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European Journal of Political Theory
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The European Union Democratic Deficit

Federalists, Skeptics, and Revisionists

Jonathan Bowman

Saint Louis University, bowmanjm{at}slu.edu

I outline the current debate over the European Union democratic deficit in terms of differing methodological approaches towards the realization of freedom and basic rights to political participation. Federalists opt for a model of freedom as noninterference and autonomous self-determination by proposing to tie basic rights in the EU to a univocal form of European-wide popular sovereignty. Although skeptics argue that the EU lacks the fundamental basis for such European-wide democratic self-determination, they ultimately defend a similar view of freedom as noninterference with their appeal to the collective will of the member states. Democratic revisionists instead point to the novel democratic potential of institutions in the EU such as the Open Method of Coordination for mediating overlapping sovereignties. I conclude using the example of basic rights to effective participation for immigrants and minorities to illustrate the strengths of the revisionist view over views that appeal to the principle of subsidiarity.

Key Words: democratic deficit • democratic revisionism • European Union • federalism • freedom • nondomination • Open Method of Coordination • republicanism • sovereignty • subsidiarity

European Journal of Political Theory, Vol. 5, No. 2, 191-212 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1474885106061606
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