Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:02:18.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Democratic dilemmas in EU multilevel governance: untangling the Gordian knot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

Achim Hurrelmann*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa ON K1S 5B6, Canada
Joan DeBardeleben
Affiliation:
Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa ON K1S 5B6, Canada

Abstract

This article discusses what implications the European Union’s (EU’s) multilevel structure has for its democratic legitimacy. It identifies three channels of democratic input in the EU – the European Parliament, national democratic processes influencing the Council of Ministers, and civil society participation in consultation procedures of the European Commission – and assesses them on the basis of a comprehensive set of criteria. The evaluation shows that the democratization of the EU faces three interlinked dilemmas. Most fundamentally, there is an incongruence in territorial scope between the issues requiring democratic control (increasingly European if not global) and the imagined communities necessary for the functioning of democratic procedures (primarily national). This ‘congruence dilemma’ intensifies contradictions between participation and deliberation, as well as between effectiveness and accountability in EU decision-making. Grand reforms that would solve these dilemmas once and for all are unlikely to be successful, but changes in the interplay of the three democratic channels – such as the disentanglement of political competencies, the formalization of inter-channel conciliation procedures, and the introduction of directly democratic mechanisms – promise to mitigate their negative effects.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Consortium for Political Research 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abromeit, H. (1998), Democracy in Europe: Legitimising Politics in a Non-State Polity, Oxford: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Abromeit, H. (2002), Wozu braucht man Demokratie? Die postnationale Herausforderung der Demokratietheorie, Opladen: Leske + Budrich.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auel, K.Benz, A. (2007), ‘Expanding national parliamentary control: does it enhance European democracy?’, in B. Kohler-Koch and B. Rittberger (eds), Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 5774.Google Scholar
Bache, I.Flinders, M. (eds) (2004), Multi-level Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benz, A. (2003), ‘Compounded representation in EU multi-level governance’, in B. Kohler-Koch (ed.), Linking EU and National Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 82110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benz, A. (2006), ‘Policy-making and accountability in EU multilevel governance’, in A. Benz and I. Papadopoulos (eds), Governance and Democracy: Comparing National, European and Transnational Experiences, London: Routledge, pp. 99114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benz, A.Papadopoulos, Y. (eds) (2006), Governance and Democracy: Comparing National, European and Transnational Experiences, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bovens, M. (2007), ‘New forms of accountability and EU governance’, Comparative European Politics 5(1): 104120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, R. (1989), Democracy and its Critics, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
DeBardeleben, J.Hurrelmann, A. (eds) (2007), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance: Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delanty, G. (2007), ‘Europeanization and democracy: the question of cultural identity’, in J. DeBardeleben and A. Hurrelmann (eds), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance: Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 7793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Føllesdal, A.Hix, S. (2006), ‘Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU: a response to Majone and Moravcsik’, Journal of Common Market Studies 44(3): 533562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, M. (2006), ‘European elections and the European voter’, in J. Richardson (ed.), European Union: Power and Policy-Making, 3rd edn. London: Routledge, pp. 227246.Google Scholar
Gerstenberg, O.Sabel, C. (2002), ‘Directly-deliberative polyarchy: an institutional ideal for Europe?’, in C. Joerges and R. Dehousse (eds), Good Governance in Europe’s Integrated Market, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 289341.Google Scholar
Greenwood, J. (2007), ‘Organized civil society and input legitimacy in the EU’, in J. DeBardeleben and A. Hurrelmann (eds), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 177194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greven, M.T. (2007), ‘Some considerations on participation in participatory governance’, in B. Kohler-Koch and B. Rittberger (eds), Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 233248.Google Scholar
Hix, S. (2006), ‘The European Union as a polity (I)’, in K.E. Jørgensen, M.A. Pollack and B. Rosamond (eds), Handbook of European Union Politics, London: Sage, pp. 141158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hix, S. (2008), What’s Wrong with the European Union and How to Fix It, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L.Marks, G. (2001), Multi-Level Governance and European Integration, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Hurrelmann, A. (2005), Verfassung und Integration in Europa: Wege zu einer supranationalen Demokratie, Frankfurt a.M.: Campus.Google Scholar
Hurrelmann, A. (2007), ‘European democracy, the “Permissive Consensus”, and the collapse of the EU constitution’, European Law Journal 13(3): 343359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurrelmann, A., Liebsch, K.Nullmeier, F. (2002), ‘Wie ist argumentative Entscheidungfindung möglich? Deliberation in Versammlungen und Internetforen’, Leviathan 30(4): 544564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jachtenfuchs, M. (2006), ‘The European Union as a polity (II)’, in K.E. Jørgensen, M.A. Pollack and B. Rosamond (eds), Handbook of European Union Politics, London: Sage, pp. 159173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohler-Koch, B. (2008), ‘Does participatory governance hold its promises?’. Paper Prepared for the CONNEX Final Conference, March 6–8, 2008, Mannheim.Google Scholar
LeDuc, L. (2007), ‘European elections and democratic accountability: the 2004 elections to the European Parliament’, in J. DeBardeleben and A. Hurrelmann (eds), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance: Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 139157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majone, G. (1998), ‘Europe’s “democratic deficit”: the question of standards’, European Law Journal 4(1): 528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G.Hooghe, L. (2004), ‘Contrasting visions of multi-level governance’, in I. Bache and M. Flinders (eds), Multi-level Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurer, A. (2002), ‘Optionen und Grenzen der Einbindung der nationalen Parlamente in die künftige EU-Verfassungsstruktur’, SWP-Studie S 29, Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.Google Scholar
Maurer, A. (2007), ‘The European Parliament between policy-making and control’, in B. Kohler-Koch and B. Rittberger (eds), Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 75101.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, A. (2002), ‘In defence of the “democratic deficit”: reassessing legitimacy in the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies 40(4): 603624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moravcsik, A. (2006), ‘What can we learn from the collapse of the European Constitutional project?’, Politische Vierteljahresschrift 47(2): 219241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Brennan, J.Raunio, T. (eds) (2007), National Parliaments within the Enlarged European Union: From ‘Victims’ of Integration to Competitive Actors, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Offe, C. (2000), ‘The democratic welfare state in an integrating Europe’, in M.T. Greven and L.W. Pauly (eds), Democracy beyond the State? The European Dilemma and the Emerging Global Order, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 6389.Google Scholar
Papadopoulos, Y. (2005), ‘Implementing (and radicalizing) Art. I-47.4 of the Constitution: Is the addition of some (semi-) direct democracy to the nascent consociational European Federation just Swiss folklore?’, Journal of European Public Policy 12(3): 448467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, B.G.Pierre, J. (2004), ‘Multi-level governance and democracy: a Faustian bargain?’, in I. Bache and M. Flinders (eds), Multi-level Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 7589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raunio, T. (2007), ‘National Parliaments and the future of European integration: learning to play the multilevel game’, in J. DeBardeleben and A. Hurrelmann (eds), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance: Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 158176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reif, K.Schmitt, H. (1980), ‘Nine second order national elections: a conceptual framework for the analysis of European electoral results’, European Journal of Political Research 8(1): 344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruzza, C. (2004), Europe and Civil Society: Movement Coalitions and European Governance, Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, L.M. (1997), ‘Against deliberation’, Political Theory 25(3): 347376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpf, F.W. (1999), Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic?, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpf, F.W. (2000), ‘Interdependence and democratic legitimation’, in S.J. Pharr and R.D. Putnam (eds), Disaffected Democracies: What’s Troubling the Trilateral Countries?, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 101120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, P. (2000), How to Democratize the European Union … and Why Bother?, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Smith, J. (2007), ‘Federalism and democratic accountability’, in J. DeBardeleben and A. Hurrelmann (eds), Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance: Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffek, J., Kissling, C.Nanz, P. (eds) (2007), Civil Society Participation in European and Global Governance: A Cure for the Democratic Deficit?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian.Google Scholar
Trenz, H.J.Eder, K. (2004), ‘The democratizing dynamics of a European public sphere: towards a theory of democratic functionalism’, European Journal of Social Theory 7(1): 525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zürn, M. (2000), ‘Democratic governance beyond the nation-state: the EU and other international institutions’, European Journal of International Relations 6(2): 183221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar