Legitimacy and the European Union: The Contested Polity / Edition 1

by Thomas Banchoff, Mitchell Smith

Overview

Since the Maastricht ratification debate of the early 1990s, the legitimacy of the European Union has become a subject of controversy. With unprecedented force, Europeans have begun to question the need for deeper integration. Some fear threats to established national identities, while others perceive the emergence of a distant but powerful Brussels, beyond the reach of democratic control. Legitimacy and the European Union breaks with established approaches to the problem of the legitimacy of the European Union by focusing on the recent trend towards reconceptualization of the EU not as a superstate or an organization of states, but as a multi-level, contested polity without precedent. The book examines the implications of this reconceptualization for the problem of legitimacy. Individual chapters focus on policy areas, institutions and identity politics. Taken together, they reach two main conclusions. While Europeans do not strongly identify with the EU, they increasingly recognize it as a framework for politics alongside existing national and subnational structures. And while the EU lacks central democratic institutions, the integration process has spawned significant informal and pluralist forms of representation. Rethinking recognition and representation ouside the context of the nation state points to important, if little understood, actual and potential sources of EU legitimacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415181884
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/28/1999
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Banchoff, Thomas; Smith, Mitchell

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction, Thomas Banchoff, Mitchell P. Smith; Part 1 Legitimacy and EU Policies; Chapter 2 EU Legitimacy and the “Defensive” Reaction to the Single European Market, Mitchell P. Smith; Chapter 3 Unity-In-Diversity: Cultural Policy and EU Legitimacy, Melissa Pantel; Chapter 4 Reconciliation and Legitimacy, Lily Gardner Feldman; Part 2 Legitimacy and Institutions; Chapter 5 Political Part Ies and the Problem of Legitimacy in the European Union, Robert Ladrech; Chapter 6 National Part Ies and the Contestation of Europe, Gary Marks, Carole Wilson; Chapter 7 The European Parliament and EU Legitimacy, Wolfgang Wessels, Udo Diedrichs; Part 3 Legitimagy and Identity; Chapter 8 ::, Rey Koslowski; Chapter 9 National Identity and EU Legitimacy In France and Germany, Thomas Banchoff; Chapter 10 Political Rhetoric and the Legitimation of the European Union, John Gaffney; Chapter 11 Conclusion, Thomas Banchoff, Mitchell P. Smith;

Editorial Reviews

German and US political scientists describe how scholars are increasingly seeing the European Union not as a super-state or an organization of states, but as a multi-level, contested polity without precedent in national or federal experience. They ponder the implications of such a conceptualization for the problem of legitimacy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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