Europe in Search of Legitimacy: Strategies of Legitimation Assessed

Abstract

In this article, we assess three explicit strategies (based on three logics of political integration) as possible solutions to the European Union’s legitimacy problems. The first strategy amounts to a scaling down of the ambitions of the polity-makers in the European Union (EU). The second strategy emphasizes the need to deepen the collective self-understanding of Europeans. These two modes of legitimation figure strongly in the debate on aspects of the EU, but both have become problematic. The third strategy concentrates on the need to readjust and heighten the ambitions of the polity-makers so as to make the EU into a federal multicultural union founded on basic rights and democratic decision-making procedures. Taking stock of the ongoing constitution-making process, the authors ask how robust such an alternative is and how salient it is, as opposed to the other two strategies.

The European Citizens’ Initiative: Transnational Democracy in the EU at last?

“…Erik Oddvar Eriksen and John Erik Fossum have described Moravcsik's take on EU democracy as "delegated democracy": in its democratic legitimacy, European integration depends on democratic processes and procedures that are institutionalized at the domestic level, making further democratization at the supranational level unnecessary (Eriksen & Fossum 2007; cf. Eriksen & Fossum 2004;Eriksen 2009). For scholars in the postnational tradition, however, this is a highly incomplete image of European integration, as the process has proceeded far beyond the form of intergovernmentalism that Moravcsik describes (Eriksen & Fossum 2007;Eriksen 2009).…”

“…Habermasian discourse theorists have therefore pointed out the democratic shortcomings of community building as a "strategy for legitimation" in the EU (e.g. Eriksen & Fossum 2004).…”

An emerging EU strategic narrative? Twitter communication during the EU’s sustainable energy week

“…Issues of legitimacy have long plagued the European integration project (see, among many Beetham and Lord, 1998;Lord, 2000;Verdun and Christiansen, 2000;Eriksen and Fossum, 2002), but such problems have attained a higher profile since the advent of the euro crisis (McCartney, 2013;Bellamy and Weale, 2015). In response to much of this criticism, the two Barroso Commissions were unique in their determination to engage with citizens and encourage participation and dialogue.…”

A integração do conceito de patriotismo constitucional na cultura política européia

“…Essa estratégia se baseia em uma lógica instrumental, relacionada com a necessidade de resolver os problemas dos Estados-membros associados a globalização econômica, migrações multiétnicas, problemas de meioambiente, crimes internacionais. 27 A segunda estratégia enfatiza a necessidade de autocompreensão coletiva dos europeus, tornando a Europa uma comunidade baseada em valores, fundada em uma identidade comum européia. A proposta de tal estratégia é formar um demos europeu, de maneira a permitir à Europa resolver seus problemas de legitimidade.…”