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 2Lecture 2

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 III: Post-national Democracy

Post-national democracy

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Communitarian democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4)

Stakeholder democracy

Instrumental legitimacy

Communitarian democracy

Contextual legitimacy

Postnational democracy

Universalistic legitimacy


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Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4)

- A third, innovative strategy for legitimation of the European Union and European democracy is that of a rights-based post-national democracy;

- Both a stakeholder and a communitarian approach have difficulties with the current EU:they either conceive of it as a state-based structure or as a supranational superstate.


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- It can be argued that the current EU is something else, a post-national, multi-leveled, pluralistic order;

- The EU cannot simply draw legitimation from its member-states;

- The EU needs to secure legitimation in its own right;


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- The rights-based strategy elaborates a procedural understanding of the EU polity and of its legitimation;

- It can said to be cosmopolitan in its attempt to overcome the exclusionary nature of communitarian understandings of the EU (Europeans vs. non-Europeans);


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- This means that EU policy-makers have to take into account a range of interests and opinions: - Europeans and non-Europeans;- Transnational movements, including social

movements and NGOs;- Supranational and international bodies.


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- The post-national model emphasises:- The tolerance of difference;- The idea that disagreements need to be

resolved through arguments;- A constitutional order that reflects these

dimensions.


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- A post-national model needs, therefore, first to constitute a European constitutional order, in order for, second, to create a political bond based on rights:- Rights against member states;- Rights against EU agents and institutions;- Rights against other member states’ institutions;- But also: enabling rights vis-à-vis various institutions.


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- The emphasis in this model is particularly on political rights as ways of guaranteeing a tolerance of difference (everyone should be able to participate) and of resolving conflict by means of argumentation (from rights to free speech, free consciousness, to rights to hold referenda etc.);

- Legitimacy is thus firmly grounded in deliberation.


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- The post-national strategy is grounded in the idea that deliberation provides legitimacy as decisions that affect all are tested in the public sphere;

- Communicative power is the main driver of integration, in that it needs to be responsive to the normative demands of diverse groups;

- Since ‘legal rights are founded on the notion of reciprocal recognition … as such [they] can foster a sense of community allegiance’.


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- The idea is that a feeling of commonality is based on a form of ’constitutional patriotism’, that is, the idea the Europeans belong together because they share a number of foundational principles and interpretations of rights;

- EU citizenship is important, because it allows the socialization into a constitutional patriotism.


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- The idea is that the ‘legitimacy deficit can be “mended” by involving the citizens of Europe directly or via their representatives in the EU system of deliberation and decision-making’ (Eriksen 2009: 72)


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Post-national democracy A post-national strategy:

- The active development of a European constitutional and political structure with firmly entrenched rights;

- A set of fundamental rights and democratic procedures;- A delineation of powers and responsibilities (vertical

and horizontal);- Some redistributive measures, and fiscal abilities.


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Post-national democracy - A post-national strategy seems more suitable to the current EU in that it stresses different levels, federal arrangements, and subsidiarity;

- Democracy is situated on different levels, and includes sub-national, national, and EU levels of democracy;


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Post-national democracy - Also James Bohman points to a pluralistic approach, in what he calls a ‘transnational democracy’;- ‘Good democratic governance needs both bigger and smaller units’;- ‘The proper solutions to the problems of democracy are not to find some optimal size or ideal democratic procedure, but rather to establish a more complex democratic ideal’;


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Post-national democracy - Transnational democracy (differing from cosmopolitanism and communitarianism) emphasizes the ‘plurality of institutions and communities that are necessary for the flourishing of humanity’;- States continue to have a role in the political life of the transnational polity, although are one democratic actor or ‘demos‘ among others;


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Post-national democracy - Democracy across borders means that borders are not marking the difference between the inside and outside of a democratic polity;- A democracy of many communities across borders, rather than beyond borders;- The various demoi should enjoy a ‘democratic minimum’, that is, the ‘minimum statuses for citizens necessary for democratic self-rule’.


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Post-national democracy Advantages post-national democracy:- it builds on the rights and principles that are seen as uniquely European (while being universally valid);- borders become less meaningful as European moral norms are also relevant beyond Europe;- weaker tendencies to exclusion;- flexible and polycentric approach.


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Post-national democracy Problems post-national democracy:- Post-national democracy requires a constitutional Europe, which is difficult to achieve;- National debates interpret an EU constitution in different ways; different fears reign;- Is a European dimension replacing a national dimension in citizenship and identity?


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Post-national democracy Problems post-national democracy:- A tension between rights and democracy: - potential problems of juridification in the case of an unbalanced legalized EU order;

- how to resolve the foundation of a deliberative democracy on a procedural basis (that is, by grounding deliberation in foundational norms)?


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Post-national democracy Problems post-national democracy:- pluralism and heterogeneity (impossibility to find consensus through deliberation; variety of histories, legacies, experiences, problems);- only weakly developed common understanding between citizens;- difficulty in obtaining civic solidarity, common understanding, tolerance, respect for pluralism (minimal parameters for deliberation).


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The new era of rights Stefano Rodotà- There is a recent renewal in attachments to rights: both Obama and Hollande refer to gay rights and same sex marriages in public debate;

- Also in Italy, rights have new coinage: the Corte di Cassazione recently ruled in favour of gay marriages;


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The new era of rights Stefano Rodotà- Such renewed relevance of rights has a lot to do with a European dimension;- The European Court of Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provide the basis for the protection and extension of rights;- Also the Lisbon Treaty contributes to a rights extension: for instance, the right to a Citizens’ Initiative.


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The new era of rights Stefano Rodotà- Europe is thus not merely about economic predominance and narrow-minded politics;- Europe is also about rights, and offers an additional level of protection and enablement to citizens;- Economic and monetary integration is paralleled by an integration by means of rights;


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The new era of rights Stefano Rodotà- Europe suffers from a double deficit: 1. democratic (input, participation);2. legitimacy (output, for whom? solidarity);- These deficits have become more evident in the current crisis;- Many now argue for a new constitutional project, including a reinforcement of the EP;


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The new era of rights Stefano Rodotà- If Europe needs ‘redemocratization’ the development of a common economic policy is not enough, it would merely create a “European democracy without a people”;- Current elections result point to times that are changing: ‘citizens’ actions work through rights, and citizens are the indispensable protagonists of a possible new era’.


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

Documents

postnational strategy

postnational model needs

political rights

institutions rights

eu europeans

decisionmaking eriksen

rights vis

eu needs