Democratic representation in the EU: Two kinds of subjectivity

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

While the Lisbon Treaty embraces representative democracy and political equality, a clear division or hierarchy of competences is absent. The Treaty distinguishes between an electoral, a territorial, a functional and a direct channel of representation, without clarifying the relationship between them. Moreover, the current system of representation has two different normative subjects: the individual and the state. The former points towards an integrated European polity with state-like characteristics, while the latter treats the EU as an advanced intergovernmental organization. The former is primarily enacted through electoral, functional and potentially direct representation, whereas the latter is primarily enacted through territorial representation. We argue that these two kinds of subjectivity relate to political equality in different ways, and that they are mixed within the same channels of representation. The mix of these two forms of subjectivity in the different channels of representation contributes to the blurring of political equality for each of the subjectivities. We disagree with the interpretation of the EU's compound system of representation as being democratic, therefore. Different levels and channels of representation only make for democratic representation if they succeed in realizing the norms of political equality and public control. To realize these norms, however, certain minimum criteria need to be fulfilled, and these are not met in the EU.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of European Public Policy
Volume20
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)171-189
Number of pages19
ISSN1350-1763
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2013

    Research areas

  • Politics - Democracy, EU, EU Governance, EU political system, EU politics, political equality, representation

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Frank Schmielewski

Publications

  1. Intracellular Accumulation of Linezolid in Escherichia Coli, Citrobacter Freundii and Enterobacter Aerogenes
  2. Minor keywords of political theory
  3. Managerhaftung und persönliche Verantwortung
  4. Der Verlust der Dinge
  5. Separation of lactic acid and recovery of salt-ions from fermentation broth
  6. Fundamental Theology
  7. Electroanalytical and chromatographic determination of pentachlorophenol and related molecules in a contaminated soil
  8. § 18
  9. A mixed-method approach to post-retirement career planning
  10. Die Signal-Location-Methode zur Quantifizierung der Aufmerksamkeitsverteilung in dynamischen Szenarien
  11. Magnesium pistons in engines
  12. Art 156: Establishment of the Authority
  13. A choice experiment study for land-use scenarios in semi-arid watershed environments
  14. Fiducia
  15. Manufacture of profiles with variable cross-sections, curvatures and twistings by influencing the material flow in hot extrusion
  16. Nachhaltigkeit
  17. Organisation
  18. Hegemoniale Männlichkeiten
  19. Characterization of the deformation state of magnesium by electrical resistance
  20. Legitimacy and the Cognitive Sources of International Institutional Change
  21. 'You are angels': understanding the entanglement of family and enterprise in an early-stage family-run coworking space
  22. Der Körper auf Tauchstation
  23. Instrumentenentwicklung zur Messung von Lernstrategien in mathematikhaltigen Studiengängen
  24. Erwartungen an Anderswelten
  25. Matthew L. Becker (ed.): Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians, Refo500 Academic Studies, volume 31
  26. Practical wisdom and virtue ethics for knowledge co-production in sustainability science
  27. Unraveling the Relationships between Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing in Spain
  28. Od Pacmana do Lary Croft. Jak badać postać w grach wideo?