A polity called EU

Essays on the Exercise of Sovereignty in the European Union and the Euro Area

Jaap Hoeksma, Dirk Schoenmaker

ISBN: 978-90-5850-738-9

50 pages

Softcover 
price: € 15,00

One of the main challenges of post-war political philosophy has been to establish the nature of the European Union. The aim of these essays is to demonstrate that the Lisbon Treaty of 2009 has construed the EU as a democracy without turning the Union into a state. Consequently, the EU has neither become a federal state nor remained a confederation, but has rather developed into a democratic polity of states and citizens. The EU may therefore be described in positive terms as a Union of democratic states, which also constitutes a democracy of its own.
This revolutionary breakthrough in the theory of international relations is not only of academic interest, but has also direct consequences for the current battle over the euro. The political construction of the EU as a democratic polity of states and citizens is built upon the practice of joint sovereignty. As the Economic and Monetary Union forms part of the EU, the euro rests on shared sovereignty too. In line with the Westphalian system of international relations, however, the markets believe that a currency must be backed by a state. They regard the euro as a currency without a state and predict that it is doomed to fail.
The authors of these essays put forward that it should first be established what the EU actually is before lasting solutions for the euro can be found. They argue that the EU and the Member States of the euro area are the joint sovereign behind the euro. Finally, they suggest that the Europe’s political leaders should demonstrate beyond doubt that it is possible to jointly exercise sovereignty without becoming ineffective. Seen in this perspective, the battle for the euro is indeed a struggle for the EU.

The Theory of Democratic Integration

Constructing the EU as a Union of States and citizens

Jaap Hoeksma
ISBN: 9789462404595
Softcover/Paperback, 37 pages, 14,95 euro

ISBN: 9789462404762
E-book; 9,95 euro

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The theory of democratic integration (TDI) is the first political theory to account for the dual character of the EU as a Union of States and a Union of Citizens. The new theory argues that the aim of the EU is not to become either a state or an organisation of states, but rather to function as a European democracy. In fact, the TDI demonstrates that the EU can only work as a  transnational European democracy, if it is perceived and presented as a Union of States and Citizens.

The TDI brings about a revolutionary breakthrough in EU research inasmuch as that it replaces the traditional paradigm of states in the study of the EU with the civic template of democracy and human rights. From the civilian perspective, it  seems obvious that, if two or more democratic states agree to share the exercise of sovereignty in a number of fields in order to attain common goals, the organisation they establish for this purpose should be democratic too. In contrast to other international organisations the EU can be defined as a union of states and citizens, in which the citizens are entitled to participate both in the national democracies of their countries and in the common democracy of the Union.

Simultaneously, the TDI sheds fresh light on the way in which sovereignty works in the EU. Whereas the prevailing Westphalian theory emphasises that sovereignty has to be one and indivisible, the functioning of the EU is based on the shared exercise of sovereignty. Defying the argument of economists that sharing sovereignty is a zero sum game, the TDI argues that shared sovereignty is reinforced sovereignty. The member states strengthen their position in the world by sharing the exercise of sovereignty in the framework of the Union. The manner, in which the euro has been saved after the financial crisis of the past decade, forms a compelling example of the effectiveness of shared
sovereignty.

In the analysis of the TDI, the present shortcomings in the democratic governance of the EU have to be attributed to the transition of the Union from an organisation of democratic states to a democratic Union of States and Citizens. However, the normative demand, which the TDI requires the EU to meet, is that the Union should not only consist of democratic states based on the rule of law, but should also function as a constitutional democracy of its own.