Centripetal Democracy
Centripetal Democracy

Author: Joseph Lacey

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-03-31

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 0192517155

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Centripetal democracy is the idea that legitimate democratic institutions set in motion forms of citizen practice and representative behaviour that serve as powerful drivers of political identity formation. Partisan modes of political representation in the context of multifaceted electoral and direct democratic voting opportunities are emphasised on this model. There is, however, a strain of thought predominant in political theory that doubts the democratic capacities of political systems constituted by multiple public spheres. This view is referred to as the lingua franca thesis on sustainable democratic systems (LFT). Inadequate democratic institutions and acute demands to divide the political system (through devolution or secession), are predicted by this thesis. By combining an original normative democratic theory with a comparative analysis of how Belgium and Switzerland have variously managed to sustain themselves as multilingual democracies, this book identifies the main institutional features of a democratically legitimate European Union and the conditions required to bring it about. Part One presents a novel theory of democratic legitimacy and political identity formation on which subsequent analyses are based. Part Two defines the EU as a demoi-cracy and provides a thorough democratic assessment of this political system. Part Three explains why Belgium has largely succumbed to the centrifugal logic predicted by the LFT, while Switzerland apparently defies this logic. Part Four presents a model of centripetal democracy for the EU, one that would greatly reduce its democratic deficit and ensure that this political system does not succumb to the centrifugal forces expected by the LFT.

A Republican Europe of States
A Republican Europe of States

Author: Richard Bellamy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-31

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1107022282

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Examines the democratic legitimacy of international organisations from a republican perspective, diagnoses the EU as suffering from a democratic disconnect and offers 'demoicracy' as the cure.

A Union of Peoples
A Union of Peoples

Author: Pavlos Eleftheriadis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-04-23

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0192596055

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Many political and legal philosophers compare the EU to a federal union and believe its basic laws should be subject to the standards of constitutional law, and thus find it lacking or incomplete. This book proposes a rival theory: that the substance of EU law is not constitutional, but international, and provides a close examination of the treaties and the precedents of the European courts to explore this concept further. Just like international law, EU law applies primarily to the relations between member states, who have democratically chosen to adapt their constitutional arrangements in order to share legislative and executive powers with their partners. The legal architecture of the European Union is thus best understood under a theory of dualism and not pluralism. According to this 'internationalist' view, EU law is part of the law of nations and its distinction from domestic law is a matter of substance, not form. This arrangement is supported by a cosmopolitan theory of international justice, which we may call progressive internationalism. The EU is a union of democratic peoples, freely organizing their interdependence on the basis of principles of equality and reciprocity. Its central principles are not the principles of a constitution, but cosmopolitan principles of accountability, liberty, and fairness. Presenting an 'internationalist' reading, this book proposes that the EU is a creation of the law of nations, and argues for a dualist account of its legal architecture, with EU law and domestic law allocated different institutional roles.

European Democracy as Demoi-cracy
European Democracy as Demoi-cracy

Author: Francis Cheneval

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1317512804

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Whereas ‘democracy’ assumes a single demos or people, ‘demoi-cracy’ refers to democratic government and governance in a polity constituted by separate peoples. Since the European Union consists of many demoi with different collective identities, largely separate public spheres, and a predominantly national political infrastructure, demoi-cracy is an appropriate standard for the analysis and evaluation of democracy in the EU. In its vertical dimension, demoi-cracy is based on the equality and interaction of citizens’ and statespeoples’ representatives in the making of common policies. Horizontally, it seeks to balance equal transnational rights of citizens with national policy-making autonomy. This volume offers exemplary studies exploring the potential for and the workings of demoi-cracy in the EU across a broad range of institutions and issues in both its vertical and horizontal dimensions. In particular, the contributions address the following questions: Is demoi-cracy relevant to citizen attitudes and public discourse on the EU’s legitimacy? How do national and supranational democratic institutions interact? Do the EU’s modes of governance, such as regulation through agencies, mutual recognition, and the open method of coordination, meet demoi-cratic expectations? This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

From Maastricht to Brexit
From Maastricht to Brexit

Author: Richard Bellamy

Publisher: ECPR Press

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 1786609940

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Is the European Union still a viable project? The last few years have been difficult both economically and politically, while its integrative function and legitimacy have been seriously tested. For many social, economic and geo-political reasons, its expansionary moment has stopped abruptly. On the contrary, the Greek economic crisis and the Brexit referendum have raised the spectre of fragmentation and political disintegration. The promise of the EU as a possible model for legitimate governance beyond the nation state lies somewhat in tatters. Even if the EU may indeed survive most of its current crises, is the project of a EU as a normative project beyond rescue? Ever since Maastricht, the democratic legitimacy of the EU has been a key concern of policy makers, citizens and academics alike. This issue is essentially a normative one, and over the same period our work in this area has been at the forefront in exploring what has come to be known (following an early working paper we wrote with this title in 2000) 'the normative turn in EU studies'. The debate on the democratic form and legitimacy of the EU is one that has gone on for some time and to which we, together with other scholars, have tried to contribute in the course of the last twenty years or so. Collecting articles written over the course of this period is not just meant as the testimony of an intellectual journey, but also a way of tracing such a journey in retrospect and mapping the important moments of the intellectual and scholarly debates that have contributed to shaping both our understanding and our expectations of the EU's possible futures.

Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law
Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law

Author: Julie Dickson

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2012-10-11

Total Pages: 668

ISBN-13: 0191652164

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The supranational law of the European Union represents a uniquely powerful, far-reaching, and controversial instance of the growth of international legal governance, one that has forever altered the political and legal landscape of its Member States. The EU has attracted significant attention from political scientists, economists, and lawyers who have analysed its polity and constructed theoretical models of the integration process. Yet it has been almost entirely neglected by analytic philosophers, and the philosophical tools that have been developed to analyse and evaluate the Union are still in their infancy. This book brings together legal philosophers, political philosophers, and EU legal academics in the service of developing the philosophical analysis of EU law. In a series of original and complementary essays they bring their varied disciplinary expertise and theoretical perspectives to bear on central issues facing the Union and its law. Combining both abstract thought in legal and political philosophy and more tangible theoretical work on specific legal issues, the essays in this volume make a significant contribution to developing work on the philosophical foundations of EU law, and will engender further debate between philosophers, political philosophers, and EU legal academics. They will be of interest to all those engaged in understanding the nature and purpose of this unique legal entity.

The Case For Democracy
The Case For Democracy

Author: Natan Sharansky

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2009-02-23

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0786737069

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Natan Sharansky believes that the truest expression of democracy is the ability to stand in the middle of a town square and express one's views without fear of imprisonment. He should know. A dissident in the USSR, Sharansky was jailed for nine years for challenging Soviet policies. During that time he reinforced his moral conviction that democracy is essential to both protecting human rights and maintaining global peace and security. Sharansky was catapulted onto the Israeli political stage in 1996. In the last eight years, he has served as a minister in four different Israeli cabinets, including a stint as Deputy Prime Minister, playing a key role in government decision making from the peace negotiations at Wye to the war against Palestinian terror. In his views, he has been as consistent as he has been stubborn: Tyranny, whether in the Soviet Union or the Middle East, must always be made to bow before democracy. Drawing on a lifetime of experience of democracy and its absence, Sharansky believes that only democracy can safeguard the well-being of societies. For Sharansky, when it comes to democracy, politics is not a matter of left and right, but right and wrong. This is a passionately argued book from a man who carries supreme moral authority to make the case he does here: that the spread of democracy everywhere is not only possible, but also essential to the survival of our civilization. His argument is sure to stir controversy on all sides; this is arguably the great issue of our times.

Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism
Promoting Democracy, Reinforcing Authoritarianism

Author: Benjamin Schuetze

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-11-07

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1108493386

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A detailed examination of the role of US and European 'democracy promoters' in Jordan based on a diverse range of original source material.

Exodus, Reckoning, Sacrifice
Exodus, Reckoning, Sacrifice

Author: Kalypso Nicolaidis

Publisher: Unbound Publishing

Published: 2019-06-27

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1783528109

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Exodus, Reckoning, Sacrifice offers a very different take on Brexit to those found in most news segments or opinion pieces. Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, examines Britain's relationship with the EU through the lens of Greek mythology, using three key archetypes to analyse the differing visions of the world that have clashed so dramatically over this issue. 'Exodus' makes Brexit a story about British exceptionalism; both a British problem and a testimony to the EU’s incapacity to accommodate exceptions. 'Reckoning' brings the story back to the EU’s shores, with Brexit a harbinger of terrible truths which we lump together under the easy label of euroscepticism. And 'Sacrifice' contends with the ironic possibility that after and perhaps because of Brexit, the EU will live up to the pluralist ideals that define both the best of Britain and the best of Europe. Ultimately, the book contains a plea for acknowledging each other’s stories, with their many variants, ambiguities and contradictions. And in this spirit of recognition, it calls for a mutually respectful, do-no-harm Brexit – the smarter, kinder and gentler Brexit possible in our hard-edged epoch of resentment and frustration.

Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe
Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe

Author: Sheri Berman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-01-04

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 0199373213

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At the end of the twentieth century, many believed the story of European political development had come to an end. Modern democracy began in Europe, but for hundreds of years it competed with various forms of dictatorship. Now, though, the entire continent was in the democratic camp for the first time in history. But within a decade, this story had already begun to unravel. Some of the continent's newer democracies slid back towards dictatorship, while citizens in many of its older democracies began questioning democracy's functioning and even its legitimacy. And of course it is not merely in Europe where democracy is under siege. Across the globe the immense optimism accompanying the post-Cold War democratic wave has been replaced by pessimism. Many new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia began "backsliding," while the Arab Spring quickly turned into the Arab winter. The victory of Donald Trump led many to wonder if it represented a threat to the future of liberal democracy in the United States. Indeed, it is increasingly common today for leaders, intellectuals, commentators and others to claim that rather than democracy, some form dictatorship or illiberal democracy is the wave of the future. In Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe, Sheri Berman traces the long history of democracy in its cradle, Europe. She explains that in fact, just about every democratic wave in Europe initially failed, either collapsing in upon itself or succumbing to the forces of reaction. Yet even when democratic waves failed, there were always some achievements that lasted. Even the most virulently reactionary regimes could not suppress every element of democratic progress. Panoramic in scope, Berman takes readers through two centuries of turmoil: revolution, fascism, civil war, and - -finally -- the emergence of liberal democratic Europe in the postwar era. A magisterial retelling of modern European political history, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe not explains how democracy actually develops, but how we should interpret the current wave of illiberalism sweeping Europe and the rest of the world.