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The European Union: Democratic Legitimacy in a Regional State?

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  • VIVIEN A. SCHMIDT

Abstract

Democratic legitimacy for the EU is problematic if it is seen as a future nation‐state. If instead the EU were seen as a regional state – with shared sovereignty, variable boundaries, composite identity, compound governance, and a fragmented democracy in which the EU level assures governance for and with the people through effective governing and interest consultation, leaving to the national‐level government by and of the people through political participation and citizen representation – the problems of the democratic deficit diminish at the EU level. But they become even greater at the national level, where the changes to national democratic practices demand better ideas and discourses of legitimization. A further complicating factor results from problems of ‘institutional fit’, because the EU has had a more disruptive impact on ‘simple’polities, where governing activity has traditionally been channelled through a single authority, than on more‘compound’polities, where it has been more dispersed through multiple authorities.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivien A. Schmidt, 2004. "The European Union: Democratic Legitimacy in a Regional State?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 975-997, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:42:y:2004:i:5:p:975-997
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9886.2004.00537.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J.H.H. Weiler, 1995. "The State "über alles" Demos, Telos and the German Maastricht Decision," Jean Monnet Working Papers 6, Jean Monnet Chair.
    2. Schmidt, Vivien A., 2002. "The Futures of European Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253685.
    3. Christopher Lord & Paul Magnette, 2002. "Notes Towards a General Theory of Legitimacy in the European Union," One Europe or Several? Working Papers 39, One-Europe Programme.
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    Cited by:

    1. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2004. "Legitimationskonzepte jenseits des Nationalstaats," MPIfG Working Paper 04/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Scharpf, Fritz Wilhelm, 2009. "Legitimacy in the multilevel European polity," MPIfG Working Paper 09/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Vivien A. Schmidt, 2010. "The European Union in search of political identity and legitimacy: Is more Politics the Answer?," Working Papers of the Vienna Institute for European integration research (EIF) 5, Institute for European integration research (EIF).
    4. Vivien Schmidt, 2010. "Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited - Input, Output and Throughput," KFG Working Papers p0021, Free University Berlin.
    5. Bernard Steunenberg & Pieter Zwaan, 2024. "Working with the EU: How Discourses Shape the Application of EU State Aid Rules," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 242-261, January.
    6. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i::p:17-42 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Gerda Falkner, 2013. "The JCMS Annual Review Lecture Is the European Union Losing Its Credibility?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 13-30, September.
    8. Vivien A. Schmidt, 2009. "Re‐Envisioning the European Union: Identity, Democracy, Economy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(s1), pages 17-42, September.

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