«Demoicracy» and democratic legitimacy in the European Union: a theoretical alternative?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21308/recp.64.05Keywords:
European Union, demoicracy, democratic legitimacy, transnational democracy, citizen participationAbstract
The theory of «demoicracy» challenges the capacity of the normative frameworks of classical democracy to judge the democratic legitimacy of the EU’s political system. «Demoicracy» makes the different peoples or demoi of the member states and European citizens as a whole the normative subjects of its theory, standing as a transnational third way between sovereignism and supranationalism, as both link democracy to the existence of a single demos. The questions guiding this article are: is ‘demoicracy’ a genuine alternative to classical theories of European integration, and can ‘demoicracy’ explain the European Union’s recent legitimation strategies? After a thorough analysis of the normative foundations and development of the theory, it is argued that «demoicracy» does not provide an alternative to classical theories of European integration and is not able to explain recent EU legitimation strategies (in particular, deliberative innovations such as the European Citizens’ Panels). In any case, «demoicracy» is useful in highlighting that the debate on democratic legitimacy in the EU must also point to relations between member states and between member states and the EU itself.
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