A Political Sociology of European Democracy

1. A Political Sociology of European Democracy

2. A Political Sociology of European Democracy Week 6 Lecture 2 Lecturer Paul Blokker 2

3. Governo Locale Introduction 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 3

4. Governo Locale Introduction 4

5. Governo Locale Introduction • Announcement: Examination • The student will be evaluated at the end of the course by means of a written essay • NB.Newdeadline: 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. 5

6. Governo Locale Introduction 6

7. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Multiple Democracies III: Post-national Democracy 7

8. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Communitarian democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) 8

9. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • A third, innovative strategy for legitimation of the European Union and European democracy is that of arights-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. 9

10. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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; 10

11. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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); 11

12. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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. 12

13. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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. 13

14. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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. 14

15. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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. 15

16. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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’. 16

17. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) • 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. 17

18. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) 18

19. Governo Locale Post-national democracy Post-national democracy (Eriksen 2009, chapter 4) - 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) 19

20. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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. 20

21. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 21

22. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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’; 22

23. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 23

24. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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’. 24

25. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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. 25

26. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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? 26

27. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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)? 27

28. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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). 28

29. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 29

30. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 30

31. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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. 31

32. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 32

33. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 33

34. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 34

35. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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; 35

36. Governo Locale Post-national democracy 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’. 36