We the people(s) of Europe: Polity‐making and democracy in the EU

Beetz, Jan Pieter; Corrias, Luigi; Crum, Ben

doi:10.1111/eulj.12269

“…These competing positions could then be analysed in a comparative perspective in order to identify the most plausible among them. To a certain extent, we can see the emergence of such a debate in recent scholarship (see Beetz et al 2017).…”

Section: Constituent Power In the Eu: Beyond Retrospective And Functimentioning

confidence: 98%

Challenging the masters of the treaties: Emerging narratives of constituent power in the European Union

Patberg¹

2018

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Abstract:There is a growing sense that if the EU is to avoid disintegration, it needs a constitutional renewal. However, a reform negotiated between executives will hardly revitalise the European project. In light of this, commentators have suggested that the EU needs a democratic refounding on popular initiative. But that is easier said than done. Shaping the EU has been an elite enterprise for decades and it is hard to imagine how things could be otherwise. In this article, I map four public narratives of constituent power in the EU to sketch out potential alternatives. Political actors increasingly call into question the conventional role of the states as the ‘masters of the treaties’ and construct alternative stories as to who should be in charge of EU constitutional politics, how the respective subject came to find itself in that position, and how it should invoke its founding authority in the future. These public narratives represent a promising starting point for a normative theory that outlines a viable and justifiable path for transforming the EU in a bottom-up mode.

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“…Although a rich debate in political and legal theory has emerged on the appropriate norm for institutionalizing democracy in the EU polity (e.g. Beetz, Corrias, and Crum 2017), distinct norms seem to overlap in their institutional upshot. For instance, demoicrats seem to disagree on institutional prescriptions (compare Beetz 2018;Bellamy 2016;Cheneval and Schimmelfennig 2013;Nicolaïdis 2013).…”

Section: Introduction: Conflicting Conceptions About Popular Sovereig...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Safeguarding, shifting, splitting or sharing? Conflicting conceptions of popular sovereignty in the EU-polity

Beetz¹

2021

Understanding Conflicts of Sovereignty in the EU

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In the aftermath of the Euro-crisis, refugee crisis and Brexit, Europe's finalité politique once again became a topic of heated debate. Both Eurosceptic nationalists and defenders of the EU appeal to the democratic principle of popular sovereignty, but they offer conflicting interpretations. This study seeks to offer a fine-grained framework to analyze this normative conflict of sovereignty. I distinguish four conceptions of popular sovereignty in Europe's transnational polity; each is linked to a parliamentary arrangement. First, national popular sovereignty proposes a safeguarding of sovereign nationstates. Second, European popular sovereignty suggests that decision-making power should shift from the member-states to a European superstate. Third, simultaneous popular sovereignty suggests that national peoples and EU citizens should be represented in the EU. Fourth, shared popular sovereignty points toward national parliamentarians being the central locus of democratic authority in the EU. These conceptions thus result in conflicting institutional prescriptions.

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“…Although a rich debate in political and legal theory has emerged on the appropriate norm for institutionalizing democracy in the EU polity (e.g. Beetz, Corrias, and Crum 2017), distinct norms seem to overlap in their institutional upshot. For instance, demoicrats seem to disagree on institutional prescriptions (compare Beetz 2018; Bellamy 2016; Cheneval and Schimmelfennig 2013; Nicolaïdis 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Safeguarding, shifting, splitting or sharing? Conflicting conceptions of popular sovereignty in the EU-polity

Beetz

¹

2019

Journal of European Integration

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the aftermath of the Euro-crisis, refugee crisis and Brexit, Europe's finalité politique once again became a topic of heated debate. Both Eurosceptic nationalists and defenders of the EU appeal to the democratic principle of popular sovereignty, but they offer conflicting interpretations. This study seeks to offer a fine-grained framework to analyze this normative conflict of sovereignty. I distinguish four conceptions of popular sovereignty in Europe's transnational polity; each is linked to a parliamentary arrangement. First, national popular sovereignty proposes a safeguarding of sovereign nationstates. Second, European popular sovereignty suggests that decision-making power should shift from the member-states to a European superstate. Third, simultaneous popular sovereignty suggests that national peoples and EU citizens should be represented in the EU. Fourth, shared popular sovereignty points toward national parliamentarians being the central locus of democratic authority in the EU. These conceptions thus result in conflicting institutional prescriptions.

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We the people(s) of Europe: Polity‐making and democracy in the EU

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Challenging the masters of the treaties: Emerging narratives of constituent power in the European Union

Challenging the masters of the treaties: Emerging narratives of constituent power in the European Union

Safeguarding, shifting, splitting or sharing? Conflicting conceptions of popular sovereignty in the EU-polity

Safeguarding, shifting, splitting or sharing? Conflicting conceptions of popular sovereignty in the EU-polity

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