A Political Sociology of European Democracy. 2 A Political Sociology of European Democracy Week 3 Lecture 1 Lecturer Paul Blokker.

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A Political A Political Sociology Sociology of of European European DemocracDemocracyy Week 3Week 3

Lecture 1Lecture 1

LecturerLecturer

Paul BlokkerPaul Blokker

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Introduction– Democracy on the European

level/post-national democracy– The EU after Lisbon

– Europe as a ‘beacon of democracy’

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Governo LocaleGoverno Locale

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DemocracyBeyond the State

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Democracy beyond the state- Democracy on the European level has two

dimensions:

1. The democratic level of European institutions (the European Commission; Council; European Parliament);

2. The democraticness of the constituent parts (the member states) as well as of aspiring members (and third actors with which the EU interacts).

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Democracy beyond the state- At least since the Treaty on

European Union (Maastricht 1992) has the EU expressed adherence to the principles of liberty, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law;

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Democracy beyond the stateDRAWING INSPIRATION from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law,

RECALLING the historic importance of the ending of the division of the European continent and the need to create firm bases for the construction of the future Europe,

CONFIRMING their attachment to the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law…

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Democracy beyond the state- Two important questions arise:

1. Should the EU itself be democratic in order for it to promote standards of democracy?

2. Even if one agrees that the EU should indeed be democratic, what would democracy look like at the post-national level?

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Democracy beyond the state- Three possible democratic

models (see Rumford 2002):

1.Representative post-national democracy

2.Cosmopolitan Democracy3.Agonistic Democracy

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Democracy beyond the state1. Representative post-national democracy- Emphasis on the standards of national,

representative democracy;- Democratic states are building-blocks for EU

democracy;- “If the Union is to transform itself from a system

of democratic states into a democratic system of governance, it must first crucially remain a system of demcoratic states” (Laffan 1999).

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Democracy beyond the state1. Representative post-national democracy- Democratization of the EU is incremental,

piecemeal;- The EU is “naturally” evolving towards a

federal, democratic structure (through devolution etc.) ;

- A European democracy needs a singular public sphere, European identity, and European public;

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Democracy beyond the state2. Cosmopolitan Democracy- Democracy is not confined to the nation-state

(anymore);- Democracy and citizenship manifest themselves

beyond state levels and states, societies are increasingly interrelated (“overlapping communities of fate”);

- New forms of political participation emerge;- Much attention for the control of international

violence/war and for international intervention.

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Democracy beyond the state2. Cosmopolitan Democracy- The EU is a cosmopolitan order in the

making;- European citizenship provides access to

rights beyond the national level;- The EU has transnational forms of

governance guided by democratic precepts;- The EU promotes democracy externally.

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Democracy beyond the state3. Agonistic Democracy- Democratization is about the preservation and recognition

of difference;- Democratic politics is about turning antagonism into

agonism;- Democracy is viable exactly when “healthy” agonism

exists between differences views;- EU citizenship is a beginning, but needs to be expanded in

cultural and political terms;- European identity needs to recognize pluralism;- EU democracy is about realizing democratic practice

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Existing Democracy

Beyond the State

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Democracy beyond the state- Currently, the EU operates on the basis

of a system of ‘dual representation’:

- representation through national government/member states (indirect);

- representation through the European Parliament (direct).

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Democracy beyond the state- Various problems arise:a.Not all member states have the same weight on

the EU level, hence there is no equal representation of citizens through their governments;

b.Treaty change goes almost entirely through national governments (Council);

c. To what extent is national politics Europeanized? To what extent are national citizens informed/consulted on European matters?

d.The principle ‘one citizen, one vote’ is not available in the European Parliament (citizens vote for national representatives; parties group in party groups);

e. The European Parliament is not a full-blown parliament à la national parliaments.

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Democracy beyond the state- European citizens have no possibility to

substitute incumbent European politicians: the political leadership of the EU is neither directly chosen nor sanctioned by the European public;

- The main democratic procedures in the EU are indeed those of the member states. This would ask for: public involvement in European affairs, and public control over European politics.

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Democracy beyond the state- In reality, EU politics is of a ‘second-

order’ kind:

- European politics hardly figures in national debates;

- European parliamentary elections are dominated by national issues;

- European parliamentary elections see a persistently low turn-out by voters.

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EU DemocracyAfter Lisbon

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The European Constitution was an

attempt to create a political Europe and to democratize the European Union;

- The European Constitution sought to create a ‘constitutional moment’, which refounded the EU on a democratic basis by means of a constituent power;

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The emphasis was on a singular

constitutional document, which was to replace existing legal pluralism;

- The constitution was an an attempt to integrate a European polity around shared values and ideas (e.g. Christianity; human rights; democracy)

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The process of constitution-making was

innovative (the ‘convention method’) in that it attempted to be more inclusive and deliberative than normal EU politics;

- The constitution-making project failed, however, due to negative votes in two national referenda (France, the Netherlands).

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European Democracy after Lisbon- There was a persistent gap between EU official

rhetoric (and national official rhetoric) and civil attitudes towards European integration;

- The official EU narrative seems based on an ‘iron law’ of integration; any attempt of critique or dissent is labeled Euro-scepticism or populism, and hence as not relevant.

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The constitutional project was ultimately

replaced by the Lisbon Treaty or ‘reform treaty’;

- This treaty does not have the status of a singular constitutional document, and does not create a monistic legal EU order.

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The Lisbon Treaty is an international law treaty

binding the various EU member states;

- The Treaty does, however, attempt to continue with a democratization of the EU:

DESIRING to enhance further the democratic and efficient functioning of the institutions so as to enable them better to carry out, within a single institutional framework, the tasks entrusted to them (preamble, Treaty of Lisbon)

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The question remains: to what extent does

the Lisbon Treaty significantly contribute to a further democratization of the EU?

- In terms of main principles and values, the Lisbon Treaty explicitly ties the EU to a ‘need to democratise representation, political participation, openness and accountability ofEU institutions’ (Priban 2012: 74).

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European Democracy after Lisbon- ‘Art. 9 of the Treaty opens by drafting the

first principle of justice as fairness – the equal treatment of all citizens before EU laws – together with the legal construction of EU citizenship as additional to and not replacing national citizenship’ (Priban 2012: 74-5);

- The EU thus fully adheres to one of the foundational principles of any democratic polity.

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European Democracy after Lisbon- In Art. 10 TEU, the Union is specified as an

organisation ‘founded on representative democracy’, which takes two forms:

1. Its Member States are assumed to be democratic nation states functioning

through their representative political bodies;2. Furthermore, the Union itself

guarantees direct representation of EU citizens in the European Parliament.

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European Democracy after Lisbon- Instead of directly democratizing the EU,

‘the Lisbon Treaty seeks to strengthen democratic controls of EU institutions by the alternative strategy of making national democratically elected parliaments part of its decision-making process and effectively turning them into agencies of the EU system of political checks and balances’ (Priban 2012: 75).

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European Democracy after Lisbon- The Lisbon Treaty does, however, also

attempt to enhance other democratic channels, in particular that of a European public sphere and civic influence:

Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties (art. 11.4).

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A Political Sociology of European Democracy. 2 A Political Sociology of European Democracy Week 3 Lecture 1 Lecturer Paul Blokker.

Documents

introduction democracy

state democracy

agonism democracy

standards of democracy

existing democracy

pluralism eu democracy

european level

eu level