The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy: On Populism and Technocracy. Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue on populism and technocracy in the integration and governance of the European Union (EU), framing these opposing approaches in the context of polarised debate on the (il)legitimacy of the EU. The special issue was conceived as an interdisciplinary approach to questions of the EU’s legitimacy in the aftermath of structural crises (the eurozone, sovereign debt and the election and appointment of governing agents) and spontaneous crises (migration, external state and non-state security challenges, Brexit and Euroscepticism). Since the special issue’s conception the unanticipated Covid-19 pandemic, and responses from the EU and its member states (current and former) starkly illuminated debates on how the EU should operate, the limits of its power and the limits of its popular legitimacy. The era of passive consensus has been replaced by claims of legitimacy based on active expert-informed intervention, alongside populist claims of the EU’s inherent illegitimacy as an undemocratic technocracy. As such the special issue’s objective is to critically analyse manifold ways in which the populist-technocratic divide is narrated and performed in different regions, disciplines, and social and political systems in an era of growing internal and external challenges to the Union. We observe that the EU’s institutions remain highly adaptable in responding to challenges, but that member-states have continued and accelerated a tendency to nationalise success and Europeanise failure, with the EU acting as a perennial scapegoat largely due to the ease with which it can be narrated as a site of projection for mistrust, resentment, and social grievances. We argue that the relationship between populism and technocracy is rapidly evolving from an imagined binary into a much more fluid, overlapping, and reversible set of political narratives. We conclude that despite the changing nature of populist-technocratic debates and the resilience and adaptability of the EU, it faces accelerating challenges to its legitimacy in the new era of ‘politics of necessity’.

Public diplomacy in an age of perpetual crisis: assessing the EU's strategic narratives through six crises

“…In the domestic realm, the concatenation of crises we are now seeing makes it difficult to spread a neutral pro-European message. Political groups within EU Member States often use the EU as a scapegoat for their own national benefit, without a shared perspective (Foster et al ., 2021). In the foreign domain, this strategy is used in cultural relations with the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and even Algeria and Syria.…”

EU Public Legitimation in the Social Media Era: Co‐ordinating the Political Communication of the European Commission

“…Fidesz in Hungary, PiS in Poland and the Conservatives in the UK have used the circles to blame the EU for emerging crises as part of populistic culture wars. Foster et al (2021) argue that this populistic approach of opponents is much more in touch with the affections of citizens than is the Commission's traditional technocratic line.…”

“…Historically, EU integration has been based on consensus among elites and technocratic governance (Foster et al, 2021; Haverland et al, 2018), with a ‘closed door’ policy in communication affairs (Brüggemann, 2010; Meyer, 1999). The underlying rationale was that top‐down, informed Europeans would be less sceptical (Gallego et al, 2015; Sternberg, 2016).…”

“…Legitimacy results both from external and internal sources (Suchman, 1995). Traditionally, the legitimacy of the EU as a political system has been viewed as a matter of input and output legitimacy (Foster et al, 2021). Input legitimacy relates to the level of (organized) public participation, through the European Parliament and the European Council, based on a sense of identity and community.…”

Brexit y migración: revisión de literatura

“…Los países miembros de la Unión Europea se ven cada vez más envueltos en debates sobre su legitimidad, su influencia en la soberanía nacional y la forma de actuar frente a nuevos retos o situaciones como la COVID-19, lo que aumenta el escepticismo europeo y deja al Brexit como un ejemplo de la creciente incertidumbre y desconfianza hacia el organismo europeo (Foster et al, 2021). King (2021), el Brexit es un problema para el continente europeo, el Reino Unido y para el mundo entero, puesto que, en vez de proponer soluciones para un país, crea otros problemas para el mismo y para Europa, y genera una ruptura en la dinámica social del continente, dando pie a inconvenientes irreversibles en ámbitos nacionales, pero sobre todo en temas migratorios y comerciales.…”