a political sociology of european democracy. 2 a political sociology of european democracy week 6...

A Political A Political Sociology Sociology of of European European DemocracDemocracyy

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A Political A Political Sociology Sociology of of European European DemocracDemocracyy Week 6Week 6

Lecture 1Lecture 1

LecturerLecturer

Paul BlokkerPaul Blokker

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The Construction of a European Political Society

• Legitimacy• Normative justifications

Different views on:• Role and relevance of actors (governments, experts,

civil society, citizens)• Institutions and integration

Introduction

Governo LocaleGoverno Locale

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Introduction


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Introduction


Announcement: Examination

- The student will be evaluated at the end of the course by means of a written essay

NB. New deadline: Thursday 7 June, to be handed in by e-mail, by 17:00 pm;

- The written essay will be of a minimum of 3.000 words, and needs to contain a bibliography with at least 10 academic resources.

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Introduction


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Multiple Democracies II: Communitarian Democracy

Communitarian democracy

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Communitarian democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4)

Stakeholder democracy

Instrumental legitimacy


Contextual legitimacy

Postnational democracy

Universalistic legitimacy


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‘To constitute and give life to a body politic is to put some things in common. ... The problem of the Europeans is that they do not know what they want to put in common’.(Manent, 2006: 67)


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Rather than simply a classificatory matter, how one conceptualises the common says much about the models of democracy to which one wants to lend credence. One’s perspective is laden with consequences for how one understands the purpose of the polity and the nature of citizenship, and how one understands the challenges that a particular polity or polities in general may face. It may point towards certain kinds of institutional configuration or ‘regime’ rather than others.

(White, 2010: 106)


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Communitarian democracy To suggest what Europeans might put in common is at the same time to suggest a vision of politics for the EU. Likewise any vision of how a polity should look is going to involve, explicitly or implicitly, a position being taken on what it is that holds the political community together. A debate on the nature of the common is embedded in all discussion of the political, and the implications of different positions are therefore an appropriate target of inquiry.

(White, 2010: 106)


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- Thus, a different strategy for legitimation of the European Union and European democracy is that of a value-based community or a communitarian view of democracy.

- This strategy is based on the need to further clarify the value basis of the EU, by means of a collective process of self-interpretation or self-identification.


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- This strategy has been attempted both in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Convention on the Future of Europe;

- A main discussion was about the question of Europe’s religious heritage as one such a value basis;

- Also the Lisbon Treaty contains a reference to Europe’s religious inheritance.


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- example


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- example


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- example


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- example


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- example


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- The idea behind the communitarian strategy is that the EU is a p0lity in the making, and in order for it to become a robust political community with democratic legitimacy it needs to stimulate the idea of a common identity, which can then serve as a basis for shared objectives and visions for the European project.


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- This perspective posits that ‘because of a common destiny, a common fate induced by common vulnerabilities, people are turned into compatriots who are willing to take on new collective obligations to provide for each other’s well-being’ (Eriksen 2009: 66).


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Communitarian democracy - On the political philosopher’s Will Kymlicka’s

account, the significance of a national identity and culture for democracy consists of the fact that it provides

- a common language for communication as well as

- a system of meaning in order to make meaningful choices;


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Communitarian democracy - National identity thus provides individual citizens

with meaning, means of communication and a distinct identity. A ‘societal culture’, in Kymlicka’s terms, consists of a ‘territorially concentrated culture, centred on a shared language which is used in a wide range of societal institutions, in both public and private life’ (in: Blokker 2009)


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Communitarian democracy - Imagined community

“It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion. Renan referred to this imagining in his suavely back-handed way when he wrote that 'Or l’essence d'une nation est que tous les individus aient beaucoup de choses en commun, et aussi que tous aient oublié bien des choses.”


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“With a certain ferocity Gellner makes a comparable point when he rules that 'Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist.' The drawback to this formulation, however, is that Gellner is so anxious to show that nationalism masquerades under false pretences that he assimilates 'invention' to 'fabrication' and 'falsity', rather than to 'imagining' and 'creation‘.“


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“In this way he implies that 'true' communities exist which can be advantageously juxtaposed to nations. In fact, all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined. Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined”.(Benedict Anderson (1983), Imagined Communities)


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- A communitarian strategy is based on the socio-cultural mobilization of people around particular ethical- cultural values and the idea of clear boundaries between the in-group (EU citizens) and the out-group (non-EU citizens);


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- Thus, ‘once established, the sense of common identity is maintained through a system of border control, which excludes those deemed as others, and a system of military defence that protects against external aggression, influence, and control’.


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A European strategy of communitarian democracy:

- The active development of a we-feeling;- The identification of a set of European values;- Socialization of people into becoming ‘Europeans’;- A set of clearly identified criteria of who are

Europeans and who are not.


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Communitarian forms of legitimacy:- Democracy is here about searching for shared

values, identify problems which need collective attention, and make hard choices about non-commensurable entities;

- Communitarian legitimacy then views democracy then as deliberation upon the common good, and the enhancement of solidarity.


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Communitarian forms of legitimacy:- Citizens are then supposed to participate in the

collective quest for a common good and interest;- There is thus a strong emphasis on political

socialization and the development of feelings of belonging.


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Communitarian democracy Communitarian democracy as a model:

- Communitarian democracy gives a priority to an ‘ethic of identity’ (Blokker 2010), that is, the idea that democratic society needs a minimal level of shared identity;

- The ‘community is paramount and communal solidarity the overriding value’ (Rosenfeld 2006);


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- Identity fulfils various functions:- facilitates meaningful communication;- facilitates meaningful choices for

individuals;- stimulates some form of solidarity

between members of a community ‘that will never meet’, an ‘imagined community’


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- Modern democracies need to make choices on membership and its criteria;

- In addition, any kind of democracy needs some cultural substrate (based on a common history, traditions and shared language);

- Communitarian democracy is about ‘patriotism’ and a shared ‘love of the particular’ of the polity;


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- This means that identity is ultimately prior to rights in a communitarian democracy;

- In other words, rights are defined through the lens of a specific community;

- Specific rights are deemed more important in some states than in others: social rights, freedom of expression, religious rights


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Communitarian democracy:- Communitarian democracy is akin to what the political

philosopher Michael Walzer has called “Liberalism 2”, which "allows for a state committed to the survival and flourishing of a particular nation, culture or religion or of a limited set of nations, cultures, and religions - so long as the basic rights of citizens who have different commitments or no such commitments at all are protected."


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Communitarian democracy Benefits of EU communitarianism:

1. Symbolic dimension: Potentially tying citizens to the European project (reflection of key values);2. Dialogic dimension: facilitation of debate on European values (e.g. religion);3. Collective dimension: emphasis on the common good.


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Communitarian democracy Problems with communitarianism:

1. No autonomous political sphere, but politics expression of national community;2. Depoliticisation;3. Diversity is downplayed (e.g. EU is pluralistic);4. Rights are understood contextually, and less so in a universalistic way.


a political sociology of european democracy. 2 a political sociology of european democracy week 6...

Documents

models of democracy

communitarian strategy

common identity

lecturer paul blokker

wellbeing eriksen

common fate

common vulnerabilities

common destiny