The Levelling Up of Constituent Power in the European Union

Abstract

In this article, I elaborate a conceptual innovation that underlies, if only in nascent form, Jürgen Habermas's notion of pouvoir constituant mixte and could significantly advance research on the democratic legitimacy of EU constitutional politics: the levelling up of constituent power. According to this idea, state-level pouvoirs constituants may issue an authorization for constitutional decision-making at the supra-state level and thereby bring about a new constituent power whose composition can take a variety of forms. This conceptual framework paves the way for a systematic analysis of the EU's pouvoir constituant and its relation to the demoi of the member states. At the same time, it renders it an open normative question of who should be in charge of EU constitutional politics.

Demoicracy, Transnational Partisanship and the EU

“…The specific argument of this article has been that existing bonds of allegiance and solidarity can effectively be reshaped by transnational partisan agents who contest the fundamentality of national identities and promote an alternative, post‐national form of peoplehood that conforms to a normatively grounded vision of an alternative Europe. Importantly, transnational partisanship so conceived need not involve affirming existing European and domestic political institutions and power structures; indeed, it might take the shape of principled resistance to EU policy or (trans‐) national elites, or of mobilizing citizens for the exercise of supra‐state ‘constituent power’ (on this concept, see Patberg, ). What is crucial is that it credibly challenges the national institutions and identities that play a significant role in preventing the emergence of a supranational demos in contemporary Europe.…”

Transnational partisan networks and constituent power in the EU

“…Niesen (, pp. 190–191), for example, toys with the idea that the Habermasian approach might hold the potential to empower “future subjects of constitutional reform,” by providing them with a “new language in which to ground transformative European citizen engagement.” Similarly, Patberg (, p. 210) interprets Habermas's model as inviting reflection on how the pouvoir constituant mixte can be “brought into the world via a conscious decision taken by the demoi of the member states.”…”

Transnational Partisanship and Networked Constituent Power in the EU

“…As a response to this question, a small number of political and legal theorists have recently elaborated sophisticated accounts of constituent power in the EU that are intended to resolve these complex normative and conceptual issues (Cheneval 2011;Crum 2012;Habermas 2011;Niesen 2017;Patberg 2017;von Achenbach 2017). In this paper, I begin by outlining these accounts.…”