The Specter of Authoritarian Liberalism: Reflections on the Constitutional Crisis of the European Union

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 527-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty

“We seem to be caught in an ‘impossible interregnum': After the end of classical national sovereignty, before the beginning of a postnational sovereignty.”

Europatag

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Marhold
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Founding Myth ◽  
High Politics

The European Union is lacking a “founding myth”? Not at all, here it is – and, in fact, it is no myth, but a real story: The destiny of European integration took shape on 9 May 1950, with the declaration of the French Foreign Minister Schuman, who launched the European Coal and Steel Community. The events of these days can be retraced hour per hour, the actors gain life and profile. The solution is revolutionary: It is the first “breach in national sovereignty”. This would become the path towards today’s EU. – The story once told, there is a lot to be learnt: What was the relation between the wish of the Western Allies to bind (West-)Germany into the Western Bloc and the Franco-German desire to ensure peace? What was the relation between the economy and (high) politics? What about the relation between structural constraints and personal political leadership – would other politicians than Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer have decided otherwise? This book tells the story of 9 May, our “Europe Day”, and reflects on its meaning.

scholarly journals Is the Franco-German Relationship Still the Foundation Stone of the EU?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Leblanc
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Member States ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Foundation Stone ◽  
The Eu

Since the signing of the European Coal and Steel Treaties, France and Germany have been linked as unlikely friends in Europe. This paper discusses the Franco-German relationship post WWII, defining the characteristics of a partnership that has defined the history of the European Union and has served as a foundation for peace and cooperation on a continent that has struggled to shake off constant war. This paper then analyzes the hypothesis that the Franco-German relationship is no longer the foundation stone of the European Union in two sections. First, this paper applies these characteristics of deepening integration, increased economic interaction and mutually beneficial cooperation to the present day EU and seeing whether they are still integral to interactions among member states. It then establishes the present day characteristics of the EU as ones of increased national sovereignty, as opposed to Franco-German methods of cooperation.

‘Not an International Health Service’: Xenophobia, Brexit and the Restoration of National Sovereignty

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Kirsten Forkert
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Consumer Choice ◽  
International Health ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Eu Referendum

The chapter explores the role of xenophobia and nationalism within the media rhetoric mobilised during the EU referendum campaign. It examines how the rhetoric of the Leave campaign attempted to restore a perceived lost national sovereignty and agency, imagined as a simple intuitive equivalence between national citizens, national taxpayers, and national public services. The chapter explains how, through neoliberal reforms, the welfare state was transformed according to the principles of competition, individual consumer choice and conditional entitlement to benefits. It also focuses on the framing of the European Union as taking taxpayers’ money which could otherwise be used to fund national public institutions.

Negotiating in the un General Assembly: The European Union and the Other Major Groups

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 249-255
Author(s):  
Ioannis Vrailas
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Member States ◽  
Un General Assembly

The overwhelming majority of the United Nations’ member states remain keen to preserve the traditional intergovernmental nature of the organization in the name of universalism, equality among states and national sovereignty. However, in most negotiating processes, delegations are increasingly content to take part through the groups or sub-groups of which they are members, rather than individually on a national basis. In this regard, the European Union (eu) sets the standards for both organization and effectiveness, especially since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the eu’s Special Observer status, granted by unga Resolution 65/276.

scholarly journals Sovereigns in the Marketplace: Consumer Groups and Citizenship (without Nations?) in the European Union

Eurostudia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Covington
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Agency ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Internet Activism ◽  
The Creation

The enlargement of Europe and globalization are reconfiguring European consumerism. In this new context, personal, local and national agency in the social and the political relations of consumption are in great flux. I will use some recent language and circulars regarding GMOs to suggest that what consumers may be gaining in active agency through the creation of supranational agencies and NGOs and the proliferation of Internet activism, they may be losing in the accountability of their local governments. Further, the means by which “European” consumers are being created, possibly a classe objet in Bourdieu’s terms, reflects an erosion of national sovereignty and its crisis, producing what may be a “consolation narrative” to the spectre of the failure of democracy.

scholarly journals Applying Social Psychology Theories to the Challenges of Harmonising Insolvency Law in the European Union

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Ghio ◽  
John Galvin
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
European Union ◽  
Regulatory Competition ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Insolvency Law ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Process Solutions ◽  
The Eu

The harmonisation of insolvency law in the European Union has proven challenging. Obstacles such as the protection of national sovereignty, the preservation of legal cultures and a preference for regulatory competition have been studied extensively in the literature. This paper takes a novel approach by providing a perspective from the field of social psychology to further our understanding of the challenges of harmonising insolvency law in the EU. Selected psychological biases are identified, explained and applied to the harmonisation process. Solutions to overcome these biases are also discussed, as it is argued that progress in this area can be achieved by targeting strategies that can overcome these biases.

The Radical Right and Euroskepticism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Vasilopoulou
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Issue Competition ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the role that the European Union (EU) issue plays in radical right party agendas. It shows that, despite the fact that radical right parties tend to adopt dissimilar positions on the principle, practice, and future of European integration, they all tend to criticize the EU from a predominantly sovereignty-based perspective justified on ethnocultural grounds. The EU is portrayed as posing a threat to national sovereignty, its policies dismantling the state and its territory, as well as being responsible for the cultural disintegration of Europe and its nation-states. The analysis of EU issue positions and salience over time suggests that—despite variations—radical right parties engage in EU issue competition not only by adopting extreme positions but also by increasingly emphasizing these positions over time.

scholarly journals Free Trade versus Democracy and Social Standards in the European Union: Trade-Offs or Trilemma?

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Wiesner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Theoretical Terms ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Eu

This article aims at conceptualising, in analytical as well as normative-theoretical terms, the tensions between free trade, democratic and social standards, and national sovereignty that are named in Dani Rodrik´s “globalisation trilemma” for the case of the European Union (EU). It is argued that the trilemma concept is much more fitting to the EU than a simple trade-off concept. This model offers a conceptual path to both analysing existing tensions and thinking of resolving them: a) the EU has, indeed, been intervening into national democracies and national sovereignty as its legislation is superior to national legislation; b) EU legislation and judgements of the Court of Justice of the EU have been reducing national social standards; c) executives and numerous new institutions and agencies with indirect legitimation have taken over competencies that formerly lay in the domain of national directly legitimated legislatives; and d) these negative effects relate to the EU’s giving preference to the liberalisation of free trade of capital, goods and services over democracy, social standards, and national sovereignty. Against the framework of the globalisation trilemma, analysis is combined with normative-theoretical judgements on the quality democracy of the setting that has been found and a conceptual discussion. The article concludes by discussing the perspectives of the setting examined and the possible paths to solutions, arguing that in order to keep a high level of economic integration, democracy, and social standards in the EU, national sovereignty needs to give way.

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