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There has been a lot of talk about the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit', by which is meant its lack of legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. This book provides a critical analysis of the democratic stalemate in European politics. It argues that the root of the 'democratic deficit' has more to do with the domestic political fields of the Union's member-states and the structure of the evolving European political field than with the relationships between supranational institutions. The book analyses the complex ways 'Europe' is integrated into domestic politics and shows how domestic political fields and cultures have prevented deepening integration. As a result of the formation of a European political field, political resources in European 'postnational' and 'postabsolutist' polities are being redistributed. The theory of structural constructivism proposed fuses French structural theories of politics and a 'bottom-up' approach to European integration. The book examines the relationship between French political traditions and the construction of a European security structure from the point of view of identity politics and the French post-imperialist syndrome. The educational and social homogeneity of French civil servants provides a political resource that certain individuals can use in Brussels, influencing the direction and form of European integration. Studying legislative legitimacy in the European Parliament elections, the book highlights that intellectuals are important players in French politics: the politics of the street has always been a key part of French political life.
alliance of visionary politicians, 122 Valluvan The clamour of nationalism.indb 122 30-05-2019 12:06:23 unholy alliances cavalier thinktanks and uncompromising supranational institutions committed to unleashing the civilising power of the multinational corporation and deregulated finance capital. This version of the neoliberal triumph privileges a familiar roll call of organisations and characters. Particular attention is reserved here for the role played by the Mont Pèlerin Society, the RAND Corporation, the Institute for Economic Affairs and the Chicago School
’s account of the monopoly of force in two ways. First, I claim that certain non-state actors can rely on state-based coercive apparatuses to enforce their commandments – that is, they do not need to have a police force or an army of their own. Secondly, I argue that a coercive system may be domain-specific – that is, the scope of its coercive regulation does not have to be as broad as the state’s. This, I argue, is the case for the EU, where supranational institutions rely on national courts and police forces to enforce EU law. In turn, I argue that democracy can be
EU politics and, most notably, the model depicts important roles, not just for national governments, but also for subnational units and supranational institutions in the EU policy process. The MLG model has three key features:7 1. Decision-making competencies are shared by actors at different levels rather than monopolised by state executives. 2. Collective decision-making among states involves a significant loss of control for individual state executives. 3. Political arenas are interconnected rather than nested. The MLG model depicts the EU policy process as one
The book traces the history of international humanitarianism from the anti-slavery movement to the end of the Cold War. It is based on an extensive survey of the international literature and is retold in an original narrative that relies on a close examination of the sources. It explains how relief entered both the national and the supranational institutions' agenda, and the programmes of non-governmental organisations, contributing to shape the relationship between the global North and South. The reconstruction of humanitarianism’s long history unfolds around some crucial moments and events: the colonial expansion of European countries, the two World Wars and their aftermaths, the emergence of a new postcolonial order. Salvatici looks especially closely at the major actors of aid operations (such as the Red Cross, Save the Children, the United Nations agencies, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders) and highlights how the meaning of international humanitarianism has changed over time.
This chapter uses the European integration theory to approach the process of juridification. Existing approaches from the corpus of this theory are drawn on in this chapter in order to help analyse social modernity in the EU. In order to successfully analyse this concept, the chapter attempts to use this corpus to take into account the varying relationships between member states and supranational institutions. This study pays attention to ‘Social Europe’ and the first section of this chapter considers which theories are best suited to refine the concept of juridification. The second section then recounts Habermas’s own survey of action and system theories, explaining Habermas’s attitudes towards the differing theories and theorists, especially Parsons and Luhmann. The chapter ends with an assessment of analyses of Social Europe in relation to the constructivist continuum with the intention of stimulating further research in the future. This chapter includes four figures to illustrate the different theories.
This chapter posits citizenship as necessary to the polity’s democratic authority. Authority depends not on the form in which political power is embedded but rather on how it is constituted and exercised, so our thinking should not be driven by nation-state assumptions. In principle a wide array of forms of political organisation, including international, transnational, or supranational institutions, can be morally justified. What matters is how the political institutions conduce to the freedom and well-being of individuals. Further, it is argued that citizenship is not contingent upon but instead is intrinsic to the possibility and the constitution of legitimate democratic political authority. Citizens are the authors as well as the addressees of political rules. They exercise this agency through authorising representatives who are then accountable to citizens for their performance in discharging citizens’ responsibilities. Moreover, citizens’ political responsibilities extend beyond the territory over which the political bodies they authorise have jurisdiction; morality and thus duties are extra-territorial and inter-temporal.
-states and the structure of the evolving European political field than with the relationships between supranational institutions. It analyses the complex ways 'Europe' is integrated into domestic politics and shows how domestic political fields and cultures have prevented deepening integration. This work innovates in two closely connected ways. First, it introduces a new, sophisticated theory that focuses on Europe both as an object of political struggle between groups and individuals and as a political order whose culture and values these actors reproduce. Building on
bargaining power of the various member states. Moravcsik sees the supranational institutions as having little influence in shaping these outcomes. Rather, institutions in the EU are used to facilitate intergovernmental bargains and improve decision-making efficiency. Moravcsik’s rejection of neo-functionalism is two-fold. Empirically, neofunctionalism has mis-predicted the course of European integration. The emphasis on functional and political spillover has been misguided. Functional linkages can only sporadically be detected, fundamentally calling into question the
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has written extensively on the European Union.
This is the only in-depth account of his project. Published now in a second
edition to coincide with the celebration of his ninetieth birthday, a new
preface considers Habermas’s writings on the eurozone and refugee crises,
populism and Brexit, and the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
Placing an
emphasis on the conception of the EU that informs Habermas’s political
prescriptions, the book is divided into two main parts. The first 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 assailed the
project of modernity in the late twentieth century, and with renewed intensity
in the years since 9/11.
Interdisciplinary in approach, this book engages
with European/EU studies, critical theory, political theory, international
relations, intellectual history, comparative literature, and philosophy. Concise
and clearly written, it will be of interest to students, scholars and
professionals with an interest in these disciplines, as well as to a broader
readership concerned with the future of Europe