IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/bjeust/v6y2016i1p28-47n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Right for Regional Integration Organisations to Protect Democracy: Legitimacy at the Regional Level?

Author

Listed:
  • Nyman-Metcalf Katrin

    (Chair of Law and Technology, Tallinn Law School, Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 3, Tallinn 12618, Estonia)

  • Papageorgiou Ioannis

    (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Law, Economics and Political Sciences, School of Political Sciences, Faculty of Law, Economics and Political Sciences Building, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece)

Abstract

Recently there have been several examples of different regional integration systems intervening to prevent unconstitutional events. The interventions can be based on explicit powers or be developed in response to events. This happens despite most regional integration systems having economic cooperation rather than explicit democratisation aims. Organs that issue laws or take constraining decisions must have a clear right to do this and a basis for exercising power-in other words, be legitimate. Where legitimacy comes from is debated, but as most countries today are democracies or purport to be, it somehow emanates from the people. National governments have a higher degree of legitimacy than regional integration organisations, possibly except the European Union. Regional integration organisations have to prove their legitimacy. The article examines if, to what extent, and on what basis regional integration systems have the right to exercise an independent role on the global stage. Legitimacy is a precondition for effective application of decisions of the organisation. Given the frequent lack of strong enforcement mechanisms, the question of legitimacy becomes even more important. With strong legitimacy, decisions taken by the regional integration organisation will be followed to a large extent even despite absence of effective enforcement mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Nyman-Metcalf Katrin & Papageorgiou Ioannis, 2016. "The Right for Regional Integration Organisations to Protect Democracy: Legitimacy at the Regional Level?," TalTech Journal of European Studies, Sciendo, vol. 6(1), pages 28-47, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:bjeust:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:28-47:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/bjes-2016-0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0002
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bjes-2016-0002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521632270, September.
    2. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521635363, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laima Gerlitz & Christopher Meyer, 2021. "Small and Medium-Sized Ports in the TEN-T Network and Nexus of Europe’s Twin Transition: The Way towards Sustainable and Digital Port Service Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2010. "The System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration," MPRA Paper 22227, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Tanja A. Börzel, 2010. "The Transformative Power of Europe Reloaded - The Limits of External Europeanization," KFG Working Papers p0011, Free University Berlin.
    4. Hermann Sebastian Dehnen & Jan H. van Dinther & Norbert Koubek, 2013. "From emerging economies toward the Emerging Triad," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP13008, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    5. Eichengreen, Barry, 2002. "Lessons of the Euro for the Rest of the World," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt16g425jb, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    6. Besir Ceka and Brian Burgo, 2014. "Discovering Cooperation: A Contractual Approach to Institutional Change in Regional International Organizations," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0388, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    7. Libman, Alexander & Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2016. "Региональные Организации: Типы И Логика Развития [Regional Organizations: Typology and Development Paths]," MPRA Paper 79383, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "How Does Democratic Accountability Shape International Cooperation?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(1), pages 28-55, February.
    9. Leonardo Baccini, 2010. "Explaining formation and design of EU trade agreements: The role of transparency and flexibility," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(2), pages 195-217, June.
    10. Andrés Malamud, 2013. "Overlapping Regionalism, No Integration: Conceptual Issues and the Latin American Experiences," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 20, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    11. Merran Hulse, 2014. "Actorness beyond the European Union: Comparing the International Trade Actorness of SADC and ECOWAS," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 547-565, May.
    12. Mark Beeson & Jolanta Hewitt, 2022. "Does Multilateralism still Matter? ASEAN and the Arctic Council in Comparative Perspective," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(2), pages 208-218, May.
    13. Hefeker, Carsten, 2003. "Handels- und Finanzarchitektur im Umbruch: Globale Integration und die institutionelle Arbeitsteilung von IWF, Weltbank und WTO," HWWA Discussion Papers 225, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    14. Nicole Jenne, 2013. "Whither the push and pull for integration: Taking stock of Latin America’s declaratory regionalism," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/82, European University Institute.
    15. Edward D. Mansfield & Helen V. Milner & Jon C. Pevehouse, 2008. "Democracy, Veto Players and the Depth of Regional Integration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 67-96, January.
    16. Philomena Murray & Gabriele Orcalli, 2012. "Deepening regionalism in Europe and ASEAN – the role of an economic constitution," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 426-445.
    17. Aalto, Pami, 2014. "Energy market integration and regional institutions in east Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 91-100.
    18. Melad, Khaled, 2008. "The Euro-Mediterranean Trade relations," MPRA Paper 7085, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Feb 2008.
    19. Mario Arturo Ruiz Estrada & Donghyun Park, 2014. "China’s Unification: Myth or Reality?," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(4), pages 441-469, September.
    20. Luis Quintana-Romero & Nam Kwon Mun & Roldán Andrés-Rosales & José Álvarez-García, 2020. "Trade Complementarity and the Balance of Payments Constraint Hypothesis: A New Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and South Korea," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-21, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:bjeust:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:28-47:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.