Who's Afraid of Justice? A Rejoinder to Danny Nicol

This chapter suggests the deployment of the concept of European citizenship as a means of integration alongside the internal market, proposing the citizenship paradigm of European integration to inform the Union’s future. This proposal, based on a combination of the initial promise of European unity and the potential of EU citizenship, is not purely utopian but is directly rooted in the primary law as well as in the purpose of the integration project.

show abstract

F-Word or Blueprint for Institutional Reform? European Integration and the Continued Relevance of Federalism

Conrad¹,

Steingrímsdóttir²

2012

irpa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Federalist thought has historically been an important source of inspiration in European integration. Although the last few decades have witnessed a gradual decline of the concept's relevance, the most recent developments in the wake of the Eurozone debt crisis have drawn renewed attention to shortcomings in the European Union's institutional architecture as well as to the feasibility of federal solutions to such institutional shortcomings. This article explores the potential of federalist thought as a blueprint for institutional reform in the EU. Based on a brief introduction to the concept of federalism, the article contextualizes federalism in debates on the democratic deficit, the EU's sources of legitimacy and the relationship between the union institutions and the member states. If shortcomings in institutional design are the source of the current (and future) crises, then closer attention needs to be paid to the costs and benefits of federal reorganization in terms of democracy, legitimacy and sovereignty, particularly from the perspective of small states in the EU. Federal reorganization would not only improve the democratic character of EU decision making, but also strengthen the role of small states in the union. However, it also prompts a number of thorny questions, most importantly regarding the construction of a European demos and its relationship to deeply engrained ideas about the nation state as a more or less natural home of democracy.

show abstract

Who's Afraid of Justice? A Rejoinder to Danny Nicol

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Rethinking justice for the EU

Rethinking justice for the EU

The Citizenship Paradigm

F-Word or Blueprint for Institutional Reform? European Integration and the Continued Relevance of Federalism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About