Description
Book Synopsis Since the beginning of the European Community students of international politics and of international, resp. Constitutional law, have been wondering what kind of animal it is, and will be, once integration has been completed. Whereas the EC Treaty of 1957 stressed the economic aspects and envisioned a steady and dynamic progress towards a Single Market, it was conspicuously silent about the political implications of integration and the new democratic order. What is needed, so the author argues in this powerful and original contribution to the debate on democratisation of the European Union, is a flexible system that supplements the European decision-making process with various direct democratic instruments such as the use of referenda. These would serve to increase the accountability of the politicians without demanding or requiring a definitive resolution of the exact constitutional status of the Union.
Table of Contents Foreword
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Incompatibilities
- The Concept of ‘Sovereignty’
- Federalism
- Democracy
- Conclusion
Chapter 3. Inadequate Solutions
- The Recent Reform Debate
- Parliamentarisation
- Multi-Cameralism
- Federalism
- Conclusion
Chapter 4. In Search of an Adequate Model: Theoretical Considerations
- Contract Theory
- Fiscal Federalism
- Concepts of Group Representation
- Network Analysis and Game Theory
- New Normative Democratic Theory
- Conclusion
Chapter 5. A Proposal for the Democratisation of the EU
- The Practical Task
- A System of Veto Rights
- Regional Subunits: the Assignment of Powers
- Sectoral Subunits: How to Distinguish Them
- Procedures
- Some Illustrations
- A Summary of the Proposal
Chapter 6. Major Objections
- Democratic Ambivalence (or: How Democratic is Democracy?)
- Democracy vs. Efficiency
- Biases and Asymmetries
- The acquis communautaire
Chapter 7. Models and Realities
Bibliography
Index
