The contributors to this book examine the issues of constitutional choice that face the governments and citizens of today's Europe. Divided into three sections this study addresses: questions of political legitimacy and the meaning of democratic deficit in the EU; the reality of what institutional reforms and decision making processes are possible; and the rights of citizenship and values that should be protected.

Debate about the theory underpinning the nature, workings, and development of the European (EU) has in many ways been hampered in recent years by an intellectual divergence in the two main ways that the EU is conceptualized. On the one hand is a political science and comparative government oriented strand that sees the EU as a political system in its own right. On the other is the international relations tradition which conceptualizes it as another international organization.Alongside this, the EU itself has developed a significant constitutional dimension. Indeed, the debate surrounding the 'Constitutional Treaty' presented several challenges to our capacity to grasp the normative change of this non-state polity. Despite the eventual contestation of the EU's 'constitutionalturn' through the French and Dutch no-votes and the cumbersome procedure of ratifying the Lisbon Treaty in their aftermath, debates about the EU's constitutional quality have not ceased. In the light of these developments, the editors of this volume, along with their distinguished contributors, have attempted to create a more decisively interdisciplinary theoretical approach to studying the EU within the wider world-political context. The volume brings together scholars in a range ofdisciplines across the social sciences to offer, not a complete theory, but rather a theoretical approach combining different stands of political and legal theory. The book's aim is to inspire further engagement with the central tenets of political authority and world order, sovereignty and constitutionalchange and democracy and justice, in the context of the EU's political development.

In June 2003, the Convention on the Future of Europe released what may become the Constitution of the European Union. This timely volume provides one of the first critical assessments of the draft Constitution from the vantage point of political theory. The work combines detailed institutional analysis with normative political theory, bringing theoretical analysis to bear on the pressing issues of institutional design answered - or bypassed - by the draft Constitution. It addresses several themes that play out differently in federal arrangements than in unitary political orders: * European values, especially the legitimate role of alleged common values * liberty and powers - how does the draft Constitution address competing normative preferences? * the European interest: the noble words regarding common European objectives and values are often muddled or conflated, different actors intending quite different things. Several chapters contribute to clarifying the different senses of these terms.

Europe in search of legitimacy : strategies of legitimation assessed / Erik Oddvar Eriksen and John Erik Fossum -- Legitimising the Euro-"polity" and its "regime" : the normative turn in EU studies / Richard Bellamy and Dario Castiglione -- The new Europe : a federal state or a confederation of states? / Daniel J. Elazar -- The EU as a consociation : a methodologial assessment / Olivier Costa and Paul Magnette -- EU legitimacy revisited : the normative foundations of a multilevel polity / Nicole Bolleyer and Christine Reh -- We, the peoples of Europe? / Kalypso Nicolaidis -- Why Europe needs a constitution / Jürgen Habermas -- The idea of a European constitution / Pavlos Eleftheriadis -- The democratic costs of constitutionalisation : the European case / Dieter Grimm -- The constitutional conundrum of the European Union / Sergio Fabbrini -- Europe's "democratic deficit" : the question of standards / Giandomenico Majone -- The myth of Europe's democratic deficit / Andrew Moravcsik -- Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU : a response to -- Majone and moravcsik / Andreas Follesdal and Simon Hix -- Legitimacy in the multilevel European polity / Fritz W. Scharpf -- Beyond a constraining dissensus : the role of national parliaments in domesticating and normalising the politicization of European integration / Sandra Kröger and Richard Bellamy -- An emerging European public sphere / Erik Odvar Eriksen -- A theory of collective identity : making sense of the debate on a European identity / Klaus Eder -- Must Europe be Swiss? : on the idea of a voting space and the possibility of a multilingual demos / Joseph Lacey -- Civil society and EU democracy : "astroturf" representation? / Beate Kohler-Koch -- Whither European citizenship? : eros and civilisation revisited / C. Shore -- Why European citizenship? : normative approaches to supranational union / Rainer Baubock -- Citizenship, immigration, and the European social project : rights and -- Obligations of individuality / Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal -- Solidarity in the European Union / Andrea Sangiovanni

This book provides a general introduction to the European Union (EU) as an ever closer union of states and peoples. It describes how, from its origin in 1958 as an economic community of six states, the EU has grown into a political entity of 25 states with a population of more than 450 million. It also explains the constitution-making process that is currently taking place—with a draft constitution now being submitted for ratification by the 25 member states. The book shows how the distinctive features of a democratic polity that characterize the separate EU member states are gradually replicated in the European Union and how the Union is on its way to becoming a democratic polity of its own kind. Van Gerven writes from a legal perspective, with an eye to political theory and recent American and European history, and with a diverse readership from both sides of the Atlantic in mind.

The Justification of Europe offers an engaging new interpretation of the European Union, combining normative and positive approaches in an innovative way.

International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration focuses on the roles of community, power and security, within the European Union. It features contributions from highly respected international scholars, and covers subjects such as: - sovereignty and European integration - the EU and the politics of migration - the internationalisation of military security - the EU as a security actor - money, finance and power - the quest for legitimacy with regards to EU enlargement.

This book provides a theoretical and historical examination of the speech and deeds of European founders. Using a fresh and innovative approach, this monograph connects political theory with concrete political practices based on empirical evidence, and theorizes the internal process of European reconciliations as it has been experienced by those involved. The book draws upon over 100 interviews, memoirs, autobiographies and essays of elite and grassroot actors across the history of the European Union, from the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1950-2 to the 2010 financial crisis. It introduces the reader to major contemporary Western political thinkers, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur, and examines how their theories develop the interpretation of political phenomena such as European integration. As one of the first studies of EU memories, this approach opens a unique window of analysis to view the development of the European community, and makes a fascinating contribution to our understanding of the political tradition born of 60 years of European integration. A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memory and Policies will be of strong interest to students and scholars of European politics, contemporary democratic theory and EU studies.

This book explores what drives value politics and the way in which it redraws political conflict at EU level. Based on case studies and analyses of statistical data, the book shows what the uses and roles of values have been at EU level over the past decades in both market-related policies and in identity, cultural and morality policies. It challenges the common assumption that the latter is more driven by value conflicts. The research shows the intrinsic similarities between all policy areas regarding the agency and limits of values as drivers of change or continuity. It argues that European values are a broad and flexible symbolic repertoire instrumentalised to serve as a resource for mobilization, legitimation/delegitimation, the conquest and conservation of power. This book will be of key interest to both scholars and students in European studies/politics, comparative politics, public policy, political theory, sociology and cultural studies, as well as appealing to professionals of European affairs within and around the EU institutions.

Today’s Europe is marked by an amazing pace of integration. The European Union now consists of twenty five member states, however there is confusion and disagreement about its future design. Making The European Polity investigates how the European Union should develop and organize itself and offers a reflexive approach to integration based on the theory of communicative action. It conceives of the EU as a law based supranational polity lacking the identity of a people as well as the coercive means of a state and argues that it is a polity with an organized capacity to act, but no sole apex of authority. Making an important contribution to the theoretical discussions on the EU, these contributors explore a range of issues including legitimacy, post-national democracy and integration and provide in-depth analyses of social and tax policy, foreign policy, identity formation, the reform process and the constitutional effects of enlargement. This book will appeal to all political scientists and particularly to students and researchers of European Politics.