Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance
In light of multiple and existential crises, longstanding concerns about the European Union’s (EU) quest for democratic legitimacy are ever more acute. Many think such concerns can be best addressed if European institutions would become better problem-solvers and more effective crisis-managers. Stro...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UACES
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/795 |
| _version_ | 1823945583112486912 |
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| author | Tom Theuns Maurits De Jongh |
| author_facet | Tom Theuns Maurits De Jongh |
| author_sort | Tom Theuns |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In light of multiple and existential crises, longstanding concerns about the European Union’s (EU) quest for democratic legitimacy are ever more acute. Many think such concerns can be best addressed if European institutions would become better problem-solvers and more effective crisis-managers. Stronger performance by European institutions would supposedly reinforce the EU’s democratic credentials. In this article, we reject such ‘output’ oriented accounts as specious for any assessment of the EU’s democratic legitimacy. Drawing on Michael Oakeshott’s political theory, the article argues that stronger performance addresses the desirability of governing activities in the EU rather than its democratic legitimacy. Moreover, we argue that the distinction between ‘input’ and ‘throughput’ conditions of democratic legitimacy is problematic since these conditions are inextricably linked. Finally, we show that many proposals to reduce the democratic deficit in the EU merely shift the site of the alleged deficit. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:18:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f25ea45fb3e4b519391fcee8832ff0d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1815-347X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:18:36Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | UACES |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f25ea45fb3e4b519391fcee8832ff0d2022-12-21T21:54:51ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2017-08-01133795Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU GovernanceTom Theuns0Maurits De Jongh1Sciences-Po Paris and the University of AmsterdamCentre de Recherche Politiques, Sciences-Po Paris, Paris, FranceIn light of multiple and existential crises, longstanding concerns about the European Union’s (EU) quest for democratic legitimacy are ever more acute. Many think such concerns can be best addressed if European institutions would become better problem-solvers and more effective crisis-managers. Stronger performance by European institutions would supposedly reinforce the EU’s democratic credentials. In this article, we reject such ‘output’ oriented accounts as specious for any assessment of the EU’s democratic legitimacy. Drawing on Michael Oakeshott’s political theory, the article argues that stronger performance addresses the desirability of governing activities in the EU rather than its democratic legitimacy. Moreover, we argue that the distinction between ‘input’ and ‘throughput’ conditions of democratic legitimacy is problematic since these conditions are inextricably linked. Finally, we show that many proposals to reduce the democratic deficit in the EU merely shift the site of the alleged deficit.https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/795legitimacysystems theorydemocratic deficitEUMichael Oakeshottinput legitimacyoutput legitimacy |
| spellingShingle | Tom Theuns Maurits De Jongh Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance Journal of Contemporary European Research legitimacy systems theory democratic deficit EU Michael Oakeshott input legitimacy output legitimacy |
| title | Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance |
| title_full | Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance |
| title_fullStr | Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance |
| title_short | Democratic Legitimacy, Desirability and Deficit in EU Governance |
| title_sort | democratic legitimacy desirability and deficit in eu governance |
| topic | legitimacy systems theory democratic deficit EU Michael Oakeshott input legitimacy output legitimacy |
| url | https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/795 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tomtheuns democraticlegitimacydesirabilityanddeficitineugovernance AT mauritsdejongh democraticlegitimacydesirabilityanddeficitineugovernance |