The Political System of the European Union

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix ◽  
Bjørn Høyland
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union

scholarly journals Electoral and Mechanical Causes of Divided Government in the European Union

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1349-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Manow ◽  
Holger Döring
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Mechanical Effect ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
European Elections ◽  
The Eu

Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament (EP) apparently use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party—political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the EU Council. This study shows that opposed majorities between council and parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of more extreme and EU-skeptic parties in the Council, whereas voters in EP elections vote more often for these parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament are therefore caused by two effects: a mechanical effect—relevant for the composition of the Council—when national votes are translated into office and an electoral effect in European elections. The article discusses the implications of this finding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy.

scholarly journals The political system of European Union after European Parliament Election of 2019

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Andrii Martynov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

The politics of the European Union are different from other organizations and states due to the unique nature of the EU. The common institutions mix the intergovernmental and supranational aspects of the EU. The EU treaties declare the EU to be based on representative democracy and direct elections take place to the European Parliament. The Parliament, together with the European Council, works for the legislative arm of the EU. The Council is composed of national governments thus representing the intergovernmental nature of the European Union. The central theme of this research is the influence of the European Union Political system the Results of May 2019 European Parliament Election. The EU supranational legislature plays an important role as a producer of legal norms in the process of European integration and parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of the EU executive. The European Parliament, as a representative institution of the European Union, helps to overcome the stereotypical notions of a “Brussels bureaucracy” that limits the sovereignty of EU member states. The European Parliament is a political field of interaction between European optimists and European skeptics. The new composition of the European Parliament presents political forces focused on a different vision of the strategy and tactics of the European integration process. European federalists in the “European People’s Party” and “European Socialists and Democrats” consider the strategic prospect of creating a confederate “United States of Europe”. The Brexit withdrawal from the EU could help the federalists win over European skeptics. Critics of the supranational project of European integration do not have a majority in the new composition of the European Parliament. But they are widely represented in many national parliaments of EU Member States. The conflicting interaction between European liberals and far-right populists is the political backdrop for much debate in the European Parliament. The result of this process is the medium term development vector of the European Union.

scholarly journals BREXIT AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Populist Movements

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the UK exit from the European Union as a manifestation of the systemic crisis of the liberal democracy model. The causes and difficulties of this process are analyzed under the conditions of the failure of the political system to make political decisions. The problematic issues of liberal ideology and the model of liberal democracy were examined. The differences in the ideological convictions of the two founders of liberalism – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as the role of these differences in the modern functioning of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom. The role of globalization processes in the world in the context of the development and functioning of liberal democracy is analyzed. Some features of the course of globalization processes in the world are highlighted. The features of the existence of the European Union as an international supranational organization in the context of its influence on the functioning and stability of the political system of the United Kingdom are examined. The features of the functioning of the model of liberal democracy under conditions of strengthening the international way of making political, economic and legal decisions are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to the political motives of organizing of start of the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as the consequences of such a decision. In addition, the role of populist movements in this process, that have Euro-skeptical positions, has been established. The features of the functioning of populist movements are highlighted. The essence of the crisis of the model of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom is determined. The author analyzes the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in the context of a peace settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland as one of the indicators of the crisis of the liberal political system. In conclusion is performed analysis of some results of the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

The Political System of the European Union

2003 ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neill Nugent ◽  
William Paterson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union

scholarly journals To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-277
Author(s):  
Nicola Pensiero
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Educational Level ◽  
Economic Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
British Identity ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
The Eu

This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

scholarly journals Czy parlament może zmienić mężczyznę w kobietę? Granice i miejsce zasady supremacji parlamentu w brytyjskim porządku konstytucyjnym wobec europejskich procesów integracyjnych (wybrane problemy)

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Marcin Łukaszewski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
The Uk

The political system of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is of interest to researchers for several reasons. One of the most important motivations certainly involves the unique construction of its Constitution, the content of which is not formulated in a single legal act of a supreme status. This unwritten Constitution encompasses at least four parts. The most important part is undoubtedly constituted by one of three principles of the political system, namely the principle of the sovereignty (omnipotence) of parliament. This principle, which is regarded as a constitutional principle by some and as a principle above the Constitution by others, constitutes the core of British constitutional law. The topic of this paper is an attempt to indicate the boundaries of this principle in the British constitutional order and to place it in relation to remaining principles. The boundaries of this principle have been considered by British constitutionalists on numerous occasions. Considerations on the relation of this principle to the remaining elements of the Constitution have been the subject of interest for courts of law, including the House of Lords, which used to function as the court of last instance in judicial proceedings prior to the 2005 reform. It is worth emphasizing that even the lords/judges frequently disagreed on the boundaries of the principle and even on whether the principle can be examined by any court. There were also views that the principle is only a virtual construct, and even if it had ever applied to the political system at all, it can no longer be referred to, given contemporary European integration processes. The complicated combination of elements of the British constitution with the presence of the United Kingdom in the structures of the European Council and European Union (preceded by the European Community) have produced a number of interpretations of the principle of the omnipotence of the parliament in the new political reality the UK has found itself in. It was the adoption of the European Communities Act 1972, followed several decades later by the adoption of the European Union Act 2011 that led to the discussion on the construction of the British Constitution and either the approval or rejection of the concept that the Constitution of the United Kingdom with its meta-principle should be interpreted anew.

scholarly journals The problem of “democratic deficit” in the European Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
Tetiana SHELCHUK
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
The Eu

In this article we analyze the causes and effects of the problem of democratic deficit in the European Union (EU). In this article the author determined the essence of problem «democracy deficit» and also it was explored in the activity and functioning of the EU institutions. Issues of pan-European identity were also investigated and the consequences of its absence were analyzed, which is a separate component of the problem under study. The author also analyzes some ways of solving the problem of «democracy deficit» in the EU. Also, the author investigated attitude to this problem that was described in different sources. We determined the attitude of the citizens of the EU to this union. The author made conclusion about that the EU has the problem of «democracy deficit», but we can’t say that the EU is undemocratic union. We also agree that the EU has made some good steps on the way of solving this important problem, but it isn’t enough. The author supports the idea of making some information company for informing the citizens about activities and functioning of the EU. We think that the EU should make a decision about a single electoral system. The author supports the conception of deliberative democracy that means attraction citizens of the EU to the process of discussion and making the decisions. And the author says that the issue of democracy deficit has two main aspects: at first, the problems of the functioning of the political system of the European Union; secondly, the lack of pan-European identity, the problem of bringing the EU closer to citizens and their disinterest in Union policy.

scholarly journals The Fuzzy Set Method in the Studies on the Multilevel Political System of the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Janusz Ruszkowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Political System ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Eu

The political system of the European Union is unique and difficult to define. This presents significant problems to researchers attempting to clarify this phenomenon by means of conventional research methods. Thus, it seems necessary to start the search with other tools that will allow the exploration of the nature of this phenomenon. Such an unconventional instrument is the fuzzy set method which has been used in logics, geometry and mathematics and which accumulates both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. When applied in the studies on the multi-level political system of the EU, it reveals phenomena that could not be seen when using conventional methods. One of the most important effects of this method exists in the fuzzy levels of the EU political system situated among the traditional (crisp) levels (regional, national and supranational).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document