put forward as a metatheory of social modernity, and existing approaches from the corpus of European integration theory are drawn. Recent political theory confronts scholars of European integration with difficult questions. The social democrats who were interviewed had the opposite combination of opinions.
eISBN:
9781526130198
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526130198
Online Publication Date:
30 Sep 2018
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Subjects:
Politics
Keywords:
communicative rationality; concept of juridification; Constitutional Convention; cultural pessimism; democratic theory; European Constitution; European Union; Europessimism; German philosopher; Habermasian account; Jürgen Habermas; modernity; neofunctionalism; political theory; social democrats; social modernity
Page Count:
145
Publisher:
Manchester University Press

Series: Europe in Change

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