A Political Sociology of European Democracy. 2 A Political Sociology of European Democracy Week 5...

A Political A Political Sociology Sociology of of European European DemocracDemocracyy

2

A Political A Political Sociology Sociology of of European European DemocracDemocracyy Week 5Week 5

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, to be handed in at the end (deadline: 30 May, 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


Announcement: Examination

- The essay needs to address a theme related to democracy in or of Europe.

- The essay needs to be set up in a clearly structured way, with a clear introduction with an outline of the paper, a convincing argument in the middle part, and succinct conclusions (including own opinion).

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Introduction


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Multiple Democracies I: Stakeholder Democracy

Stakeholder democracy

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Stakeholder democracy (or the EU as problem-solving regime)

(Eriksen 2009, chapter 4)

- Legitimacy entails a ‘socially sanctioned obligation to comply with government policies even if these violate the actor’s own interests or normative preferences, and even if official sanctions could be avoided at low cost’ (Scharpf 2003: 1).


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Stakeholder democracy (or the EU as problem-solving regime)

(Eriksen 2009, chapter 4)



Instrumental legitimacy

Communitarian democracy

Contextual legitimacy

Postnational democracy

Universalistic legitimacy

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Stakeholder democracy- Without legitimacy, government would be

ineffective or need to turn into a police state;- In stakeholder democracy, legitimacy is viewed

in functionalist or consequentialist terms;- In other words, legitimacy is ultimate grounded

in self-interest (reduction of costs; reduction of risks);


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Stakeholder democracy- Legitimation varies with the salience of

preferences that are potentially violated; - If life, liberty, property interests, or deeply held

normative convictions are at stake, a stronger legitimacy is needed than when Pareto-superior policies increase social welfare without touching on salient interests (Scharpf 2003: 2);


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Stakeholder democracy- Legitimacy historically based on one of three

premises: - traditional/religious, - formal-legal, or - charisma (Weber);

- In modern states, emphasis on formal-legal legitimacy (trust in institutions);

- Two types of legitimacy (input-oriented/output-oriented)


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Stakeholder democracy- Legitimacy relates to the idea that government

needs to serve the ‘common good’;- Input legitimacy entails effective solutions to

social problems, while output legitimacy relates to the correspondence of policy with the preferences of the governed.


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Input vs. output (source: Trouw)


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Stakeholder democracy- Input-oriented tradition:

- shaped by ideals of participatory democracy in the Greek polis and the French revolution, as well as the Rousseauian ideal of the “general will”;- based on expressed preferences of majority (approximation of collective will) (Scharpf 2003: 2).


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Stakeholder democracy- Output-oriented tradition:

- shaped by ideas of “mixed constitutions” (Aristotle, Montesquieu);- common interest threatened by “tyranny of the majority” and political corruption- checks and balances to guarantee effective government (Scharpf 2003: 2).


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Stakeholder democracyThree modes of governing on EU level1. Intergovernmental agreement;

main actors: individual states

2. Joint-decision making; main actors: Commission, Council, EP

3. Supranational centralization.main actors: Commission, ECB, ECJ

- All three do not need deep forms of legitimacy (Scharpf 2003)


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Stakeholder democracy- On the EU level, a stakeholder democracy

would be about economic integration, and ‘little onus on collective tasks and obligations beyond the narrow interests and preferences of the member states’ (Eriksen 2009: 61);

- In such a stakeholder approach, only weak legitimation is needed (Scharpf 2003).


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Stakeholder democracy- The EU is a functional type of organization

that emphasizes integration through law and economy, based on negative integration on which a wider consensus exists;

- The main purpose is promoting the interests of the member states.


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Stakeholder democracy- Citizenship is a form of ‘market citizenship’

(citizens as consumers, producers, users, customers);

- Integration is about deepening the four freedoms (mobility of persons, goods, services, and capital);

- Integration is then based on the idea of a Pareto-optimum: deepening of market integration enhances the good of all.


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Stakeholder democracy- Legitimacy in stakeholder democracy is:

a. derivative (from national democracies) (indirect legitimacy as sufficient);b. performance-related (unstable);c. self-interest-based (legitimacy stems from perception of enhanced self-interest);


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EU as multi-level governance

- .

MultilevelGovernance

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EU as multi-level governance(Eriksen 2009, chapter 8)

- The increased politicisation of the EU has brought out in sharp relief problems with legitimacy;

- The most clear-cut answers with regard to democratic legitimacy problems have been:

- the White Paper on Governance - the Convention on the Future of

Europe


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EU as multi-level governanceLAEKEN DECLARATIONON THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The democratic challenge facing Europe... the Union faces twin challenges, one within and the other beyond its borders. Within the Union, the European institutions must be brought closer to its citizens. Citizens undoubtedly support the Union's broad aims, but they do not always see a connection between those goals and the Union's everyday action.


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EU as multi-level governanceLAEKEN DECLARATION ON THE FUTURE OF THE

EUROPEAN UNION (2001)The democratic challenge facing EuropeThey want the European institutions to be less unwieldy and rigid and, above all, more efficient and open. Many also feel that the Union should involve itself more with their particular concerns, instead of intervening, in every detail, in matters by their nature better left to Member States' and regions' elected representatives. This is even perceived by some as a threat to their identity. More importantly, however, they feel that deals are all too often cut out of their sight and they want better democratic scrutiny.


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- The general approach taken by the EU is one that emphasizes deliberation and participation;

- The main idea seems that the indirect legitimacy provided through national representative democracies should be complemented by deliberative legitimacy on the EU level;


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- The trend towards governance and deliberation is part of a larger transformation in which the structural transformation of the state is acknowledged;

- States are deemed incapable by themselves to govern and to provide political output;


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- Multi-level governance entails:1. decision-making competences are shared by actors at different levels;2. collective decision-making between states means loss of control for individual states;3. political arenas are interconnected but not nested, i.e., part of one unitary political community.


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- State government as a hierarchical systems is then replaced, or complemented, by horizontal forms of interaction between relevant actors in the production of governance;


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- The idea of governance contains normative-democratically speaking three distinct dimensions:

1. Efficiency, flexibility;2. Deliberation, consensus;3. Openness, participation, inclusion;


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- EU governance has so far mostly engaged in the first dimension – efficiency and flexibility – and is in this regard ‘using’ the legitimacy strategy of problem-solving with reference to a minimalist idea of democracy as well as to deliberative methods;


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- Governance on the EU level is skewed because of, on the one hand, the promotion of legitimatory principles (efficiency, participation), but on the other a reduced and selective form of participation;


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- Eriksen thus speaks to the recourse to a form of epistocracy, based on expert reasoning, without citizens having enough knowledge of what is being decided, nor the possibility to intervene;


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- Important problems of MLG include:1. Domesticated civil society;2. Loss of citizenship;3. Legitimacy as problem of communication, rather than inclusion and participation.


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- The problem with governance has become particularly acute since the financial and economic crisis

- Many observers express a concern with the lack of transparency and public influence on decisions taken regarding austerity and EU integration.


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European democracy: European society


European Society

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Governance and civil society- Eriksen talks about one prominent problem

in the governance approach to European democracy: The ‘domestication of civil society’;

- While participation is seen as important in the governance approach, there are problems with inclusivity and independence;

European Society

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Governance and civil societyTwo main problems (Eriksen 2009: 162):

1. the democratic danger of co-optation and perverse legitimationAssociations have a vested interest in outcomes and cannot take an autonomous position (lack of legitimacy)

2. domestication of civil society organizationsParticipation (by invitation) is not about institutionalising protest, but on effective policy-making

European Society

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Governance and civil societyTwo further problems (Eriksen 2009: 162):

1. loss of citizenshipRationalized governance leads to a lack of possibility of individual citizens to sanction the rulers, and thus cannot exercise their democratic rights.

2. blaming the peopleThe European Commission sees the main problem with democracy as about miscommunication and the lack of knowledge of the European citizens about the EU

European Society

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European (civil) society (Rumford 2003)

- A structural problem with European policy-making, including governance, is the participation of wider European society;

- But does such a European society exist?- And if we can identify some kind of European

societal sphere, what is its current role and what role ought it have?

European Society

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European (civil) society- Interest in the idea of European society

stems from the realization that while European integration in terms of economic, legal, and more recently political integration has proceeded rapidly, social integration remains relatively underdeveloped (Rumford 2003: 25)

European Society

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European (civil) society- Another aspect is the realization

that the EU is facing the enormous task of managing a transnational European space, distinct from that of its various national member states

European Society

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European (civil) society- It can be argued that in both European social

integration and the management of European transnational space, ‘society is important because of its absence’ (Rumford 2003: 25);

- Without a European society, however, European governance and European democracy seem impossible;

European Society

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European (civil) society- European integration is thus not

only about the Europeanization of different national member states;

- It involves the emergence of a genuine European public sphere and European civil society;

European Society

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European (civil) societyThe emergence of a transnational social space entails:1. A reconfiguration of the role of nation-states and their societies (but not necessary a demise of the state);2. A different understanding of territoriality. Transnational space is not necessary bounded or cohesive.

European Society

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