Epilogue: Tracing the Politicisation of the EU—A Research Agenda for Exploring the Politicising Strategies in the Future of Europe Debates

Haapala, Taru; Oleart, Álvaro; Beyer, Jan

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82700-7_13

Cited by 1 publication

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“…There may also be a worry that a focus on more political pluralism may lead European integration towards a ‘constraining dissensus’ (Hooghe and Marks, 2009). However, we argue that there are significant risks to the European Commission maintaining its aversion towards politicization by emphasizing its ‘technical’ and ‘non‐political’ role (see Haapala and Oleart, 2022). Blocking agonistic forms of politicization and democratic contestation opens the door towards antagonistic forms of conflict as illustrated by the populist appeals of, for instance, Orbán or Le Pen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

‘Democracy without Politics’ in the European Commission's Response to Democratic Backsliding: From Technocratic Legalism to Democratic Pluralism

Oleart

Theuns

2022

J of Common Market Studies

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The debate on EU responses to democratic backsliding in EU member states has mostly been anchored on technocratic appeals to the rule of law and judicial independence, and on Poland and Hungary. In this article, we ask: What understandings of democracy have shaped the European Commission's response to democratic backsliding in recent years? After developing an understanding of pluralist democracy, we uncover the way in which the European Commission conceives of democracy through a discourse analysis of European Commissioners' speeches (2018-21) and a normative-theoretical analysis. We identify the Commission's conception as a form of 'democracy without politics', and argue that it matches the EU's policy choices in regard to democratic backsliding. We argue that a fuller, healthier and normatively more attractive conception of democracy encompasses more attention to political pluralism, agonistic contestation and the vibrancy of civil society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%